I've been paddling around in my Pungo for over a year now loving every minute of this little beastie. The water was so warm in Annapolis harbor the other day that I decided it was time for me to practice self-rescues by completely swamping the boat. First off I was glad to see that even completely full of water it didn't sink, however there's no way it stays a float with me in it. The other thing I noticed is that you'd have to have arms like the hulk to pump all that water out. The boat's just too heavy to lift one end out of the water while not touching bottom. I guess I'll have to carry a bucket or use the inside area of my paddle float as a water bag to scoop all of that water out before I could get back in. Realizing this does not make me feel safe when the water gets going and the wind is blowing. I'm curious how many Pungo owners out there put air bags in the front-rear of their boats in order to prevent a full swamping? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> I'm curious how many Pungo owners out there put air bags > in the front-rear of their boats in order to prevent a full swamping? I'd think that *any* boat without air tight bulkheads (and even some that do) should have flotation bags forward and aft. In many circumstances, it's advisable to use them inside the hatches if you're paddling empty - hatches and bulkheads fail from time to time. Anything that displaces water is a good thing. Well, except things that sink, like lead, sandbags, etc. :-) And, don't forget, if the conditions were bad enough to swamp your Pungo, they are likely to be bad enough that you can't bail it out as you describe. It will be filling back up as fast or faster than you can empty it. OTOH, if you swamped for reasons other than weather or water conditions, then no worries. Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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