Recent content by Idiot Savant

I can understand that, but there is another advantage to kayak braces that I find helpful. You can stretch your legs out between the braces. You can't do that with a bar and I do that quite a bit. I like to sit cross legged quite a bit too. Don't even use the braces, most of the time.

I use kayak style foot braces on my solo canoes. I've converted both to pack style. Kayak braces allow me to use the space between my legs for a long, skinny dry bag. Maybe you could still use that space, with a bar type brace, but it would have to be a shorter bag.

All the things that guy says about why he has a rudder on his 16.8 would also apply to a retractable skeg and why I proposed it as a possible option on canoes, like it is on kayaks.

I noticed that REI no longer has canoes on its website. Most of the canoe accessories are gone too. At the local lake, where I do all my fitness paddles, SUPs outnumber kayaks and kayaks outnumber canoes. I very seldom see canoes. Most of the kayaks are inflatable and the majority of hardshell...

I'm planning on going on a weekend canoe trip in early May. I've decided that my Esquif Echo is the best tool for the job. Last fall, I loaned it to a fellow club member who took it on two pretty major trips. First, about seven days on the Upper Missouri and then ten days going through...

A while back I ordered two books, from Amazon, on canoe history. Canoes, a natural history in North America and The Canoe, an illustrated History. Both are good books. Canoes, a natural history in North America is the much larger of the two and has tons of historical photos and artwork. I...

The people to ask are/is Tex's Riverways. I don't see why it would be a problem. I've almost reached a point where I think a campfire is more trouble than it's worth. There are lots of food options that don't involve grilling.

It is looking like the base for my skeg is too wide and too stiff to work the way I want. I'd have to mount it way too far forward. I'll try and take photos to illustrate, in the next day or two. But it's looking like I'll have to rethink this or abandon the project. I can't risk messing up the...

When someone first proposed putting a skeg or rudder on a kayak I wonder if people were going "the Eskimos don't have rudders on their kayaks". Probably. When I was listing the boats I have, I forgot one. I have one of these...

The Echo would be good for class II+, except for one thing. It has very low freeboard. I probably won't ever use it for more than class I+. On western rivers, like the Green and Colorado, rangers get very irritated if they have to pick up gear that wasn't tied into the boat. I, and most of the...

I think most people that buy Prospectors and such would be much happier with a more modern design. I'm not saying you should take your Wenonah Minnesota II down Cataract Canyon, but most of the time swede form and asymmetrical are an improvement. Just because people buy older designs isn't...

Here's my response. 1-For every speed/length ratio there is an optimum prismatic coefficient. I don't think Chestnut or Old Town used it way back when and I know the native Americans didn't used it. 2-The older boats don't have swede form. 3-The older boats don't have asymmetrical rocker. Yes...

Here's a video, on canoe design, you guys might find interesting. Hopefully this link will take you to an interview with designer David Yost. https://swiftcanoe.com/video-gallery/ If it doesn't, look through their video library till you find it. He's one of my favorite designers, though I don't...

All points well taken. First, let me say that the Echo isn't my only boat. Far from it. I have two tandem canoes, two solo canoes, a seakayak (with skeg), two touring kayaks (one with a rudder and one with neither), a recreational kayak and three inflatable kayaks. The trip I'm taking, in May...

I'm not determined. Not yet anyway. Something I'm considering more as an experiment than a real need. I'm planning on doing my first loaded trip, with the Echo, in May. Empty, I find it a little squirrely. It'll probably be less so loaded. Either way, a skeg should improve its straight-line...