Is It Possible To Give A Canoe Neutral Buoyancy And Not Sink?

If a canoe was fitted with a spray deck, it is perfectly possible to achieve neutral buoyancy and not sink.  By flooding the canoe with the right amount of water, it would be possible for it float on or just below the surface.

In fact, by replacing the spray deck to seal the water inside the canoe, the added weight of the water, which reduces buoyancy, would make it possible to execute a submarine-style dive underwater. Quite why anyone would want to do this remains open for debate. Indeed, it could be dangerous unless you were an expert canoeist.

Deliberately flooding your canoe does also raise the question of how you would pump the water out again without going ashore. This, too, need not be a problem with a fairly rudimentary hand or foot-operated pump to do the baling out.

In addition, there would be a requirement to work out the optimum volume of water to ingress, and this would vary depending on the dimensions of the canoe and the dimensions of the canoeist.