: hi john

: i know you're concerned about having too much floatation that over rides the
: side chambers, but i'd experiment with air bags and technique first. i
: would think IF the safe way is for the main body of the yak to have less
: air for the side chambers to work more effectively, then air bags could do
: a close to similar thing(as the smaller bouys) by just being deflated. if
: they have to be really deflated, maybe then some sort of restraint would
: keep their much lower size in place (netting bulkhead, line to back ,
: partial bulkhead to sorta restrain). then maybe lengthen the blow tubes a
: bit and blow out the excess water by displacement when in the yak. And
: then you have the flexibility of really using then when technique
: increases and of course when loaded with gear(its self righting like the
: water)which the bag'll keep in place.

: theres something really annoying about the idea of intentionally filling the
: yak in order to make it more stable if it's already clear, esp as your yak
: is already wide at 28in., but i guess that low floatation moment does it.

: -mick

Yes Mick, the bow and stern floatation can't be too large or the side floatation may not work as intended. When I tried out the self rescue and swamped paddling I had foam flotation in bags about the size of my 9" buoys in each end of the yak. So this should work OK but every thing has to be tested along the way. What worries me is that most of my camping gear will be in water tight bags and will cause too much floatation which will negate the self rescue feature. Wheather I can add enough water with the canvas bucket to over come this is something I will have to test out later. With and without camping gear will make this two different boats I'm afraid.

John