A little while ago I mentioned in another thread that for my latest boat (West River 18) I deliberately didn’t put in hatches or large inspection ports. Instead, I provided ventilation through 1/2" drain plug holes and used a borescope camera to inspect the closed spaces. I thought I’d provide an example of what’s possible.
The boat has a Guillemot-style retractable skeg. A control cable runs from the cockpit to the skeg box inside plastic tubing which is attached to the box. This keeps all water out of the air-filled flotation tank formed by the hull, deck and aft bulkhead. However, if the hose clamp ever comes loose, the flotation tank can fill with water, so I want to verify every now and then that the clamp is still on.
The borescope is made by Vevor and is available at Home Depot. I bought mine on sale for under $70. The camera is 1/4" diameter so it fits easily through the drain port with the plug removed. It can take still pictures and videos and store them on a micro SD card. I’ve attached the picture that I took of the control line tube, the hose clamp that holds it in place and the skeg box. It clearly shows that the clamp is firmly in place and still shiny and uncorroded. It also shows the box in good condition, wrapped in glass. This is all reassuring information and confirms that currently nothing needs to be done.
There are many good reasons to install inspection ports so I’m not saying that they should be abandoned. However, if for some reason you don’t want to, cheap electronics has given us alternatives.
Laszlo
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thanks laszlo,
wow…appreciate you for highlighting the availability of inexpensive borescope cameras as a tool in the tool box. i just went online to look and was impressed at what appears to be available at a reasonable cost. and your picture shows, that even outside the question of “inspection ports” and how to execute them and and all their iterations (e.g., a hatch also can serve as an inspection port), that a borescope can be a useful tool becuase most hatches don’t provide a clear path via human eyeballs to easily see the full scope of whatever is on the inside (once got my head stuck inside a hatch for a moment…but that’s another story…)
i am still a proponent of various forms of hatches that can address routine maintenance or other requirements that that one can expect regarding a kayak…so for me that’s: 1) the ability to get a sponge into any section to remove any water and dry something out; 2) store provisions off the deck; 3) access a skeg box and cable ends; 4) access both sides of any bulkhead. Items 3 and 4 are based on a long experience in routine kayak repair and things that fail with routine use vs an episodic events like dropping a boat or hitting something.
i also try to make routine care easy. Number one for me is making sure the boat gets put away dry. so after every paddle, i pop my hatches off and make sure there is no water in the boat before i put it away. i find if you take care of that number one item, boats will live a long, happy life.
H
You’re absolutely right about access, Howard. If that clamp had come loose, a borescope and 1/2" port would would have done nothing to make tightening it again easier. But as long as I can see when trouble is happening, I’m willing to play the odds with that boat for the advantages it gives me. For other boats I’m still putting in hatches.
Laszlo
Howard, I forgot to ask - how long did you walk around with a boat on your head? Did you tell people it was your boat hat? 
Wasn’t able to walk around…but i was bit bent over stuck in the rear hatch trying to inspect the skeg …which was set pretty far back from the hatch opening…
Remained calm…though i really wasn’t… and twisted my head a bit and tolerated the hatch edges pulling on my ear lobes…which snagged on the way out…on the way in my hair pushed my ears back making that direction relatively easy…
All that said, there are about a dozen other things around the house that i would use a bore scope for…just thought they were super expensive pieces of equipment…so next time going to get one…
Definitely was a pooh bear-with-the-honey-pot-stuck-over-the-head-moment.
Yes, those are useful, though my borescope came with a pair of attachments - a hook and a magnet. Haven’t needed to try them yet.
Laszlo
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