Pros and cons........
With the flotation wouldn't the boat ride high negating the cause and affect concerning trapping water with a skirt? I dunno, seems like it would be nice to just keep the stuff out to begin with. A horrible thought though to consider getting swept up underneath......all over but the crying as they say. Maybe I'll just do partial coverings. I'll likely be to chicken to need anything more than that anyways. What's  the old saying....."I've seen bold canoeists and I've seen old canoeists but not to many bold, old canoeists"

I have been looking at floatation all morning. I came across this thread on how to install the webbing without drilling holes in the boat. It's near the bottom of the page, what do you think?
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My bags and duffels are absolutely water tight. They should provide quite a bit of additional floatation provided they are lashed in place. I have read pro and con regarding this. One view was that your bags should be leashed but allowed to float free. Not crazy about having several lines about. When I flipped my Merlin with 2 duffels inside I was sort of surprised at how high it floated upside down. I was able to get to shore rather easily. Of course that is a small carbon fiber boat loaded for a day trip but still the concept remains the same and likely even more important in moving water, that is, that it remain as buoyant as possible. This is all new to me. I think I'm on the right track but what say you?