Re: [Paddlewise] silly question about bow float bags

To add to this...  I was on the Lehigh, a Class 2-3 river earlier this year.
A Walden came down the river.  The paddler had a sprayskirt on.  At one of
the last rapids he flipped & came out of the boat (along with the
sprayskirt, of course).  He was instantly followed by the airbags which
pushed all the stuff he was carrying in the boat ahead of them.  Off they
all went down the river.  The water force in the drop pushed the boat down
to the bottom and kept it there.  It took a while to get it afloat again.
    So as was said, airbags do their job when the boat is filled with water.
They HAVE to stay in.
Joe P.

>> I am curious, though -- why can't they/you just pull the bag out into the
>> cockpit, inflate it and then push it back into the front of the boat?
Even
>> if my bag did not have the extension, pulling it in and out and
>> inflating/deflating it until it was perfect would be a rather easy thing
to
>> do.  Am I missing something here?
>
>Yep, you are missing something. Floatbags only do their designed job if
>they stay in the kayak even when it is filled with water. If you can pull
>an inflated float bag out with your hands, then the water can do the same.
>If the bag is inflated in place, then there is a greater chance of it
>getting wedged in with a bit more force.
>Cheers,
>Kevin
>
>                         -------------------------------
>                         |        Kevin Whilden         |
>                         |     kwhilden_at_seanet.com      |
>                         |   Kayak Academy Instructor   |
>                         | http://www.halcyon.com/kayak |
>                         -------------------------------
>
>
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