you all ever go out SOLO?

Saw this one in sf today

in closing know your limits, always learn from your mistakes, learn from other people's mistakes and always over prepare.
while it is good to be able to swim a long distance from what I understan, rescue personal say it is best to stay where you are and wait for your rescue.

Pack your SOT kayak full of pool noodles, and it's not going to sink. And "yes" to staying with your kayak and carrying redundant safety systems...

I wonder how many noodles it would take to keep mine afloat.

in closing know your limits, always learn from your mistakes, learn from other people's mistakes and always over prepare.
while it is good to be able to swim a long distance from what I understan, rescue personal say it is best to stay where you are and wait for your rescue.

Pack your SOT kayak full of pool noodles, and it's not going to sink. And "yes" to staying with your kayak and carrying redundant safety systems...

I wonder how many noodles it would take to keep mine afloat.

Your typical run-of-the-mill pool noodle provides about 250lbs of displacement. Not that only one or two will definitely keep you afloat - not necessarily how buoyancy works - but a bunch pool noodles in the hull would certainly help displace water and keep you afloat. At $1, I've got about 20 or so in each kayak.

Something else I've considered - what about putting additional flotation above the waterline? These huge kayaks take a lot of work to flip back over if they do capsize, and additional flotation above the waterline would add to the righting force when upside-down, helping make it easier to flip right-side-up. I'm due for a little self-rescue practice soon, I might mess around and try a few things out.

in closing know your limits, always learn from your mistakes, learn from other people's mistakes and always over prepare.
while it is good to be able to swim a long distance from what I understan, rescue personal say it is best to stay where you are and wait for your rescue.

Pack your SOT kayak full of pool noodles, and it's not going to sink. And "yes" to staying with your kayak and carrying redundant safety systems...

I wonder how many noodles it would take to keep mine afloat.

Your typical run-of-the-mill pool noodle provides about 250lbs of displacement. Not that only one or two will definitely keep you afloat - not necessarily how buoyancy works - but a bunch pool noodles in the hull would certainly help displace water and keep you afloat. At $1, I've got about 20 or so in each kayak.

Something else I've considered - what about putting additional flotation above the waterline? These huge kayaks take a lot of work to flip back over if they do capsize, and additional flotation above the waterline would add to the righting force when upside-down, helping make it easier to flip right-side-up. I'm due for a little self-rescue practice soon, I might mess around and try a few things out.

My Radar has limited in hull storage area, maybe I could fit some on each edge. I wonder if I could pump in some canned foam thru the drain plug hole.

I keep an emergency rescue ladder on my kayak. Attach it to one side of a capsized kayak and throw it over. Then swim around and pull on the ladder while pushing on the kayak with your feet to easily flip it back over.

Climbing onto a kayak with a rescue ladder tends to flip the kayak so I keep an empty dry bag to fill with water and use as a counter balance if I ever need it.

I asked AI online and got two different answers about how much weight a pool noodle supports. The 250 lb answer is a person. 8-12 lbs is how much plastic, fishing poles and sinkers it can support.

It varies of course by mfr and model. The outside diameter of the noodle, center hole diameter and length are all factors. For planning purposes, 7lbs per noodle is a solid number to use IME. Solid noodles without center holes are available as well.

It's really more about how much space in the hull that they occupy, that water now can't occupy.  Same idea as a Boston Whaler - nearly unsinkable because the hull cannot fill with water.

I wouldn't use canned foam in a kayak - it won't end well. Canned foam is porous, and will eventually fill with water.  Then it will degrade and make a mess inside your kayak. There is a pretty entertaining thread on here somewhere about this - a good read.

My tarpon has an inflatable that fits tight into the bow interior but thats the original 160 with a big front hatch and a lot of stow space

I think it's made for closed deck yaks

Most SOTs don't have that kind of space

I found an old paddle float from my sea kayaking days. It takes up very little room.
If you flip, many people tend to re-flip their yaks when trying to get back in.
To avoid this, you inflate the paddle float and it goes on the end of your paddle over one blade. Then you hold the paddle perpendicular across the top of the yak with the float end out in the water like an outrigger and hook you leg over it, which allows you to crawl back on/into the yak without tipping it back over.
Of course if you are not alone, it's easier to have another kayaker steady your yak. The T rescue has them bring the upside down yak over their bow to drain some water out before righting it. I'm not sure how well this works with these 80 - 100lb beasts.
And all of this is much harder to perform in rough seas than it is in calmer bay waters.

JDC wrote:

<snipped> . . . And all of this is much harder to perform in rough seas than it is in calmer bay waters.

Agreed, and then there is all our gear on deck, too

I've going out in the ocean with one or more buddies. I guess I am lucky I know some great guys that share a common kayaking interest and open schedules. I always have my Shark Shield dangling over the side.
https://youtu.be/99YA7HQIJuo?si=1Fb7XwDP9K57IAY8

It's really more about how much space in the hull that they occupy, that water now can't occupy.  Same idea as a Boston Whaler - nearly unsinkable because the hull cannot fill with water.

I wouldn't use canned foam in a kayak - it won't end well. Canned foam is porous, and will eventually fill with water.  Then it will degrade and make a mess inside your kayak. There is a pretty entertaining thread on here somewhere about this - a good read.

Probably so. I believe there is water based foams and petroleum based. The water based definitely would be a mess. The problem with all of them is you can’t clean it up if it goes wrong.

A first timer dialing in to ncka for safety tips could be forgiven for being utterly confused

Or anyone for that matter

I wonder how many noodles it would take to keep mine afloat.

On the Hobie forum, people have actually tested this, and the answer is surprisingly few will do the trick, even for heavy Hobie kayaks. It's easy to pack a dozen or so inside, and that's way overkill....