Side flotation: How it helps emptying water and assisting re-entry

[Glenn MacGrady]

The Boston Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) was famous for decades for lashing two 6'x2" planks of ethafoam under the inwales on both insides of their whitewater open canoes. Maybe they still do. This was in addition to end flotation bags.

The purpose of the side flotation is to float the canoe higher when capsized, which reduces pin/wrap danger in rapids, and to make it easier to remove more water from the canoe when flipping it over for a paddler re-entry. The side flotation also makes it easier to drain water out of your canoe simply by heeling it over to the rail when inside the canoe.

These last two benefits also apply for side flotation in a flat water canoe. But ethafoam planks are heavy. Side flotation bags aren't. Here are two videos that demonstrate side flotation bag use.

This first video shows a canoe with a side float bag installed on only one side of the canoe, which demonstrates how the side float bag can reduce water intake when flipping a capsized canoe, even when just doing a roll flip rather than an aerial (Capistrano) flip.

This second video shows Greg Spencer in the Lake District of England re-entering and sitting on the rails of a 14'x30" solo canoe equipped with side float bags on each side. Note that he can get the canoe almost completely dry with his well-practiced Capistrano flip technique. This is difficult to do with a heavy canoe and with a canoe not having adequate end flotation, and is made easier to do with the lightweight side flotation.

I know @Alan Gage has experimented with solo re-entry into canoes with different types of end flotation, but perhaps not with side flotation.

 

[Jim Dodd]

The Little Egret canoe, already has rather large flotation chambers, and the paddler, has a good life jacket, that keeps him high above the water.
Two big advantages, not to mention the small size of the canoe.

Interesting !


Jim

 

[Benson Gray]

A slightly related topic is that Old Town and other canoe builders have promoted the benefits of sponsons for a long time. The page below from their 1947 catalog shows that you can still sail a canoe with sponsons even if it is full of water. The link below has more about this canoe which is still being sailed occasionally (without being submerged).

Benson

An Heirloom Canoe | Maine Boats Homes & Harbors

maineboats.com

 

[tketcham]

I don't know about making it easier to re-enter a capsized canoe but I've used side flotation bags (10" x 40") in my 18.5' Odyssey tandem and it works great keeping the canoe stabilized when big whitecaps swamp the canoe. We were on a stretch of the Columbia River when the wind started howling up the river and the waves got huge in a hurry. Because we had the side air bags we decided to just barrel through as best we could and take on water. (No spray cover.) We'd try to hug the shore and stay out of the worst of the wind but then we'd have to get around a point and plow through a series of big breakers, the canoe would take on water and swamp, we'd barge in to shore and dump (most of) the water out. Get back in and charge down river again. We did that about four times and had swamped again but getting close to the take out so just kept paddling with the swamped canoe. Because of the side flotation bags, plus all the dry bags full of gear/air, the canoe was actually quite stable and paddled well enough that we just barged the last 300 meters into the take out cove. Our buddies in sea kayaks had already reached the take out and had a good laugh as we barged our way into the cove.

Added: I just read Benson's post and the last photo of the swamped canoe brought back memories. Our canoe was riding a bit higher than that though.

 

[MrPoling]

Last month I did a practice swim. I did it with just a baling scoop and swim trunks. The fiberglass Explorer is too heavy to toss. Bailing it out enough to climb in then bailing it empty was a cold chore.

I normally carry flotation open water or white water.

Ive wondered about side floatation but never tried it. I think bigger end flotation is the best place to start because it controls the front to back trim when swamped.

I think the other disadvantage of side flotation is it won't stop the water from sloshing end to end.

 

[Erica]

When I took some solo whitewater lessons from Jimmy Yocum at Nantahala, he made me swamp the canoe and get it to shore before he did anything else with me.

 

[dutchlennart]

Side floatation is a great solution for many problems when paddling open water.
Ray goodwins expliation is better then me typing a zillion words

 

[MrPoling]

Side floatation is a great solution for many problems when paddling open water.
Ray goodwins expliation is better then me typing a zillion words

That's a good video. I like how he's done it enough to know it works. Bonus for shooting the video in open water with a little swell.

I agree with him too about practicing whatever setup you have.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Side floatation is a great solution for many problems when paddling open water.
Ray goodwins expliation is better then me typing a zillion words

Ray points out multiple times that paddlers should have a self-rescue system that suits their skills, abilities, ages and physical conditions. That's reasonable.

However, the system he demonstrates—filling a dry bag with inserted plastic bucket with water, then rolling it closed, then clipping it onto special loops to serve as a counterweight, all while spending long minutes in cold water—doesn't depend much on his skimpy side flotation and is rather kludgy and Rube Goldberg-esque. For anyone with the strength and modest athletic ability, installing some thigh straps and learning how to roll an open canoe is much faster and more efficient self-rescue technique and less likely to result in hypothermia.

For those who physically can't learn or effectuate a roll reliably, like geezerish yours truly, my solution is not to go 30 miles off shore in a canoe alone as Ray says he has. I dress for immersion, stay within a swimmable distance to shore as much as possible, and only venture into a long crossing in mild conditions if I don't have paddling companions.

This rules out many paddling venues such as the open ocean and large windy lakes with big bays. That's fine with me because those venues suck rocks; I prefer rivers, streams, swamps, connected ponds, and intimate aquatic environs. Your nautical mileage may vary.

 

[dutchlennart]

When Ray is in a canoe on open waters in winxy conditions . It will be with a sailing rig. I have seen much but a person roling an canoe with a sailing rig is not one of these.

Sadly i can not find another video thatwas once on the www with another guy that was a good one about this topic as well. There you could see the big difference in how much water can be the canoe when flipping it with side floatation.

I might need to redo that or find it.

Bags is bow and stern are good on moving waters. On open water sidebags are to me a very valuable addition.