: Hi Jim, are you asking me or John? John would have to relay his account but I
: remember the thread from way back when
: http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/Archive40.pl/read/47766 As I
: recall, the side flotation only added stability when the boat was fully
: flooded - the water inside the cockpit tended to hold the opposite side of
: the boat down while you climbed back into the near side (instead of it
: wanting to roll over like a coke bottle).

Water will go where gravity pulls it. If you pull down on the near side of the yak, chances are, the water will be there soon, too.

With a side compartment, pushing the compartment under water actually displaces water outside the hull, so tends to push upward..

Displacing water inside the boat doesn't do you much good, as any water in the boat is still displacing an equal weight of water outside the boat for a net buoyancy gain of 0.

Shawn