<Mark wrote: I never liked the idea of floating around on a small raft out there, waiting helplessly for the authorities to come and rescue me. The alternative I chose was to include full foam floatation in the hull of Winnie the Pooh during the rebuild process.> I never liked the idea either! This sounds like a great idea sitting at home thinking about it. However in the real world situation of a boat nearly full of water is that the free surface effect slowly or rapidly turns the inside of the boat to a slurry of unidentifiable boat parts. If you are floundering in a very active sea it takes but a few hours for this to happen. Longer on a calmer day when you more likely didn't take on water anyway. This process is very hard to describe unless you've been there but I assure you that a liferaft is a better place than the inside of a boat nearly filled with water in big seas. Think of trying to stand in a river moving at 10 kts up to your neck and it changes direction every few seconds. Soon you to would be part of the slurry. I think flotation gives one a false sense of security. Better to go for the liferaft/ditch bag options, IMHO. YMMV Dave & Nancy Swan Song Roughwater 58