9 Top Canoe Packs & Barrel Harnesses

[Glenn MacGrady]

No Duluth!

The Load-Out: 9 Top Canoe Packs & Barrel Harnesses

Nine best packs and barrel harnesses for every canoe trip and tripper.

paddlingmag.com

 

[Boreal Birch]

Frost River packs # 3 and #4 are the same as Duluth Packs. Frost River is owned and manufactured by former Duluth Pack employees that started Frost River when new ownership of Duluth Packs started make an inferior product.

 

[Mason]

Or Cooke Custom Sewing. On my last trip (6 people), we had 10 CCS packs (and two CCS spray decks). My group (mostly from the West) had been using them for well over 20 years. For Boundary Waters, they are one of the standard brands (as they're made in Minnesota). PaddlingMag is tending towards AI-ness, just stuff thrown together.

 

[TimG]

I really like my Watershed packs. They’re well known in the whitewater world but it seems not so much in canoe tripping circles. Just as air and water tight as my blue barrel, but more comfortable to carry and easier to fit in my solo boats. I bought new old stock military issue versions on eBay for less than the regular bags, and they’re made of a more durable Hypalon material. I have one 80L pack I use most of the time, often with a 10L handbag, and two 50L packs that sport inflation/deflation valves for use as floatation, or compression. Great American made products.

 

[Robin]

No Duluth!

Duluth Pack fell out of favor with many in the canoe world when they signed a pledge to educate and train American workers back in 2020. The pledge was promoted by the Trump administration.

Frost River packs # 3 and #4 are the same as Duluth Packs. Frost River is owned and manufactured by former Duluth Pack employees that started Frost River when new ownership of Duluth Packs started make an inferior product.

Maybe so, but everyone says their product is superior to the competition. Sounds like sour grapes to me. Frost River makes nice waxed canvas packs, very popular with the modern YouTube “Bushcraft” crowd. It looks nice but it’s not practical for canoetripping. Just because it sheds water doesn’t make it waterproof, it still needs a waterproof liner so why the wax?
I had an old Duluth Pack repaired recently after many years of use, the sewing and leather work was excellent.

 

[Nick Pending]

I really like my Watershed packs. They’re well known in the whitewater world but it seems not so much in canoe tripping circles. Just as air and water tight as my blue barrel, but more comfortable to carry and easier to fit in my solo boats. I bought new old stock military issue versions on eBay for less than the regular bags, and they’re made of a more durable Hypalon material. I have one 80L pack I use most of the time, often with a 10L handbag, and two 50L packs that sport inflation/deflation valves for use as floatation, or compression. Great American made products.

I applaud your sentiment here. My wife and I have over a thousand bucks worth of Watershed bags that we've used a lot, whitewater and tripping over the last 20 or so years. Great products! None of ours are hypalon, but they still take a real beating with no failures.

 

[TimG]

None of ours are hypalon, but they still take a real beating with no failures.

Agreed. My small Ocoee bag is the standard material and it’s plenty durable, and light. It just happened to be that the best deal I could find on any of their larger dry packs was new military issue ones on eBay. 50L for $80 and 80L for $120 was a steal!
Their customer service is excellent as well. My Ocoee arrived with a cracked Fastex buckle and they promptly mailed a replacement, simple as that. I’ve heard they can do sonic weld patches and repairs if needed as well.