108km in five Days on german lakes

[kahel]

here is a little report from a canoe trip here in Germany.

Unfortunately we don't have this huge space and the sheer endless choice of lakes like you have in the USA or Canada ...
nevertheless, we also drive Canadian boats.
Our last multi-day tour was a total of 108 km long tripp and spread over five days.
All lakes are connected with small channels, so we had only one passage where we had to transfer the boats and luggage.
It was a very relaxed and beautiful tour for me ... even if it was strenuous because of the sometimes quite fresh wind.



at the beginning was the preparation and the closer the date came, the more nervous I became.
Can I manage it all?
How will it work with the "Wilma"?
Did I overdo it there?

The first test packing lasted several hours and finally I was satisfied with the distribution of the sacks, garbage cans and bags.

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and then ... ready to race ...

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after a long car ride of over 7 hours, I finally reached our meeting point ... catch a place where i rised up my sleeping place ...

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in a short time my friends also arrived and set up their tents on the site.

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the next morning then finally TOURSTART

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[kahel]

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stormy weather



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after this came this!





It was just beautiful for me and I will do such tours more often.


greetings
Michael

 

[Jabberwocky]

Heh, from the viewpoint of a Czechman it's somehow funny to hear a German complain about a lack of lakes… Schöne Grüße von der hoffnungslos aufgestauten, gedämmten und kanalisierten Moldau.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Michael, thank you for your interesting report with so many thorough pictures. I believe it's our first multi-day trip report from Germany.

A few questions:

- Were you satisfied with how your canoe performed and how you had trimmed it with gear?
- Where did you camp en route? Were there public campgrounds?
- What kind of camera did you use and how did you keep it dry?
- Did Der wilde Waschbär (the wild raccoon) behave himself?

 

[kahel]

- Were you satisfied with how your canoe performed and how you had trimmed it with gear?
First, I was very happy with my little trolley as a loading aid. So I could easily and comfortably stow "Wilma" on and off the car roof.
Performing of Wilma was Great! ... except for the wind! When it got windy "Wilma" did everything - except what I wanted. She almost stopped when the wind came in gusts from the front. (I think I just have to train more)
the trim was easy to do with the luggage ... however, in the course of the tour I put an additional 10L water canister in the bow, so that he was a little more in the water. It made the straight running stability a little better. But not really great in windy conditions.

- Where did you camp en route? Were there public campgrounds?
In the region there were campsites that we drove to after a day's stage ... because there are nature reserves everywhere there it is difficult and also forbidden to camp wild.

- What kind of camera did you use and how did you keep it dry?
I had a "Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ101EGS" with me on the tour and I kept it dry in a kind of Peli box.
But that was not really practical. The quick access is not given with two-locked latches on the box on the water. That's why I have a lot of pictures from the construction of the camp and also from the dismantling ... but hardly any from the water.

- Did the wild raccoon behave itself?
YES! he did. - if not, he would have ended up in the pan. After all, raccoon stew is supposed to taste good.

 

[jdeerfoot]

Nice trip report - thanks for sharing.

 

[Gamma1214]

Great TR & pictures. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[kahel]

Thanks all.

"relax" after a loooooong day of paddeling.



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[stevet]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tsuga8]

Thanks for sharing. Great to see some European canoe country!

 

[Ralph]

Really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MrPoling]

I'm impressed with the outfitting, including floatation.

The sailing canoe looks sharp too.

 

[kahel]

@MrPoling
thank you for your praise.

if you are interested ... here are "the making off" and the conversion of the outfitting

outfitting ~ Old Town Discovery ~

here it is ... last year in November I bought an Old Town Discovery in excellent condition. Canoe Oldtown Discovery 146 Build in: 1997 Length: 4,40 m Width: approx. 90 cm Weight: approx. 30 kg (rather more) . . . . and sure - it had to be washed first after the transfer. . ...

www.canoetripping.net

so that I can handle the boat at all alone -
here is the most important for me what I did with the boat or rather for the boat.

little helper for loading the canoe.

I saw the video here on YouTube and thought to myself: I need something like that! So I took some screenshots from the video and then I rebuilt the cart. . . . after welding the frame it look like this - but how to fix the Wheel axle?! mhmmm .... screw-clamps! . . . . ...

www.canoetripping.net

and for the paddling comfort this was a good idea to implement

A new seat was needed.

A new seat was needed. After I had finally made my first multi-day paddle tour with a friend, I painfully realized that the seat was not usable for me. So I built a new one. The new seat will be installed more to the middle of the boat so that the boat is also better trimmed at the same time...

www.canoetripping.net

but a spraydeck I still have not sewn untill now.

regards
Michael