: Permanent seems bad if you want the insides to dry out. But if the reason
: for avoiding commercial airbags is cost and availability in the right sizes,
: you could try a mesh bag filled with 3 litre wine bags. The mesh bag would
: be a perfecltly tailored fit for the boat, and be easy enough to pull into
: place with a line. Wine bags are free if you use wine boxes for cooking (or
: even drinking - they are good for paddle trips). They are not as durable as
: commercial airbags, but I use them in whitewater boats where they get a lot
: of hammer (repeatedly pulling them in and out, inflating and deflating to
: pack round flask, lunch, gear, etc.) and they last pretty well. A single
: bag failure is no big deal as that's typically under 10% of the volume in
: that end of the boat and I have a couple of dozen spares at any time...

: Lovely smell when you let the air out, too :-)

: Andy

Geez guys, if you shop around a little, commercial float bags aren't "that" expensive. They btw come up on Ebay fairly frequently for cheap.

Bill H.