Spray cover vs. float bags.

[Idiot Savant]

I've never been a spray cover guy. Seems like overkill for the vast majority of trips I'm likely to go on.
I have three things against them: cost, inconvenience, entrapment. For the most part, they seem like more trouble than they're worth.
But a lot of experts swear by them and seems like I'm seeing more and more of them. In the far north, like the Yukon and NWT, you hardly see a canoe without a spray cover.
White water canoeist use inflatable float bags, not spray covers. I've always taken the position that my dry bags, strapped down, act as float bags and I might fill in the ends with inflatable bags.
I don't know. What do you think? Let's hear pros and cons pf spray covers vs. inflatable float bags.

 

[Mike McCrea]

I don’t think of it as spray covers vs floatbags, I use one or the other depending on the trip. They serve different purposes, and most of our canoes are outfitted for either.

Float bags are for occluding water in a capsized hull, so it floats higher and is easier to recover and, floating higher, is less likely to be damaged when tumbling unoccupied down some rocky river. If you are capable of rolling an open canoe then too, but that is skill which I have never possessed.

Spray covers, for my purposes, are for keeping out rain and splash and waves, and preventing some amount of wind catch on breezy open water.

We have partial spray covers for several of our canoes. I am not a fan of using full covers with a tunnel skirt, and partial covers are a good compromise, with far less entrapment possibilities, and easier entry and exit at launches and landings.

IMG019 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P3250016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

PC110012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

PB260044 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

 

[yellowcanoe]

They have different purposes. In the Far North wave trains are very high and can let a lot of water in your boat. There usually is a significant load in the canoe for a multi week expedition and no room for float bags. Packs have a lot of air in them so they do aid in flotation though not as much as a full air bag. And they do provide another benefit of float bags... occupying space so that water cannot occupy that space. The spray cover can help keep the packs in the boat. Spray covers require practice; the well designed ones do not entrap. Just as in kayaking you need to practice a wet exit.

Float bags displace water so that the volume of water possible in a canoe is less so that rescue of a pinned boat is easier.

No do not trust your dry bag.. As a test please fill one with air. seal and hold underwater for 30 minutes.
They are not meant for sustained immersion.

White water day boating is a different animal.. Usually does not require several packs and food.