Recent content by Idiot Savant

I guess I would say the big thing is carbon fiber. When I decided to get back into paddling in the early 2020s, after being dry for a number of years, and started shopping for boats, I came across some carbon fiber canoes and thought they were crazy expensive. Couldn't imagine that I'd end up...

My dad had a ruler like that. Brings back memories.

Can you paddle 444 miles on the Susquehanna? Dams to portage around? Other river hazards? I'm not a fan of paddling tandems solo. If you are planning on paddling the canoe backwards from the bow seat, choose a boat that's as symmetrical as possible. I'd watch Craig's List.

Racers use shorter paddles than your typical tripper. Short shaft, smallish blade, high cadence. I use a shorter relative shaft and grip closer to the blade than most canoe trippers, but I don't kneel. If your upper, grip, hand comes higher than your forehead, while paddling, it is generally...

I haven't yet. Right now, I still can't get away that long. I think people in my club have. If I get time, in the next few days, I'll take a look on our website and if there is a write up of a trip, I'll post a link.

I bought a new IK before Thanksgiving, but I'm counting it as a Black Friday sale. I took advantage of some holiday deals on exercise equipment. I was tempted by some other great bargains, but I have way too much gear already.

I'm talking paddling or camping gear, of course. Or, even, fitness equipment, if it's for staying in shape for paddling.

From my own personal experience, I can tell you that you can build yourself back up but, even so, I'd rule out most rotomolded kayaks because of the weight. Even if you could handle them, after you recover, you won't be able to down the road. Canoes can be very light. The thwarts and yoke are...

I don't have a back forty to keep me in shape, but I'm also a cyclist and I work on muscles for doing stuff like loading a canoe onto my truck and carrying canoes and gear up a river bank. I think excess weight is a big problem for me. I'm about 20 pounds heavier than I'd like to be and extra...

The Bull and some of the other machines you guys have posted look pretty good, but I spent less than $200 on my rower. I'll take a look at some of these and see if I can afford any of them. I used to do a lot of cross country skiing, in the winter, but messed up foot joints, open heart surgery...

I'd like to see a photo of your friend's set-up. It's hard for me to picture it from your description. I use the rower one arm at a time, mostly. I grab the bar with my index finger on one side of the tether and the other fingers on the other side and I turn the bar so it's more vertical.

I don't live in an area where you can paddle year-round and I'm not inclined to watch football and drink beer all winter and expect to be ready for paddling in the spring. Last winter, I trained my arse off and had less than fantastic results. I'm making some minor changes. I use my Total Gym a...

I'm pretty sold on inflatables, but my experience is strictly with IKs, but I have quite a bit with them. I paddled a friend's all drop stich Sea Eagle, which would probably be similar to an all drop stitch canoe. It tracks better than an IK with regular side tubes and is a bit faster but...

I think it was Gumotex that said they were the biggest. Name recognition here may be very different from that in the rest of the world. We may have a distorted view. Hard to say, but Gumotex does seem to be pretty popular in Europe. Certainly lots of videos of their boats. I always thought...

A guy in my club had one of the Travel Canoes and he said it wasn't very stable. I'm sold on inflatable kayaks. There must be a good inflatable canoe out there.