I know these boats have a decent reputation so maybe I have a lemon. Is anyone else who owns one of these experiencing the follwing? Our seats, besides the stain wearing out in the sun very quickly, are bowing up and the screws are popping out. I don't know if I am explaining this right but if you look down the length of the boat all the seats are bowed up so it seems the center supports are pushing the center of the seat up. Our boat is only two seasons old. I also hear water sloshing around inside the keel area when we carry the boat in and out of the water. Can someone suggest how to drain this water?

do you have the premier one hull version or the cheaper double hull? the single hull is the better one. but in trying to compete with the cheaper imports, buk started to make a double hull. if you have water sloshing around in the hull, see a professional boat repairer. they will have to drill a hole to drain the water and then try to dry out the interior foam core. your boat will never be as lightas it was when you bought it. did you run over a rock?

Give me a call in the office on Tuesday. If Tuesday doesn't work shoot me an email or call next week as I am off to Disney Tuesday night.

To drain the hull, the first step is to take the boat out of the water. Open both hatches, lift one end up, drain as much as you can and then blow a fan into the raised end. That will help dry it out and then we can try to figure out where the water is coming from. Be sure to do this inside in a dry area. Fan will probably need to run all day.

I can't and don't want to do any of this. I don't have the facility to do it and there is no power at our club. I guess my warranty ran out or I'd return this boat. My last question is if I flip my boat for the winter will the freezing of this water stuck in the boat do additional damage?

Sorry I forgot to answer that our boat has never hit a rock and has no exterior damage but there are very fine cracks in many areas of the interior of the boat particularly around the seat supports and footboards. I can only conclude that water has seeped between the hulls over time. My original question is anyone else experiencing these problems with their Buk boat.

Yes it will do damage. Depending on how much water and where it pools when flipped when the water freezes it can damage the boat.

Our BuK was bought in 2008. We don't have the freezing problem because we are in SC but we had the same problem with the seats bowing up and hairline cracks all around the supports and in the corners by the steerers platform. A marine store recommended to coat the areas with the same stuff they use to coat truck beds. We bought ours in a can and rolled it on the whole bottom of our boat. So far so good.

Good to hear suggestions and comments from someone at GWN but how about standing behind your product and repairing or replacing BUKS that have these defects. If it is widespread then it is obviously an inherent issue with the design or manufacturing of these types of boats as a poster suggested above.

It's not GWN's problem them damaged there boat by hitting "something". There is no warranty on them

Not saying its GWN problem. The poster stated they never hit anything. Just that the seats bowed and the screws are popping and there are some cracks on the inside. This is a Buk problem.

If its the problem where the seat bolts come loose and the seats come loose, its because you are carrying it out of the water with paddlers holding the seats and pulling up on them. They should be holding the handles.

We dried our boat out and then used Flexseal on the inside bottom of our boat to seal the cracks. It's only $20 and you can do the whole bottom with 4 cans. Its liquid rubber so gives us a non slip surface as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwU8JObQMXc

We tried a similar product in a can it works pretty good.
But do two coats and follow dry time instructions to the letter.

The double hull BuKs are crap. We have the same problem with water sloshing around between the hulls and our boat was brand new this summer.

Having problems over here (Europe) with our BUK too. Seats are bowing in the middle, one is cracked. The handholds in the sides are right under the wooden edge along the top of the boat, so when you lift the boat correctly by the handholds, the wooden edge comes up. Not at all what one expects from a more expensive brand. Nevertheless, we do love the stability and performance of the boat. I hope BUK does some work on their less expensive version that makes them a bit more sturdy. It's a boat that regularly handles 20 people - that's a lot of wear & tear on a boat under normal use.

Teams should probably get into the habit of draining the boats after practice and putting a cover on. Water and heat are hard on a hull and wood.

Ahhch. The Buk's we have sit out in the elements for years. They are indistructable. What are you talking about?

Do you work for BuK? I can tell you first hand, everything said here about the double hull BuK is true. They suck!

I am the original poster. We took our boat to a professional boat shop and here is what he told us. He said the reason the seats are bowed up is because the hull is spreading outward due to the pressure of the paddlers leaning out. When the sides of the boat are pushed out by the weight and leaning out of the paddlers the seats where they are screwed into the notches are pushed down and the supports in the middle under the seats is pushed up. If you think about it this makes sense. His proof to me is that he showed me how the screws were popping out but not straight up and out. They were being pulled out on an angle. This showed me that the boat was spreading apart a little bit every time we paddled and eventually the screws worked themselves loose. Since the only thing attaching the port side and the starboard side is the seat benches with 4 screws he said this was bound to happen over time. All the other issues like the fine cracks and water seeping into the hull is a side effect of the seats not being able to take the stress of the tendancy for the boat to spread apart. His recommended fix is to take all the seats out and fiberglass in 2 to 4 solid bulkheads and then reinstall the seats. This type of boat should have some structural pieces to solidly connect the port and starboard sides (not just screws). Then he drilled several holes in the low areas of the hull while I watched and water was still dripping out when I left an hour later. Total estimate for the above fix: $2800.00. I will let you all know how it goes.

I don't know where you are but can you ask the guy fixing your boat to take some pictures of his bulkhead fix and post them somewhere? Our seats have not popped yet but I can see the screws are stressed.

Will do. Went to see our boat this morning. Still dripping! He was hooking up a pressure hose to blow air between the hulls. He is really not a fan of this boat or the way it was built that is.

In Miami we do not go for the new Buks or other boats built this way precisely due to the seats not contributing to the structure of the boat and gunnels being crap wood and not even protected by anything but stain. Two weeks out in this sun and salt and the wood starts to go gray and rot. One club has two completely fiberglass boats including seats and gunnels built especially by Kahlua for these conditions. There is not one spec of wood and every seat has a fiberglass bulkhead under the seat laminated to the sides. These were special order boats and may have cost a bit more but worth every penny.

Lively Dragons (Toronto) also sells all fiberglass boats. Ugly, but no wood surfaces to maintain.

I went to the Kahlua web site and I don't see any reference or pictures to some special all gelcoat boat.

Sounds like your boat builder is looking for a good reason to do some costly repairs

The Miami Kahlua was a special order so you would need to call or email the Kahlua guy