I have got to the point of building the centreboard of my Peapod. It seems quite lightly built compared to the Southwester Dory centreboard which is sheathed in glass cloth. It is probably not a problem unless I have to stand on the centreboard to recover from a capsize. There seems to be enough space in the centreboard case to beef up the centreboard but, before I do, does anyone have experience of capsizing a CLC Peapod. I am guessing that it will float on its side with masts and centreboard level with the water and won't need me to climb on the centreboard to pull it upright.
That's only if it takes your entire body weight to right the boat. I found that grabbing on the gunwale and putting my foot on the daggerboard rights my PM very easily.
My capsized PMD floated very high on her side, and all I had to do was put my hand on the daggerboard close to the boat's bottom, push down, and she popped right up. If your peapod floats a little deeper, but still on her side, a foot on the submerged centerboard right up next to the boat's bottom should suffice. As long as your not standing way out on the end of the board and jumping up and down, you probably won't hurt the board. Mind the boat don't knock you on the head when she comes upright, and be careful not to get your fingers between the board and the slot.
If the boat turns turtle, the best thing would be to rig a line across the bottom from one gunnel to the other so you can use your feet as a fulcrum to push down on one side while you pull up on the other with the line. In that instance, your centerboard will have likely fallen back into the case, and you might want to secure that so it can't fall back down as the boat comes upright and try to take a swipe at you. This last part is purely hypothetical, obviously, as I don't have a peapod to capsize.
Hello - Hoping I’m not jumping into the conversation too late. I recently bought a Peapod Tender and took it out for the first time on a lake. Sure enough - capsized - lesson learned to monitor the main sheet rather than think I could hike out on the rails to keep the boat stabiliized in a gust… I was able to right the boat and pump out most of the water but found that I couldn’t find a method of climbing back in that would tip the boat over again and take on more water. I ended up swimming the boat to shallow water - but would like to have a better way to address this situation if I was in the ocean and dealing with currents or further from land.
Does anyone have a strategy to re-enter the cockpit once capsized? I was wondering about using a strap with a stirrup as is sometimes used with kayak self-rescue. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Or does CLC have a suggested emergency procedure for re-entry?