Recent content by Idiot Savant

The Werner sizing chart takes both paddler height and canoe width into consideration. They have separate charts for high angle, low angle and whitewater. On their website, pick a paddle, like the Camano and look for the sizing chart link. It's a little hard to spot. What they don't take into...

No, I didn't miss the thread and I posted on it, but I wanted to get into it a little more. I've been paddling solo canoes, with a double blade, for something like 30 years. How many can say that? And how many have over a dozen paddles to experiment with? Do I have all the answers? No...

I've tried longer paddles. I've tried everything. That's why I have over a dozen double bladed paddles. Bending Branches made a double blade, they called a canoe paddle, that was something like 260 cm. I gave it away. My thinking is, get the length you would get if your boat was a kayak and...

Seems like interest in double bladed paddling is increasing. That's good. I'm sold on it. I first started experimenting with paddling my Wenonah Encounter, with a double blade, back in the mid 1990s. I currently own two solo canoes that have been converted to pack style and I have over a dozed...

In all the years I've been paddling, I've only capsized once, though it was touch and go a few other times. I figure the chances of me capsizing, on a class I river, are near zero. A strap around the Action Packer removes and chance of the lid coming off. I'm not a class III paddler. On class...

When I bought my first canoe and started putting together my own trips, I often used a Rubbermaid Action Packer in my packing. It, obviously, isn't waterproof, in a capsize situation, but it is rain proof and splash proof and is super convenient for packing things like stoves, pots and pans...

Looks great. Good job. I think you'll find that it paddles as well as it looks.

The SOTO Windmaster and the MSR Deluxe pocket rocket have a burner that curves down rather than up. The cheap Chinese one I mentioned also has this feature. This is supposed to make it better in wind, and it is, but a windshield is still needed on a windy morning. I bought one that fits around...

I have a North Wind solo, and its a great boat, but, if you don't need it for river tripping, I'd suggest either a Wenonah Prism or Encounter. If you need a little more seaworthiness and maneuverability, then I'd be more inclined to go with something like the North Wind, with a little more...

That Encounter looks awful beat up. If you know what you're doing, repair is certainly possible. That's the great thing about composite boats. I had an Encounter and I thought pretty highly of it. But I'm not inclined to get another solo boat that long again. I do most of my tripping on...

I've been wanting a Northstar solo, in IXP, for rivers. Not super light, but lighter than T-Formex. I don't think Northstar says anything about it on their website, but you can get Blacklite with internal skid plates. An added layer(s) where it's needed most. I'm sure it would be possible to...

As I've said before, the Wenonah Encounter is a great boat and holds a ton, but finding a used one isn't going to be any easier. I have a North Wind solo. A solid choice, but maybe not enough of a jump from the Magic. I think the Prism looks good.

I'm not sure I'm following your thinking, carpenter, but let me clarify a few things. I have a lot of experience with double blade paddling. I don't know that you can't kneel and use a double bade, but I've never heard of it. Because you don't kneel, you need the added stability of a lower...

The snowpack, in the Rockies, was pretty poor this year. A lot of rivers are already getting too low to paddle, so check flow data. There are some nice sections of the North Platte, in Southern Wyoming. Flaming Gorge Reservoir is pretty, if you are into that sort of thing. If you go through...

To respond to the last couple posts. Are we talking about racing canoes and paddling with a single blade? I thought we were talking tripping canoes and double blades, but, if we are talking racing canoes, I have a book on Racing Canoes by Peter Heed and Dick Mansfield that recommends lowering...