Recent content by jdeerfoot

It’s time to move on from this topic and get back what we usually discuss here. Me, I am looking forward to meeting up with many of my paddling buddies at Canoecopia next month. We’ll drink too much beer and retell our exaggerated stories while planning this year’s trips.

In NW Ontario, Lake Nipigon (about 1900 sq miles in size) is referred to as the sixth Great Lake and often freezes over in the winter.

I can check with my buddy who served as a torpedoman on a boomer out of Sub Base Charleston SC in the 1970’s. And their uniform device is known as the dolphins.

Missile silos.

UP of Michigan for me. I have several friends up there who should welcome me, I hope.

The local nature center has a number of OT Discovery canoes with the hogging issue but no interior cracks. A few years ago we got several new boats that soon developed hogged hulls. We assume it is because they are stored outdoors year around. For rental use it doesn’t make any difference to the...

I agree with the Original Bug Shirt - I’ve had mine for 10-12 years and it is very well traveled but unused so far. In over 20 years of padding in Canada I can think of just one trip before I bought it where I wished I had had it.

On a Wabakimi Project trip many years ago Uncle Phil used a small Coleman stove to dry out our tents. 2009 was a very rainy year in NW Ontario and after a few days our tents became sodden. We erected the tents and while they were empty he carefully placed the stove in the tent while it was in a...

Recped thanks for the helpful link from NRS on detecting fraudulent websites. I am an occasional NRS consumer and will definitely have to be careful when placing orders (I often do so hurriedly).

In 2017 a buddy and I encountered a Keewaydin group coming upstream on the Kopka Rv. They were doing a 28 day trip in their old w/c boats. I asked one of their trip leaders how their boats were holding up. During the time frame of this trip, mid-July to the first week of August, there was little...

Late in reading your excellent TR with great photos. Reminds me of a short trip I took the grandchildren (15 & 17) on. I was real concerned about their interest in the trip and disconnecting from their device-centered existence. They both really enjoyed it and did not seem to miss their their...

I have a number of them. Oddly, a big box home improvement store carried cheap Ray-o-Vac headlamps for sometimes as low as $7.99, otherwise regularly priced at $9.99, and they work and seem to last as long as as much more expensive name brands. I always take mine on all trips but generally only...

You may want to check the hull for condition of the Royalex since it may be degraded from years of sun exposure. When I inquired about trading in my 23 yr old OT Tripper at Rutabaga, Madison WI, the owner Darren Bush wanted to assess the condition of the hull. He flipped the boat upside down and...

Memaquay nailed it. I really enjoyed and used my 17’ Sears aluminum canoe, purchased new in the spring of 1970, on a number of BWCA trips and UP of Michigan trips. Even took my first basic whitewater class using that canoe. I replaced it in 1983 with a new OT Tripper which I really liked for 23...

I use my existing and long owned Yakima round bars on my Subaru Forester with raised roof rails and they should continue to be usable on vehicles with raised roof rails. For several reasons I need a subcompact sedan and I like Mazda 3 sedans. I need to use the Yakima Stretch Kit on the Mazda to...