Planning on learning to roll my Manitou 13, and want to get more floatation up in the bow. I've seen a few posts here and there about how folks have done so, but nothing specific.
As it stands now however, there's a big rectangular block of floatation that makes the traditional bow float bag not able to fit.
I'd also like to have some additional space for dry storage for weekend camping.
Folks that have extended their use of the Manitou 13 to include weekend camping and/or coastal day cruising, what have you done to increase floatation/dry storage in the bow?
A friend of mine has that same boat, and she uses a pair of tapered bags which double as floatation and gear storage. I think they are made by NRS. They are skinny enough at the "sharp" end that they go in side-by-side, with the sharp end of each bag alongside the foam block. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they just go side-by-side and don't even extend far enough into the bow for the block to be a problem. Anyway, she doesn't tie them in, but there was recently a thread about that topic too. It sounded like glueing D-rings into the boat or using the foot-peg rack in some way would work. I also suspect you could wrap a rope around the front of that foam block and tie the free ends to the rear end of each bag, and that would keep them in just fine.