Picked up the new Revolution this afternoon, had fun trying to sink it

Nice idea, will experiment.  Vaccumed out the hull today, interesting the plastic and metal that gets left behind, no diamonds however! holt

ok, which one of you is looking for added floatation , again? PM me, and include an off site address. i have a few emails on that subject i'll share with you.

Wandering: I'd be interested in the email.

You cannot add flotation to a kayak*.  Floating objects are capable of floating because they displace water equal to their mass. While perhaps not detectable by the human eye, a kayak full of balloons or pool noodles will sit lower in the water than a kayak with nothing in it because the stuffed kayak has more mass. Filling a kayak with water (fish, lead, fisherman) increases the specific gravity, and it will sink after it surpasses the specific gravity of water (being 1). Because air, foam, noodles, etc, have a lower specific gravity than water, and because they displace more area than water inside a kayak, the kayak can still float.

Take 4 tupperware containers of the same size. Put the lid on the first one, trapping only air (tupperware 1 - the control)).  Fill the second one with foam and put the lid on (tupperware 2).  Fill the third with water and put the lid on (tupperware 3). Finally, fill the last halfway with foam, and top it off with water, and put the lid on (tupperware 4).  Now, fill up your kitchen sink with water.  The one that floats the highest is the one with just air (tupperware 1).  The next highest will be the one with just foam (tupperware 2).  The third highest, resting probably near halfway under water will be the water and foam (tupperware 4).  Just under the surface of the water will be the one full of water (tupperware 3).  You'd see from this experiment that adding flotation bags, foam, pool noodles, ping pong balls, etc, will NOT help something float better than having nothing at all (tupperware 1). What foam, noodles, etc DOES do is limit the amount of water entering the boat and thus more greatly influencing the specific gravity of the boat in extreme cases.  In the worst case scenario of your boat being full of water, its better to only be half full of water (tupperware 4 - which would actually turn on its side if the foam was trapped under the water) than to be completely full (tupperware 3).

Don't get me wrong, pool noodles and other similar devices are VERY important things to have inside your boat. If you're not using the space, then make sure that water cannot use it against you.  I'm just saying that a couple noodles won't likely make much difference, and you can't easily add more flotation without changing the mass (and therefore the dimentions/shape) of the yak



*UNLESS you had air-filled devices filled with gasses with a VERY low specific gravity such as hydrogen or helium to the point that they were able to float in air.

I've always believed the purpose of adding flotation to a kayak is to increase the chances of self rescue if you become completely swamped. If the kayak is totally submerged, it would be very difficult to pump the remaining water out. Given a few inches of freeboard (thanks to the noodles) and water circumstances allowing it, having a bilge pump gives you a fighting chance to remove enough water to eventually be able to paddle back in.

Obviously this is easier with a buddy....

still need to remember to have a better place for my wallet than the pants pocket Also need to figure out how to pump out the boat with sloppy water, the 8" open hatch sure seems risky.

I bought a water tight plastic container from Wholesale Sports (or whatever Sportsman's warehouse has become) there in Lacey. They are over with the camping supplies. It holds my wallet, cell phone, camera, keys, Garmin Rhino GPS/radio, and what ever small pocket items I may have on me ie... gum, knife, change, chapstick. It's completely water tight, and it floats with all that stuff in it. on near shore/short paddles I just leave it on the deck, or throw it in the cooler to keep my electronics cool and out of the sun. On deeper/longer excursions, I throw it inside the hull. I plan to add some 1" thick self adhesive foam to the outside of the bottom to help keep it from sliding around in the boat (not that has been a problem yet), and it will also add to it's buoyancy.