That isn’t what you said in post 5 though or at least i misread what you were saying.
There is another distinction between yoga ball and any kind of rubber flotation device and ridged devices made from vinyl or rubberized cloth materials and that is they stretch and deform. Think of it like a regular balloon and a Mylar balloon. When the Mylar balloon starts to lose pressure it gets saggy instantly, a rubber balloon will still look the same just smaller.
This is maybe why I don’t see the change as much with mine hot to cool days I have inflated them to a point where when they cool they still hold shape. 
Your video is funny and it would be funny if it weren’t so true. This guy and his buddies are what gives the whole rec-kayak image a bad name. I can go out on any weekend on our river here and see a dozen of these guys just waiting to make that video. They show him perfect along with his girlfriend. No PFD and as he is going down he finds it and puts it on but without buckling it. There is one redeeming safety feature to the video and that is she is smart enough to keep her distance and make a movie as in getting any closer he will have her in the water with him.
It does look like the one hatch compartment is working to save the boat.
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Flotation inside a dry hull does not add buoyancy. It is the hull that displaces water and it is the displaced water that creates buoyancy. Only if the flotation increased the volume of the hull would it add buoyancy.
In fact, adding flotation to a dry canoe or kayak will result in the hull riding slightly lower in the water as a result of the weight of the flotation itself and whatever device(s) are used to restrain it.
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Swamping your boat or at least flipping it upside down and then righting it to see how much water remains is a great idea everyone should try.
In the case of my canoe my air bags are round cylinders that fit the hull on the bottom pretty well and the cylinders extend slightly above the gunwales so the strapping against the tops keep them planted firmly down. When my canoe is upside down sitting in the water it is virtually empty of water. It is in flipping it back upright it picks up some water by way of scooping and the faster it is flipped the less water that gets in. A line run from the far side and over the bow with it upside down that can be pulled from the water is pretty fast.
I have contemplated putting sponsons on to keep the scooping down and it could even be on the inside of the canoe up by the gunwale I think. I’m surprised at how few rec-canoes don’t have sponsons and how few aftermarket selections there are out there.
I also normally carry a cooler that is light weight and would float that fits side to side and is the same height as the canoe is deep. I secure it in and I have the lid secured to stay shut. I have lunch in there on ice and some water and maybe fish I have caught but it is mostly air and I don’t trust the top seal to be water tight. That cooler space is a lot of flotation potential also. I have been looking around for a new one with a lid that seals tight.
Yes yes of course you guys are right… easily illustrated by putting a small bowl in a larger and pressing into water… the small bowl does not float until water comes over side of larger. And buoyant objects don’t float in a dry canoe.
Too much coffee, or maybe too little…
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well if the cooler spills just remember beer floats (only slightly) and pop sinks. I snagged a high end mexican import on the pagosa springs town run, arkansas river. Actually I think I was on the san Juan that day. Beer was probably lost by a tuber. I believe in bein’ international- wvirginian drinking mexican beer in colorado on a river named for Puerto Rico City, I’m assuming the can floated away from a texan (majority of tourists in Co) consumed at a take out called yamaguchi park. Can’t make that stuff up- of course you can be patriotic but I’m not sure red, white and blue is made anymore, might have to settle for a pbr- the can is red white and blue.
My daughter tells me I’m a free-a-tarian. If it’s free I’'ll eat or drink it.
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bud I like your name, buy a new cooler or a roll of duct tape and a knife, a popular overnight option for sealing coolers, especially for multiple day use.
pblanc I know some rivers where the hull displaces the water and puts it right into the bow of the canoe. I figure you know about those places as well. If canoes aren’t decked or skirted, then the air bag can actually deflect the water away from entering ithe boat. kinda important when running drops and such.
Side air bags that sit inside the canoe hull adjacent to the paddler(s) seem to be more popular in Britain than in the US for some reason.
It is not uncommon for whitewater open boaters to glue minicell panels into the sides of their boats in the cockpit area to displace water. This not only makes reentry easier, it makes rolling the canoe easier since the hull scoops less water as it comes up. Only a few gallons of water add a lot of weight that resists the hull rotation to an upright position.
Ray Goodwin is a pretty well-respected British canoeist who has written pretty extensively on a variety of topics including swiftwater rescue and recovery. He has worked out a system for unassisted deep water canoe reentry that is somewhat innovative and incorporates side air bags. It is rather slow and has a lot of moving parts, but it works for him.
interesting system he has developed. Using water in a bag as a counter weight a nifty idea.
I enjoyed the beer story. I bought a new car once and my father in law said “My God I didn’t think new was in your vocabulary”. The house we live in now is in a quaint little town that French Creek runs thru and I found a house for sale that had been abandoned for several years and needed a lot of work got it for $24k and the total taxes are $350 a year. Took a year buying every item to rebuild the place except drywall off of Craigslist or other person to person. Free is best but cheap is good too and tax free is really good. We have nice place now no payments and canoeing out my back door. Oh did forget retired also.
Your daughters name for you made me laugh. When my son was in high school he would be going someplace with me in my old truck and I would see a pile of stuff piled at the curb and start to slow down to take a look and he would yell at me that he knows the girl that lives there and doesn’t want to commit social suicide with his dad picking thru her junk. I said but that push mower looks so nice and he said ya like the 10 you have already.
Good to know beer floats here I thought only light beer floated. I will think on the duct tape solution and keep my eye open for free floating beer.
Thanks for the video I watched one of his a while back likely the one before this one and he was filling his bag and hanging it but didn’t have the side float bags in. In that video I thought he had too much of the bag in the water. What he needs it to get it higher and on a longer arm to counter his weight? I picture a telescoping thwart that you could pull out and hang a water bag from or stick a float on. I know it can be done with a paddle and tying it around the boat and such but a guy like this guy that is out in the open channel alone in cold water needs something fast and sure already rigged to go. Putting buckets into bags and filling and sealing them sounds like a lot of time messing around especially when he first flipped the boat with his side bags he didn’t have much water in there most of it came in when he pressed with his weight getting in. Seems like something rigged to flip out with a float ready to go and a stirrup and he could be back in quick.
I still haven’t tested my hook assisted reentry stirrup yet maybe this weekend. When I’m free finding someone to go along isn’t working and when I find someone the weather is bad. I started a thread and most didn’t like the idea.
I converted that OT147 to a solo so I have loads of room on both sides I don’t really use with sitting in the center. For me a high up inside sponson would do the job keeping scooped water out. Then I get to thinking the bolt on ones on the outside will work too. Seems like with outside sponsons most of the time the canoe won’t flip all the way over even if you do go out. I don’t know for sure though.
Here are a couple vids of side bags. I’m looking for a vid of flipping a canoe with foam sponsons if anyone knows of one?
Only if you pump helium into the floatation!
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Maybe, but note that this thread got revived after my separate post about a specific thread about Old Town Twin Herons. See Missing Buoyancy in Old Town Twin Heron
I found a US vendor for a nearly identical float bag as the first video (plus many other sizes):
They’re marketed for sailboats, so there may be a wider range of vendors for these bags (not just in the UK). I’m overdue to practice solo re-entries in my 16’ canoe, but reckon I’d benefit from the help of a side float bag.
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I have these for my Wayfarer and Scamp sail boats for moving them off the beach and added floatation in the Wayfarer though the boat doesn’t need extra to right it and sail the water out once moving again. The Scamp has more than enough built-in floatation. Very tough bags indeed. Expensive yes. If I feel the need for canoe sponsons these will fill that bill.
Beach Rollers - Duckworks Boat Builders Supply
I also have 2 pairs of ww float bags for my solo canoes that completely fill the ends. came with used boats I have bought in the past. Basically, they were free as I made money selling the boats latter without the bags.
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Thanks for posting the link.
Here are a couple more videos of side bags and how they work.
Figuring out how to lace them in and not having something so wide as to not be practical in a solo seat configuration is what I have been working on. In many ways the idea of sponsons on the outside solve a lot of problems. They do make a wide canoe even wider and can cause something to snag against them if you run areas where you are not out in open waters.
The ideal thing would be tall thin floatation that would fit down each side and be curved to a shape like the hull and readily attached without adding much weight. I’m a little surprised some company hasn’t made something like that to fit their canoes perfectly.
I have some 5” pool noodles that I keep looking at and wondering how I could make those into side floats for inside the hull.
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I was wondering if anyone had tried the pool noodle approach! Please keep us posted on what you learn.
A lot of people have used the 3” noodles and chopped them into lengths and stuffed them in wherever they fit for added flotation. I never saw the 5” around and they have a much larger cross section. I ordered (4) 5” x 72” length black ones on line and I no sooner got them than Wal-Mart had 5” red ones out so I bought 4 more. We have family that has pools so I figured if they didn’t work out I could donate them. Two rows of 5” would be about the perfect use of space in my canoe.
If I end up trying them I will post.
