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10 day solo outfitting

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Looking for opinions on how best to set up a Blue Hole OCA and Mohawk Intrepid for solo paddling on a 10 day Rio Grande Trip.
Both my Wife and I do quite a bit of paddling in our solo canoes on class 2 rivers (for class 3 stuff we take our whitewater boats, a Blackfly Octane 91 and a Silverbirch Covert 9.3)
We've done a fair amout of one or two nights out of our MR Explorer and Blue Hole Prowler, but never anything as long or as gear laden as what we are planning.

The question I have is this: Where should we sit?
I know for day trips I prefer being nearer the center of the boat. Being loaded down more, should we sit in the stern position and load the boat for neutral trim or swap end for end, sit in the bow seat and paddle the boat "backward"??

Thanks in advance and I apologize if this has been covered. I tried searching but found mostly foundational information about foam knee pads etc, which I'm already familiar with using/setting up.
 
My Explorer is 15. She's gorgeous white Royalex and 40 or so years old. She needs new wood trim and that'll happen soon. The Mohawk Intrepid is 16 which is why I'll be taking it. Haven't considered tandem because in general we both prefer solo when not paddling whitewater.
 
If I solo a tandem, I would want it set up with a centralized seat whether it's a day trip or a year trip.

Only from the center can one properly apply strokes to all four quadrants of the canoe -- on-side bow, off-side bow, on-side stern and off-side stern strokes -- even if you can trim the canoe properly with gear by sitting further astern. The further you sit astern, the more you are limited to stern strokes, the wimpier or more impossible your bow strokes become, and the less confident you can be in aggressively heeling the canoe for turns especially in wind and waves.

Bow seat backwards would be be my distant second choice and only if the canoe is completely symmetrical in water line, sheer line and rocker line. While some folks do it, including the mascot man at the top our forum, I would never paddle from the stern, because I'd have virtually no boat control other than forward propulsion and I'd literally be terrified in wind and waves from such a narrow perch.

As to the gear trim, if I'm expecting rapids or even wind waves, I want the gear (or at least the heaviest gear) as centralized as possible fore and aft of my centralized seat, so as to lighten the weight and inertia of the bow and stern as much as possible. Lightened ends will facilitate rising over waves and accentuating turns.

It's all really just the same philosophy as sophisticated day paddling in serious whitewater -- paddle from the center and keep the ends light.
 
I am a disciple of the bow seat turned backward. I like being in a narrower part of the boat for doing cross draws and the forward stroke is easier for me. Plus from that seat I can stand up to pole and am positioned right for that. I do hate myself in headwind. But there again, poling can be more efficient in a strong headwind.
 
I am a disciple of the bow seat turned backward. I like being in a narrower part of the boat for doing cross draws and the forward stroke is easier for me. Plus from that seat I can stand up to pole and am positioned right for that. I do hate myself in headwind. But there again, poling can be more efficient in a strong headwind.

Amen! I don't have any more problem in a head wind with a properly balanced small tandem than anyone I have been with in solo canoes. In fact, I was the only one to stay dry on several trips because their bow was so much lower than mine.
 
If I solo a tandem, I would want it set up with a centralized seat whether it's a day trip or a year trip.

Only from the center can one properly apply strokes to all four quadrants of the canoe -- on-side bow, off-side bow, on-side stern and off-side stern strokes -- even if you can trim the canoe properly with gear by sitting further astern. The further you sit astern, the more you are limited to stern strokes, the wimpier or more impossible your bow strokes become, and the less confident you can be in aggressively heeling the canoe for turns especially in wind and waves.

Bow seat backwards would be be my distant second choice and only if the canoe is completely symmetrical in water line, sheer line and rocker line. While some folks do it, including the mascot man at the top our forum, I would never paddle from the stern, because I'd have virtually no boat control other than forward propulsion and I'd literally be terrified in wind and waves from such a narrow perch.

As to the gear trim, if I'm expecting rapids or even wind waves, I want the gear (or at least the heaviest gear) as centralized as possible fore and aft of my centralized seat, so as to lighten the weight and inertia of the bow and stern as much as possible. Lightened ends will facilitate rising over waves and accentuating turns.

It's all really just the same philosophy as sophisticated day paddling in serious whitewater -- paddle from the center and keep the ends light.

This is exactly the information I was hoping for, thank you very much sharing. I think Her OCA may be getting setup for a center seated position.

I really appreciate your time and detailed and reasoned description.
 
Originally posted by Glenn MacGrady

If I solo a tandem, I would want it set up with a centralized seat whether it's a day trip or a year trip.

Only from the center can one properly apply strokes to all four quadrants of the canoe -- on-side bow, off-side bow, on-side stern and off-side stern strokes -- even if you can trim the canoe properly with gear by sitting further astern. The further you sit astern, the more you are limited to stern strokes, the wimpier or more impossible your bow strokes become, and the less confident you can be in aggressively heeling the canoe for turns especially in wind and waves.

Bow seat backwards would be be my distant second choice and only if the canoe is completely symmetrical in water line, sheer line and rocker line. While some folks do it, including the mascot man at the top our forum, I would never paddle from the stern, because I'd have virtually no boat control other than forward propulsion and I'd literally be terrified in wind and waves from such a narrow perch.

As to the gear trim, if I'm expecting rapids or even wind waves, I want the gear (or at least the heaviest gear) as centralized as possible fore and aft of my centralized seat, so as to lighten the weight and inertia of the bow and stern as much as possible. Lightened ends will facilitate rising over waves and accentuating turns.

It's all really just the same philosophy as sophisticated day paddling in serious whitewater -- paddle from the center and keep the ends light.



This is exactly the information I was hoping for, thank you very much sharing. I think Her OCA may be getting setup for a center seated position.

I really appreciate your time and detailed and reasoned description.

That's my standard and decades-long pitch for solo seat placement, which is based not only on paddling theory but on my personal experience as a serious whitewater paddler, where every paddlecraft, whether open or decked, has centralized seating, and also as a solo sport canoe, racing and freestyle oriented paddler on flat water.

Canadians have a long history of paddling bow seat backwards in tandems for a lot of reasons, including the fact that many of their most popular canoe designs are perfectly symmetrical and have persisted with little change forever to the point, frankly, of design ossification. (A few companies like Swift and Esquif have been striking out in more modern directions.)

As Paddlinhal has correctly indicated, it can be hard for some folks to execute some strokes from a centralized seat of a very wide tandem. But that can be alleviated by heeling the canoe to the on-side for forward propulsion strokes or the off-side for cross-strokes. The Blue Hole OCA, for example, was a very popular solo whitewater canoe in the 1980's, and every serious whitewater paddler I knew, including short women, paddled it from a seat, saddle or pedestal placed in a centralized position. If that's where one is comfortable paddling an OCA in whitewater, a 10 day wilderness trip on flatter water doesn't change anything in my opinion.

And, of course, a "centralized" seat is usually placed somewhere in the range of 6"-10" behind the geometric center, which does move the centralized paddler somewhat astern of the widest beam.
 
Glenn, my experience in whitewater (which I began in a Mad River ME) has taught me the same. Central is where I want to be, and making moves from front of the boat when I can in my Octane 91. The whole reason I asked was a conversation with a friend who had done this trip last year and made a comment about feeling it would have been easier to steer with a loaded boat from the stern. (I had second thoughts, hence my seeking out advice). My wife has a pretty good wingspan so she can reach both sides if needed in her OCA but I tend to find myself and she does too, heeling just because it's kind of fun to throw a big boat up on edge (I toss my Octane into a side surf whenever I can for the same reason. It's fun). These two boats will be probably 7 and 8 that I have outfitted, always kind of fun to see it come together and then watch it work.

Thanks so much for the advice and information.


Btw, I started a facebook group a while back for Canoeists. It's called Canoeists United, come on over if you're facebook friendly and join us. Primarily whitewater centered but open to all.
 
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