Adding foam for more buoyancy

[William Novotny]

One thing I have considered is the benefit of support a foam filling would have on stress areas ie. The seating area where the majority of your weight rests. I've noticed most sot kayaks after time start to leak around hatches due to your kayak flexing in the center where you sit. I've thought to add foam blocks under the seating area to prevent this and adding foam bracing down the outermost channels of the hull to make the hull a bit more rigid. I've never really been too concerned though but I have noticed that almost all kayaks I've owned older then a couple years old have had leaky hatches around these problem areas