I was told that the Ultimate can float even if it is half full of water, and The best way to bail it out is to cary a 1 gallon bleach bottle and cut out the bottom of it. The sales person said that gives you a 1 gallon at a time bail out. The SOT are going to be a wet ride, and I would like to take my chances with the ultimate. The KC paddler store told me that it would be really hard to flip that ultimate kayak.Native sells a set of covers that will seal off the kayak, and turn it into a sit in kayak making it a nice warm ride.