Pool Noodles (Fun Noodles) For Flotation

Many people on the internet have suggested putting fun noodles underneath the bow and stern decks of boats, also they suggest putting the noodles around the gunnels. We tested it, and it clearly DOES NOT WORK.

The problem is that fun noodles are cylinders and they do not pack very well, there is so much air space around each cylinder and they have a hole down the middle. Putting sheets of foam under the decks has a better chance of working, but keep in mind how much foam you will need, and how the foam is placed.

This is duck has 18" high sides, and you can see how far the boat can go over before it takes on water.

When the boat is let go, the entire cockpit becomes flooded with a person inside. He attempted to bail while inside, it is a very futile effort because one of the two gunnels stays awash the entire time.

He got out, and rocked the boat back and forth in an attempt to let the hull rise to rid the water. Not much went out, and he started to bail. In deep water, he would have to try and swim next to the boat while reaching over the gunnel to bail water out. As he reaches over, the gunnel would become awash again, and the boat would become completely swamped again.

Here is my friend Tim Cowden with his kayak, and he attached fun noodles to the sides so we can test it out. He tipped it enough to put the gunnel under, and water rushed in, which swamped the hull.

He tried to bail out the water, but same problem as the PDRacer from above. The noodles don't lift the hull, so when righted it is swamped, and then whenever water is bailed, more will slop in over the gunnel.