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I'm glad I discovered this thread. Beautiful work, Rippy. What's particularly awe-inspiring, though, is your description of the process you used to create the knives. Your understated passion for the idea and the work. I've never owned a high quality knife and my use of knives while tripping is...

Now, Christy, THAT'S a canoe!!

I believe the guy in the logo is Robin, and that, in fact, he is paddling from the bow seat. Nonetheless, as you say, Al, it's fun to question orthodoxy from time to time. I watched an instructional video yesterday featuring Bill Mason: "Path of the Paddle", which I hadn't watched in years. He...

I rarely ever trip without one, i.e. the smaller diameter model, and often bring it along on day-paddles, too. It is standard equipment for me. It weighs a few ounces and stows and deploys easily. I love taking advantage of tailwinds. I've used it on virtually every boat I've paddled the last 8...

"I am taking a tent maintenance break; my zeal has begun to fade and I have not even gotten to the oldest of our tents yet." I'm increasingly aware that the ONLY time I seem to get things done these days is when zeal reaches fever-pitch. Fortunately for my wife and family, like most fevers...

Whoever invented the "footprint" for tents was an evil genius. Probably a now-wealthy evil genius. I'm optimistic about making it to the end of my tripping days without having ever spent the additional bucks on a floor for the floor. Footprints remind me of optional faux-leather bras sold to...

Beautiful boat in gorgeous landscapes!

"Collecting"? "Hoarding"? Gotta love the nuanced distinction! A favourite pre-emptive quote used to prepare the household for the next bout of boat-buying madness: "We're already into the ______ (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) week of April and I haven't even bought a canoe or kayak this spring! Doesn't...

Good thread. I paddle a lot and like SUP-ing my boats when conditions warrant. I've never poled, though. Steve, do you ever run poling clinics in SW Ontario? (I see you're in Guelph, I live in London.) I'd be up for learning poling from a "poling booster".

Mike, I'm going to respectfully request that you cease and desist from flaunting the obvious and unquestionable superiority of your Penobscots. I have an unaltered, boring, unglamorous, mediocre inglorious basterd of a Penobscot. Your engineering skills and sheer fricking (is that a word?)...

Thanks for sharing this, Recped. Love the look of big sky and wide river valley.

I've been using SPOT since 2013 and was also quite miffed a couple of years ago about its auto-renewal process. I spoke to a helpful rep on the phone who explained that auto-renewal protects users who, typically and unintentionally, forget to renew, but continue to carry their device assuming...

Coolest DIY canoe project I've ever seen. Potential to inspire myriad mad dreams of canoe nomadism. On a par with DIY submarines and homemade aircraft. Love it! Downside: wee bit of envy of the DIY engineering genius and obvious joys of the creative process. Hope to see photos of your canoe out...

"Rosy Dawn, what's that flower you have on? Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?"

Robin, your trip reports were a motivation for me to visit La Verendrye and WCPP. Thank you for your work and dedication.

On canoe trips we Canadians make every effort to confine our amorous activities to the floor of the canoe. Some of the softer of us insist on unrolling a closed-cell foam pad over the cedar ribs first. Some folks actually refer to the unrolling ritual as "foreplay". The softest of us use...

Thanks for sharing this. Incredibly interesting to experience hands-on the boats, the tools, and the methods used in another place far away from home. American poler (New England?) meets Botswanian poler. How often does that ever happen?! Sounds like an amazing trip!

bcelect: You're right, I'd forgotten. It's a symmetrical hull.

I owned one (MR Ind.) for about 5 years. I sold it last year after I bought a gently used Swift Osprey which I used more often. I liked day-paddling the Independence, and I tripped with it a couple of times. It was my first dedicated solo canoe as all my other solo paddling was done in tandem...

Just as we're lamenting the decline of canoe culture here in North America, there's a bright light signalling its renaissance in France! Tom: du beau travail là, et merci d'avoir partagé le clip.