Try this experiment?
Take your kayak to an indoor pool. Get in with your beach ball. Make sure you have at least one friend nearby ready to help. That friend should have a knife with him. Now capsize. Can you get OUT by yourself when capsized? If not, can your friend get you out quickly–maybe deflating the beach ball with a knife? Hopefully, not slashing you in the process.
Seriously, someone I know related a similar story that he observed at a pool. The only difference was that the kayaker used Mylar balloons instead of a beach ball. While he was capsized, the balloons moved around enough to make exiting difficult. And of course, the boat filled with water anyway.
nothing like doing it
and seeing how effective pool noodles will be with a flooded SOT. My experience with a sea kayak that did not have bulkheads is that if you do not displace a majority of the water you’ve got an unrescuable boat in waves. Better to test it than assume it.
Dry them in the hull
I have not removed the bags from my kayak since they were attached but make sure to dry them after each use. Sponge out the kayak before loading on the car. Let enough air out to allow them to sag away from the hull and transport them home. Once home sponge out any water missed the first time, flip the hull over and allow the bottom side of the bags to dry completely. These bags are at least 3 years old and have no mildew growth. There’s no need to remove float bags to dry them.
Bad advice if he’s got a skin-on-frame
– Last Updated: Nov-26-11 7:50 PM EST –
kayak.
I'm lazy, and I leave the bags in the kayak. But they do NOT dry properly, and over several years they get mildew on the fabric. You may say that you get your bags dried with your procedure, but you don't. Not fully dry, not on every surface. And just remember that no one else is going in for doing a double sponge-out. We have lives to live.
As the guy said, for a skin-on-frame kayak, there is a risk of getting mold into the frame.
Nope
and while you’re at it you could save some more money by just tying a couple of sticks around your chest instead of buying a PFD !
I know this is an old thread and I found it thru a search for beach balls because my search on yoga balls only took me to the thread I started about my recreational canoe and that I used oblong “peanut” yoga balls for capsize flotation in it. I thought if someone had the ill advised idea of using cheap beach ball for flotation they might find what I’m trying with yoga balls.
First off I’m not suggesting using these as a serious substitute for proper flotation bags where someone is putting their life on the line in white water paddling. My canoe and her recreational kayak are never seeing anything remotely close to white water. We paddle flat water inland small lakes and do river floats on a nearby small river that is extremely flat and slow. Both of our boats 99.9% of the people using them as we do would add no flotation. We know there is always the possibility of capsizing and we have capsized before and our need for flotation is just to make getting the boat to shore and righted and drained that much easier.
We just bought her a cheap recreational kayak a OT Trip 10 Deluxe it is similar to the Vapor 10 and it is sold as a fishing kayak. I removed the anchor stuff as she won’t use it. She goes with her friends some and last summer she has been using one of their kayak that’s similar with no bulkheads and zero flotation and they don’t have even any kind of a painter line on them. she ended up flipping it and it filled with water and she was in no danger but didn’t want to abandon the kayak and full of water she had a rough time saving the boat not herself. One thing I found appealing about this OT Trip 10 is from the seat back it has a bulkhead and a sealed hatch for dry storage. It looks like it will add quite a bit of flotation. In the bow it has a small foam block held in place by a single screw and the block doesn’t to me look like it will add much in the way of flotation. It is in the center and maybe 4” thick and about all it does is take up any storage space in the bow not that she will be storing anything up there.
I found these yoga balls quite tough we have had a couple for rolling our backs on for many years and they never need air added and they IMO are as tough as a truck inner tube maybe tougher. I looked tonight to see what smaller sizes they come in and found the smallest size will nicely fill the bow of her new kayak. They tend to fill the shape of the space you put them in and this kayak has a bit of a bubble head to the shape in the front and also a small dash that will trap the ball inside when filled. I figured it was under ten bucks on Amazon I would give it a try.
You can see pictures of my canoe version on the OT Guide 147 thread I started. Once I get hers in if it works I will post photos of that there as well.
Daisy chain some pool noodles and get back to us has to how it worked.
Back in pre-floatbag days before kayaks were a big industry we stuck punch balloons and dodge balls in the ends of our kayaks.
At first I was thinking of those red rubber balls “dodge balls” I remembered from grade school. They are quite a bit heavier than the yoga ball and not as likely to form to the hull shape. Something the thickness of a punch ball is much thinner and lighter would form great but wouldn’t take as much wear I thought.
On my canoe I put them inside a tough fabric bag that forces them to take that shape and size like the bladder in a football.
When I look at the shape of all these different kayaks some are much more tapered and these cheap rec kayaks have a pretty blunt bow shape closer to a ball than even my canoe.
I figure replacing the foam block with the $10 ball should give me 3-4 times the flotation on that end and balance the flotation each end much closer as long as the hatch actually works on the bow.
I think you could safely get away with tire innertubes that are properly secured. Inflatable floating toys are just going to give you a false sense of security.
I agree. The selection of a product that is purposefully designed and tested for the task at hand is the way to go. On the other hand many rec kayaks and canoes are sold without any floatation and at least around here no one bothers to look into adding it. Some people do and ether find the devices more than they want to spend or they don’t find a flotation product that is designed to fit in these cheap boats correctly and don’t find ways to securely fasten them in.
I find these yoga balls to be someplace in the middle and closer to the truck inner tube than a cheap toy ball. I see some of these balls claiming max weight bearing of 1000#. They are easy to inflate and hold air for years once blown up. They do change firmness with changes in temp just as any bladder would.
I also agree a false sense of security is a bad thing. I wouldn’t want someone that has been hugging the shoreline for years to suddenly feel they can take off in open water just because they added any type of flotation.
Like I said above I’m mainly looking at this as to help her save her kayak and not as much it saving her. She will be fine as we are very cautious as to where we paddle and in what water temps and with proper PFDs and all. If there was a danger of her getting hurt it might be more her trying to get a swamped boat out of the water and drained. When we are out in a group the first order would be to get the capsized swimmer to safety and then go back for the boat. If it is high out of the water and not on the bottom that’s a plus. 
I’ve wondered about expanding foam. Has anyone used it?
I’ve seen discussions that it’s surprisingly heavy.
I also have looked into expanding marine foams. They have their place in boat building but I find using them in a canoe or kayak a little to permanent for my liking. There is also the weight issue in these boats we carry around by hand a few pounds means a lot. Trapped air in a tough lightweight container is hard to beat.
Expanding foam…now we are talking $$$$.
Some have stuffed the boat with pool noodles. I used to put innertubes in the hulls of old wood sailing scows. But the truth is the air bag in the front of my recreational kayak fills the area and blocks off water from getting up there. Thus when I capsize the boat just the cockpit has water and can be emptied. It floats level. It often pops up from upside down with a near clear cockpit. Pool noodles, inner tubes, milk jugs, etc will just get all loose come out and let water in.
Do you have to use a air bag/float bag?..no. You can put what ever in there. Or you can leave it empty. But if you are going to do anything why not do the right thing? And make it a good installation.
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One way to secure the bag in the foredeck is to drill a hole up forward and run a line back to the back of the bag. Partial inflate then pull it forward. Then fully inflate and seal it off. The hole and line drip less water into the boat than my shoes. I leave the bag in the boat most times, deflated. Never had a mold problem, it is stored in Florida. As you see in one of the pictures the excess line is tied up to the bungee eyestraps to stay out of the way. The line is long enough so I don’t have to rethread it all the time.
The line stowed on the deck.
The bag moved back for display.
People will tell you to use glue in pad eyes…they come off. Or tie it to the pedals…that would get in the way of the feet and inhibit steering the rudder in this boat. This method does none of that.