I think you miss the fact that not all kayaks are designed to do the same thing. Aleut kayaks are large high volume boats that were designed to carry a lot of weight. They were known to carry a load of ballast and drop it as they filled their boats with meat or other items. Baidarka are well known to be more difficult to paddle without a load and ballast was used to provide additional stability.

This is not the same with Greenland kayaks. Greenland paddlers carried floats for additional stability as needed. They tend to tow their catch home. If you put ballast into a properly fitted Greenland style boat, you will likely have to much free board for comfort. Honestly, I have found my Greenland style boat to be very stable and predictable after I got used to it.

The bottom line is that it depends on the boat design. One size doesn't fit all.

Eric M.