no really, what about floatation foam in your kayak?

Not ot pound the PFD point to much but you are making a bad assumtion in your thought process J, that you will be concious when you hit the water. It does not matter how good of shape you are in or how many years you had on the swim team, if you are out cold you are toast without a PFD. Crazy stuff happens in the ocean, you know that. 

Not ot pound the PFD point to much but you are making a bad assumtion in your thought process J, that you will be concious when you hit the water. It does not matter how good of shape you are in or how many years you had on the swim team, if you are out cold you are toast without a PFD. Crazy stuff happens in the ocean, you know that. 

just to give another example - ....when paddling right next to Bill...there were times when I just felt the need to give him a few whacks on the head with my paddle....why? Cause he can't paddle straight....so, if I ever ever hit him a little too hard, It would feel good to know that he will be floating around with his properly fitted PFD 

love ya bill 

and J....if I ever see you paddling around with a big salmon strapped on your deck....I may just come from behind and whack you as well...and take that salmon with me.....I do have a "Pirate" sticker on my P15 

OK ... perhaps when fishing with Mooch, a helmet would have higher priority than a PFD.

-Allen

no, bill, I have thought about it. if getting knocked unconcious was a major (first order) issue, I should open
my big mouth less, I have had to duck a lot of punches in my day.

no, I'm (mostly) kidding, about that one, but really if head injury was the main issue, I'd wear a helmet.

fixing the issue of being knocked out by wearing a pfd is a second order fix. the first order fix would
be to wear a helmet, but I don't see any of you guys with helmets (thank goodness, the dorky
meter would be off the scale!)

I can't ollie, but I grew up skating pools and I still skate the local bowls and there
I wear a helmet because concrete is really hard. so I'm not averse to uncomfortable
but appropriate protection.

but I don't wear a helmet surfing for instance. The water is soft. the boards aren't really that hard either,
but it sucks when a kayaker enters the lineup, then I need a helmet,  . kooooooook.  .

so you have a point, but it is a second order effect and marginal. what are the chances you get knocked
unconcious, but then not saved except by your PFD? it's a marginal chance @ best for a fair bit of
discomfort.

The reason to wear one is because you don't have wetsuit flotation (you are in warm water) and you
would have to swim a hell of a long way or you aren't a real good swimmer. 

I would wear one in san diego or baja for example. wearing one in a local lake really rankles. I would rather not fish it.

but we are way off base, I think it interesting that blue does indeed have flotation in his yak! At this point a bunch
of burly guys have admitted to having non-stock flotation. that says something to me.

But it's not puncture (shark) proof. and over time it will fail as all inflatable things do, generally at the worst time.

foam is still looking like a good option especially since I have an aging (uv damage?) boat but I will go with some
kind of less permanent safety flotation in the meantime.

well, I ordered a cheap pfd from cabelas, they had one 50% off.
but if I'm wearing a full wetsuit, I probably won't be wearing it.

what are the chances you get knocked unconcious, but then not saved except by your PFD? it's a marginal chance @ best for a fair bit of discomfort.

I'd say about the same chances as having whitey puncture your kayak leaving you in a mess in which you need the flotation.   

-Allen

 


polesquared, you are just a natural contrarian. my kind of guy,  .

just to spite you, I bet it will be a marlin bill that punctures your kayak!

oh, the cruel irony!

okay, what about being run over by a boat?

If a power boat is bearing down on me I'm going to pull a perfect swan dive,
and I'll get about 4 feet under, then I'd come up to my dented but ever-floating kayak.

unlikely? well, I have had to duck out of control surfers before. no different. and I've been
hit by a car while on my bicycle. stuff happens.

but with a pfd, I would not get under far enough and I'd get hit by the
hull or worse the prop, further it would hit my head because
I couldn't get it sunk deep enough because of that stupid pfd.
then my kayak would be cracked and sinking and I'd die of hypothermia while
unconcious and floating around in my pfd..

  

Touche!

BTW, isn't it required to have a PFD at least on board?

-Allen

yeah it is required, but I can't imagine it's a priority of enforcement.

blue, not really. But I am counting on air-inflated stuff to fail. I do want failsafe flotation.

on the other hand, they had some he-uge trebles at fisherman's warehouse a couple weeks
back, I could hang a couple through the scupper holes and at least hook the guy that hits me, 

I agree with bluekayak on this one.  You don't need much to float the kayak one ore two pool noodles would do the trick if the hatches are closed.  what I would work on is a way to pump out the kayak without opening the hatch.  You could put a one way shut off valve behind the seat that a hand bilge pump connects to and a tube running to the lowest spot on the kayak. that way you could pump out any water in the hull without the fear of being swamped.

On the floatation side I have an extreme with built in floatation but I don't think it is worth the extra weight.  I have also Cut some closed cell foam to make bulkheads in my kayak one up front that holds my battery and one in front of my center hatch to keep my tackle boxes from sliding forward out of reach.

Yak, yak, yak.  Stop it and just  foam it.  I've done the test long ago. 

2-part foam in the midsection of both my SOT  OK  Classic and Pro.   Adds about  5 pounds weight but it is now unsinkable.   Totally filled with water,  then added nearly 100 pound of weight into cockpit:  still floats!

longblade, if we just do it, then we will have nothing to talk about!

can you say more about what brand you used, and how you did it?

I think it's too cold outside for it to work for me yet.

I used the stuff from  TAP Plastics.   Yes do it in the summer but not when it is too hot.  A lot of thought went into this one.  If there is enough interest I'll continue and post details.

please post what you can, I'm pretty sure there is interest. certainly I have interest.