John,

You are asking good questions. Many novice kayakers (myself included, when I was a novice) don't think to ask those questions. Yes, a 1/4" kayak will float itself, but that's about it. You need much more bouyancy to float a kayaker. Like Kent said, with bulkheads, the boat floats like a cork. If you are in rough conditions where it is at all possible to hole the boat or lose/displace a hatch cover, then float bags are the best idea--inflated to completely fill the compartments.

: As you see I am trying to get all of this into my head. When you swamped your
: boats are you still in them or on the outside?

It's nearly impossible to swamp a kayak while you're in it. The only way I can think of is to have a wave break over your deck and a) you weren't wearing a sprayskirt or b) it "implodes" your sprayskirt, but the average beginning kayaker doesn't (or shouldn't) encounter too many breaking waves.

Even if you capsize, then pull your sprayskirt off the boat when you're upside down, very little water gets in the boat. Most of the water gets scooped in when you're flipping it back upright.

: If you are out of the boat do you have problems getting back in?
Yes. Everyone does. Nobody can do this "naturally" and everyone needs to practice these 'rescues'. It's not difficult after practice, but you need to have those skills honed before you actually need them. Practice in a warm pool at first, so you don't get too cold flailing in the water for an hour or two.

Which brings me to my other point--you have to be dressed for immersion. If you are not dressed for immersion, and inadvertently capsize, your body loses heat so quickly that you lose dexterity and motor control, and can't perform a rescue even if you know what you're doing. Disregard this comment if you live in the Caribbean!

: Do you have a pump to get rid of the
: water or dip it out?

You need to have either a hand pump, a foot pump, or an electric pump. Look at Australian Peter Carter's site for a biased opinion against hand pumps--he has some pretty good arguments, though!

Read every book you can get your hands on so you're familiar with all the concepts.

Practice or take classes to learn all the skills--there is no substitute for hands-on learning. You don't need to know how to roll, but you do need to know how to do a rescue.

Shawn