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Has anyone done a direct comparison of fuel mileage on shorter vs longer bars? (same feet and same car) I used to stand boats on edge like eckilson, but I'm on the shorter side and often putting a boat on its side makes the stems difficult to reach, even more so for my shorter paddling...

I thought that's what aluminum canoe poles are for? I was certainly feeling that way when I got caught poling in a thunderstorm last week. Luckily I was on a small creek with a heavily treed shore in easy reach.

No arguments with any of your points, Glenn. I hadn't explicitly considered the interaction between location of correction in the stroke vs location in the boat relative to pivot point before this discussion - very interesting. I was seguing back to differences between the Maine Northwoods...

To your point Glenn, another difference between Kraiker's stroke and the Maine style is the length of stroke. The Mainers advocate a stroke only from knee to hip. Skip to about 0:40.

Another great video from Rolf Kraiker on his version of what I will call this 'family' of strokes. I notice Kraiker sits with shoulders squared to the boat, whereas Conover Bennett recommends sitting facing at an angle relative to the long axis of the boat. I believe Lisa DeHart similarly...

Interesting - I recently saw one of these listed and almost asked the forum about it.

Wild guesses here: either 1) she sometimes sits on the bow seat and so chose her usual position for going from kneeling to sitting or 2) it's a symmetrical hull and it didn't matter (maybe how it happened to be oriented when she got in), or 3) she knows something I don't. It's usually #3 in...

I've heard James is fantastic, haven't gotten to it yet. I really enjoyed Lost in the Wild. I went on a kick reading books like that and Deep Survival by Gonzales several years ago. Worthwhile for anyone who takes back country trips to understand what can go wrong, even for folks who know...

Thanks, all, good info!

Thanks, all. Sounds like the advantages of a guideboat over a canoe are the speed/efficiency of rowing? And stability in bigger water? Other advantages? How does a guideboat compare to a canoe rigged for rowing?

I too just stumbled upon a kevlar Hornbeck guideboat listed for sale and started wondering. I have rowed a single scull/shell a bit and, as @Boatman53 said, I like to see where I'm going - part of the fun of being out there. Can a guideboat be rowed facing forwards? Standing up?

Nice lookin little fella!

Chip Cochran was recently pointing out something I hadn't thought about - that where the mass 'connects' to the hull also matters. He was talking about how a standing poler, while their center of gravity is higher in one way, they connect with the bottom of the hull standing in the chines...

I think the answer has to be: stay calm and improvise! When dealing with venomous snakes, calm deliberate movements, keeping one's distance, and having lots of patience is key. Snakes can generally strike about half their body length. I try to add a safety buffer and keep to at least a...

The regs in NYS differ by waterbody. As mentioned, I assume because water-based recreation is such a major part of the economy, there are a lot of invasive check and clean stations in and around the Adirondacks. However I've never actually been required to stop at one with my canoe. For the...

A park ranger once used his taser to try to disentangle a python from a tourist's truck engine. It did not elicit the desired response. It did elicit a fecal response. We ended up taking apart half the poor guy's engine before we got the snake out.

Totally agreed on that point! :)

Well, I finally got out the scales and weighed some boats. The RX Morningstar comes in around 60.5 lbs, and that's with only a center seat. I still don't have a yoke and the shape of the gunnels doesn't work that well with the clamp-on yoke I have. The Rx Heron is only 55 lbs with two seats...

Followed by loudly clanking the pole right where you just indicated? ;)

I don't consider your cottonmouth description to be aggressive behavior. We are giants to most snakes - something 100x bigger than a cottonmouth or rattlesnake. They don't want to get stepped on and crushed, so they're trying to get our attention. 'Hey, I'm here, don't tread on me!' There's...