How Do You 5.0 Owners Carry Long Boats?

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

Seems as though kayaks have become much more popular than canoes. Most of the people we see out on the rivers and lakes are kayakers. My wife has a back problem that makes the kayaking position uncomfortable, so we stick to canoes. Still have the Browning Marine we bought with our wedding money in 1973.

I own two 18' sea kayaks. My wife and I use them on trips where it's just the two of us. They are also useful for when we have a tighter timeline for the trip and can't as easily afford to be weather bound to a campsite. That's a typical problem with canoes on Lake Superior. When the wind blows too hard, you are not going anywhere.


For larger groups / longer trips we prefer canoes. More comfortable and certainly higher capacity. That said, I see quite a few other paddlers around places like Isle Royal NP, but almost never in canoes like us.


And on the big lake at a place like Lake Superior PP, I only see a very occasional kayak, and I've never seen anyone else in canoes.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

I was kinda rusty sitting/kneeling in the stern and steering.

The bow person also steers, especially on a river.

I was the tail person on a group trip down the Coldwater. I'd hang back in case somebody got in trouble. Couple in the aluminum canoe in front of me were entertaining.
He's in the stern shouting "DRAW, DRAW". Canoe headed toward a rock, and he's yelling at his wife, "I said PRY".
Short distance down river, the trip leader kicked them off the river. For one, aluminum gets stuck on rocks, where other materials would slide over. And, they were not a team.
They got to haul the canoe up to the highway and wait on the side of the road until we completed the run and could pick them up.

[JeffreyG]

I got a million stories, usually involving work outings in boats amidst people who have never been in boats before.

One trip some 20 years ago resulted in a rental aluminum canoe meeting a bridge piling sideways and turning into a fortune cookie. I guess the water speed was too strong for the two paddlers in that boat. No effort of the entire team could budge the boat off the piling.

Somehow forgetting this lesson, I took my direct team on a canoe afternoon ("team building" exercise) on the slowest, most languid river imaginable. I handed out dry bags for keys, wallets, phones, but told the team "You won't need these on a river like this." Every single boat (not mine) flipped. I was amazed. The first two didn't even make it 100 meters from the livery and I had to go back and look for them. They were standing in the middle of the river in a meter of water, trying to figure out how to get back in.


Last story, I got flipped by my own dog once. We had full boats on a multi-day trip travelling down a fast and twisty river. My dog walked to the front of the canoe over the gear to get closer to my wife. She somehow hooked a bungee in her rear paw and started crying. I dropped my paddle, scooted forward, unhooked the paw and.......I didn't have that much time. We slid into a log sideways and rolled into the current. Last I saw was my dog swimming steadily to the opposite bank while I unloaded the boat to dump it. She looked very sad to be all wet.

[UncleTim]

There are two kinds of whitewater captains.

1. The kind that have flipped a whitewater boat.

2. The kind that are going to flip a whitewater boat.

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

The bow person also steers, especially on a river.

I know that, and steer from the bow when necessary. The bow also provides the power. But we're generally on placid lakes and slow (damned) rivers, so I have time to put aside the paddle and use the camera now and again.

I did dump our canoe once. It was our tubby old Browning, almost impossible to dump, but it was a fairly swift little river and I ducked too far trying to avoid low-hanging branches. I blamed the steersman (my wife), of course.

[Jim Bennett]

I have gone swimming in rivers once before, well maybe 20,30 or 40 times. Who's counting. I love the bumpy stuff. Solo or tandem I love up to Class III rapids with the proper canoe.

On a lake I love my Swift Winisk as it is fast and tracks real well. Even solo with it, like any canoe I just heel over and paddle on one side only.

With the inflatable canoe and its flat bottom one must navigate it a bit different, No heeling over capable but standing in it is a breeze. On moving water no skeg is used, but it really helps the canoe track easier on flat water, not a must but I would not prefer to do without it.

Jasper, now gone, loved paddling with me and Lisa. Here on Maligne Lake in Jasper NP.



Some fun stuff with my son a few years ago. The North Saskatchewan River here in Alberta.

[MrLynn]

Gorgeous lake. Where is it?

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

Gorgeous lake. Where is it?

Jasper Mariam National Park.

There are no motorized boats allowed on the lake with the exception of tour boats that go to Spirit Island. The first time I canoed beyond where these boats went I stopped and looked around for quite some time using the word "WOW" with every breath.

Spirit Island

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Jasper Mariam National Park.

There are no motorized boats allowed on the lake with the exception of tour boats that go to Spirit Island. The first time I canoed beyond where these boats went I stopped and looked around for quite some time using the word "WOW" with every breath.

Spirit Island

My goodness! We were there! In 2008, we took VIA Rail's Canadian across from Toronto to Vancouver, with a three-day stop in Jasper. And of course we took one of those tour boats to Spirit Island. "Wow!" describes that experience perfectly.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

My goodness! We were there! In 2008, we took VIA Rail's Canadian across from Toronto to Vancouver, with a three-day stop in Jasper. And of course we took one of those tour boats to Spirit Island. "Wow!" describes that experience perfectly.

It looks like I took my photo right above where you were standing in your shot. [emoji4]

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

It looks like I took my photo right above where you were standing in your shot. [emoji4]

Yep. I have the same photo as yours, but your colors are much better.

[MrLynn]

Over on the FGRV Forum, 'slowpat' suggests. . .

Foldable canoes!

https://bendingbranches.com/blogs/re...e-your-options

The PakCanoe looks quite a structure, but would take about two hours to put together; it does not fold, but rather requires multiple braces, like a complex tent.

The MyCanoe is clearly much quicker, and actually unfolds! Might be OK for occasional camping use. We wouldn't need anything like that on our river (or inflatable either, for that matter); we have three hard canoes here.

The Ally Canoe from Norway looks complicated, but the site doesn't work for me.

The York might as well be a yacht before I'd buy it.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Jasper Mariam National Park.

There are no motorized boats allowed on the lake with the exception of tour boats that go to Spirit Island. The first time I canoed beyond where these boats went I stopped and looked around for quite some time using the word "WOW" with every breath.

Spirit Island

Unfortunately the pine beatles have done a real number on so many of the trees in the National Parks. The Spirit Island trees are mostly dying from them these days. I am hoping that Parks will at least plant some seedlings in the same location as the view is iconic.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

Unfortunately the pine beatles have done a real number on so many of the trees in the National Parks. The Spirit Island trees are mostly dying from them these days. I am hoping that Parks will at least plant some seedlings in the same location as the view is iconic.

That's too bad. My photo was 2011 and I was last there in 2014 and things were not bad then. The first trip I did at the Bowron Lakes Circuit in 2007 was right after a major pine beetle attack and there were lots of brown areas. When skiing around in 2010 it seemed like bits of green were showing through.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

That's too bad. My photo was 2011 and I was last there in 2014 and things were not bad then. The first trip I did at the Bowron Lakes Circuit in 2007 was right after a major pine beetle attack and there were lots of brown areas. When skiing around in 2010 it seemed like bits of green were showing through.

The visible damage seems to have progressed rapidly over a fairly short time period. The photo I showed was from my July 2020 paddling trip. When I went previously in Aug 2017, the amount of visible pine beetle damage at Spirit Island was much less.

[Ron in BC]

Jim's inflatable canoe has to be strong because it gets some rough use.

I have an old Walden kayak. Always fun to watch others use it, paddling in circles until I put a skeg on it.

However the skeg is long gone now as I just customized an electric outboard for it. Last summer M. had trouble paddling the length of Maligne Lake so now, with a lithium battery she'll be down and back without any problem.

Ron

[MyronL]

RE..."Always fun to watch others use it..."

[gbaglo]

It appears that Bill Mason's Path of the Paddle series is now available for free streaming at:
https://www.nfb.ca/film/path_of_the_paddle_solo_basic/
There are basic and advanced solo and doubles videos.

[Fox hunt]

we use oru folding kayaks each pretty light 35-40 pounds easy to unfold handle pretty well works for us easy to transport

[Jack!]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

I was thinking that if I bought a pickup truck I could expand the hens'-teeth universe of used Escapes by including the fifth-wheel 5.0. But we have a 16' canoe that we like to carry on the roof of our tow vehicle (currently a 2013 Ford Expedition). Seems like that might be hard to center on a pickup cab and still avoid the front of the 5.0.

I posed the question over on the FGRV forum, and one respondent suggested a rack that could mount in a front receiver. Certainly should be possible, but I've never seen anyone doing it. How do owners here manage it?

We haven't totally tossed this idea with our new 5.0, yet. However we have Wilderness Systems 10 ft kayaks. They behave as longer boats via drop down "Skegs" and carry up to 400lbs.
The theory is using one ladder type rack immediately behind the cab on the bed and one bar on the cab roof, mounting everything more forward.

Also, like the US Rack 5th wheel rack.

https://usrack.com/c-1174377-5th-wheel-truck-rack.html

Have to wait and measure things when we get the 5.O. May resort to inflatables. Will see.