Oci-One Kanubi wrote:
Peter typed:

I don't think it's careless at all. My "Standard College Dictionary" gives
as the third definition of sponson "An air tank built into the sides of a
canoe to improve stability and prevent sinking." The air tanks under the
seats of the dinghies I sailed were "built into the sides of those boats to
improve stability and prevent sinking" and on that basis I asserted that
they acted as internal sponsons.


There can
be NO SUCH THING as an "internal sponson".

That doesn't seem to be the view of my dictionary, nor is it the view of
Klepper, Folbot, or Feathercraft, which all refer to the air chambers
located inside the hulls of their boats as sponsons.


My apologies, Peter, but... The only references available to me right
now are online. However, the view of your dictionary seems to be
outvoted, six to one (either that, or, as I believe is more likely,
you are stretching "built into the sides" to mean "built from side to
side"). Three of the six references below show no reasonable
application to canoes or kayaks.

In that case we are either all incorrectly using the word "sponson" since
we are all talking about something related to kayaks/canoes, or those three
references are totally irrelevant to the discussion.

Of the three which mention canoes,
one says "on the gunwale", one says "along each side", and one says
"along a canoe". Although none specifically says so, I s'pose the air
chamber could be on the INSIDE of the hull, but "along", "along each
side", and "on the gunwhale" can in no way be stretched to mean "under
the thwart". Furthermore, two of these three references also mention
"stability", which can only be achieved by external sponsons.

Only if you assume that the stability referred to is when there is no water
inside the boat. But the whole point of the flotation chambers in most
boats is for support in the event the boat gets swamped and it is in that
circumstance that they can offer both improved stability and resistance to
sinking.

So as I see it, three of your references are irrelevant since they include
no definition that pertains to kayaks or similar boats, and the other three
are ambiguous as to whether the flotation is inside or outside the hull -
the important factor appears to be that it is located near the side of the
vessel rather than in the middle or at the bow or stern. This is the
important functional characteristic since flotation placed near the sides
will keep the swamped boat from rolling over much more effectively than
flotation in other locations. In this they agree with my Funk & Wagnall's
dictionary which used the phrase "built into the sides of the canoe."
So, in
these six definitions, we have:
3 making no reference to canoes or kayaks
2 expecting the sponson to provide stability to a canoe
1 expecting sponsons (along each side) to keep a canoe afloat

I disregard the usage of three porta-boat makers, two of which are not
from an English-speaking country, who may have distorted the meaning
of the word for their own purposes, and since you have not provided
links,

Porta-boat (they actually use "Porta-Bote" but trademark both terms) is a
totally different kind of craft which has never been brought up in this
discussion before - AFAIK it does not have any sponsons in its design. If
you are referring to the folding kayak manufacturers, then please explain
to the citizens of either Charleston or Vancouver that they do not speak
English (the citizens of Rosenheim would presumably be willing to agree
that it's not their primary language, but that company does have US
representatives who also refer to the boat's "sponsons"). I didn't provide
any links since they seemed too obvious to include, but I'll do so he
www.klepper.com, www.feathercraft.com, www.folbot.com. All have references
to the sponsons used on many of their models.

I'm dammed [sic] if I'm gonna go chasing them down to confirm yer [sic]
assertion.