Feature Article

Wilderness Trips/Securing Your Gear

Traveling through the wilderness via canoe for an extended period can be a real adventure. Whether your trip is a success or failure depends on many factors. For me, organization is key. Just think for a minute of all of the things that need to be organized and coordinated. Clothing, meals, cooking equipment, tents, sleeping bags, and the list goes on and on. It all must be waterproofed and packed in an organized manner so it can be accessed when needed later on. Half the fun of a trip is getting ready.

I have always taken great pride in how I pack and load my gear into the canoe. Virtually all of my trips contain a few portages and the goal is to get through them as quickly and easily as possible. Most of the time, unless it is really a lengthy trip, a portage can be covered with canoe and all the gear in one pass. For this to happen things must be organized and the volume of gear kept to a minimum. It also helps to have an effective but simple method for securing it all into the canoe.

There are as many ways of tying your gear in the boat as there are people canoeing. What ever you find works for you depends on your style and what you want to accomplish. For me, my goals are basic. I want to keep my gear in the canoe if it swamps or capsizes and it should be simple and easy to operate. Here is how I do it.

Everything is covered with a cargo net, that's it, pretty basic, effective and very easy to operate. First you need a net. For this I use a backpacker's hammock. It is lightweight netting with relatively small holes and inexpensive. Next I lay it out over the canoe and cut it to size. I like to leave it a little large. The next step is to lace some small diameter shock cord around the perimeter of the net. It also helps to run a couple of well spaced strands across the width as well. Make sure to stretch it a bit as you thread it through so that when the netting is pulled to its full size it has some tension on it. All you need now is a way to secure it to the canoe. For this I cement a series of D-rings to the floor of the boat and attach the net to them with S hooks that have been connected to the shock cord within the netting. Nothing is fool proof, but I find that this system works well and is very versatile.

A couple more tips. Don't forget to place your load strategically so that the canoe stays level in the water. Hopefully you remember from our earlier discussions how this affects the performance of your hull. Even though today's hull materials are virtually indestructible, I like to load my canoe floating in the water rather than beached halfway out of it. I guess this is partly in respect for the old ways and also because I have boots that don't leak.

Until next time, HAPPY PADDLING!!!

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Have a question? I'm happy to answer it - just email me at hpcanoes@charter.net

hpcanoes@charter.net
603.667.5112