[MathGeek]

My son has happily used his Ascend FS128T throughout the spring and summer in a number of freshwater and inshore locations and even on very calm days in the Gulf. We thought he was all set for the Ride the Bull down in Grand Isle. Thinking the kayak could haldle the chop, he opted to launch and fish the pass from Elmer's Island. Unfortunately, with waves regularly breaking over the top, the leaky hatches took on water much too fast, and he had to return to the beach several times to empty the water out and was a bit timid to venture very far from shore for fear of swamping it.

The design of the sit on top kayak depends on any water coming over the top to drain through the holes (self-bailing). But this design depends on water going through the drain holes and not into the hatches which have o rings and should be water tight. The trouble is that most of the water ended up in the hatches rather than the drain holes.

We came across another fellow on the beach with the same make and model of kayak and the leakage problem ruined his tournament day also. So, beware, this model is fine for marshes and smooth water, but it just can't handle chop with water coming over the top (which is the whole point of a sit on top kayak).

I am disappointed, because we had hoped to use the kayak for taking baits out further from the beach than we can cast or launch with a cannon. But this thing will be useless for that application on any but the calmest of days. I am beginning to brainstorm ways to seal up the hatches, but so doing will likely require permanent closure so that the storage space cannot be utilized. Better than leaking though.