Have you ever slept over night in a canoe ?

[Jim Dodd]

Just wondering if anyone here has slept over night in a canoe ?
Share your experience !

I have never slept in a canoe. Of course the fear of tipping over would be my first concern. I'm a some what restless sleeper sometimes, and any rocking would seem to make it worse !
But something crawling into the canoe with me such as a snake, lays in the back of my mind also!

I think it would be cooler in the Summer though.
Thoughts ?

Jim

 

[yellowcanoe]

Its done in the Everglades
Not by me though. Almost had to last year! High winds and high tide trapped me
Had to backtrack a coupke of miles to a dry beach
Now add that to your snake dreams Jim!

 

[gumpus]

I haven't slept overnight in a canoe but I've taken some nice naps. I used to paddle a chain of lakes that had a "secret" entrance to a creek that one could follow for miles and it was my favorite spot for canoe naps. My Swift Osprey with sliding seat is perfect for napping since it's relatively long at 15 feet, deep enough to keep you out of the wind if you lay on the floor of the boat, and roomy with the sliding seat pushed all the way back. Ideal conditions are a sunny but cool day where you can soak up the sun like a lizard while the boat shields you from the breeze. In my experience the boat is totally stable with your full weight on the floor so it seemed impossible to tip, and the Osprey is narrow enough that even if you are an active sleeper you really can't move around too much.

 

[BWCA66]

I have in the boundary waters while floating on the water, it was great. It was also a flat bottom canoe with a keel.

 

[memaquay]

I developed it into an art form in the many years that I was a pion on the Outers trips. While our leader would spend several hours relocating a port, I would catch up on some much needed sleep in the stern seat. I found that if you wedged the paddle blade between the seat and your rear, and had the shaft resting on the rear deck, you could get a very comfortable reclining angle that was one of the most comfortable sleeping seats i ever experienced.

 

[Qayaq]

Well, not on the water, but on a trip in Woodland Caribou in 2015 my wife and I had to resort to sleeping in our Bob Special.

We had converted to hammock camping several years before and so that is what we had with us. We had left Welkin Lake in the morning and paddled through Adventure and Haven, where we ran into old and new burn areas. The old burn had regrowth trees up to 10 feet tall and very few unburned trees large enough to support a hammock. At Haven it started to rain and get very windy. On the port to Jigsaw I had a heck of a time carrying the canoe since there were very few trees left to block the wind. As we topped the hill and got a view of Jigsaw all we could see past the lake towards Wrist was burn, some of it still smoldering.

By this time it was 7:00 pm, still raining and windy and neither one of us felt like pushing on through Jigsaw and the 825 metre portage to Wrist in the hope of finding trees, so we landed on the lee side of a small island to set up camp.

Since we don't sleep on the ground, we didn't have our thermarest pads. We use reflective sheets under sleeping bags in the hammocks for a barrier to the cool air underneath, but these don't have enough cushion to make sleeping on the ground comfortable so we decided that we were going to try sleeping in the canoe. I took the centre thwart out and after rigging up a tarp to keep the wind and rain out we laid out the reflective sheets and sleeping bags in the boat and climbed in to check it out. It was tight, but we were surprised to find that it wasn't that uncomfortable. We first tried a head-to-foot arrangement but found it was better if we both laid the same direction.

The good points were that it was level and there weren't any rocks or roots to dodge. And it was dry! The not so good were the flying elbows as either of us rolled to change position. By morning the rain and wind had let up and we carried on our way to finish another great trip in Woodland Caribou. It's nice to know it's possible to sleep in this canoe, but I'm not sure I'd like to try it in our w/c Canadian without more padding.

​

 

[sweeper]

A canoe is no match for a hammock.

I did fall asleep in a Kayak on the Allagash River one year just above Ramsay Ledge.

 

[Guest]

I slept in an anchored tandem once to get away from bugs. It worked so well that I tried it again--it rained and I slept in a puddle. My tarp covered me,but not the ends.

 

[stripperguy]

I've never slept in a canoe, but I have slept under a canoe...when I was a kid and on overnight fishing trips with my father and uncles. Even at 8 years old, I didn't like waking up in the morning with slug tracks across my face!

 

[MagicPaddler]

Last summer my bow paddler fell asleep and almost rolled into the water. He was 12 years old. He then got on his knees and put his face on the front of the canoe and went back to sleep.

 

[D.B Cooper]

I used to replace the thwart and yoke bolt with wing nuts so I could swing them out of the way and have a large comfortable sleeping area.Slept out about 10 times but not in over two decades.I used to be in a hurry while traveling.

 

[Guest]

The real D.B. Cooper?

 

[dougd]

We were coming down the James Bay on the western side and with the mudflats we got dry docked more then once in the 100 miles we had to do to get to Moosenee. While taking turns during the night we took turns waiting for the tide to come in so we could advance towards shore. One holding the painter and wading through the up rising tide while the other slept under the spray skirt on the canoe. Not much room but being the shortest and smallest of the four of us I fared better then the others, I actually snored I was told.

Then there was a night on the local river where I fell behind and ended up slipping down to the floor of the Disco catching an eddie where I slept while spinning in the eddie. The boys had to paddle back upstream to find me and roust my sorry arse. I did the same thing down river about an hour later.

dougd

 

[Erica]

I developed it into an art form in the many years that I was a pion on the Outers trips. While our leader would spend several hours relocating a port, I would catch up on some much needed sleep in the stern seat. I found that if you wedged the paddle blade between the seat and your rear, and had the shaft resting on the rear deck, you could get a very comfortable reclining angle that was one of the most comfortable sleeping seats i ever experienced.

My favorite napping technique. It is even better if one is on a long trip and the stern is full of comfortable packs. Head into a sheltered area, tie up at least one end, then off to sleep.

I used to take a foster child paddling. She would be in the bow and when she was tired, I rigged an umbrella for shade and she just popped down for a nap. Worked great.

 

[Jackpine Jerry]

I've slept in my canoe many times especially in the everglades and the keys while living in florida. I did it primarily because of the snakes on the ground. I also found the rocking motion as in any boat knocks me out. I simply spread out a foam pad and slept very well. I have also done this back here in my home



area (n. michigan). I am going to rick up a tarp with screen sometime and perhaps come up with a "hoop" arrangement.

I have paddled nearly every weekend this winter on the AuSable in northern mi. guess what ? no bugs or snakes......

Anyone have a yellowstone out there for sale. I understand they are not making them anymore. I paddled one in the bwca once and loved it.



cheers---Jackpine Jerry

 

[Erica]

Jerry, snakes can easily crawl into canoes from the water. Most snakes in Florida are good swimmers. If you are trying to get away from snakes, a tent with sewn in floor and zipped tight, then lock the zippers with twist ties.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Jerry, snakes can easily crawl into canoes from the water. Most snakes in Florida are good swimmers. If you are trying to get away from snakes, a tent with sewn in floor and zipped tight, then lock the zippers with twist ties.

You know us northerners suck at snake recognition.. I have been to Corkscrew Swamp and Six Mile among several S FL nature preserves and I always have to ask groups of people what they are looking at. Invariably its a snake I can barely discern. I have met one snake in a porta potti on Pavilion.. I think it was a python. I slammed the door before consulting SNAKE ID and used the other porta potti. Despite the lack of any twist ties nor the knowledge that they might be useful we slept in a tent just fine.. Even with the sounds of sandpaper at two am. ( a raccoon was licking dew off the tent)
I have heard that snakes can drop in in mangrove tunnels and again I think ignorance is bliss. I had a small gator partly in the canoe once ( he was trying to jump over from a bank on the Hillsborough River and was not a long jump star. He jumped again fast.)

Soon leaving and bought insect repellent yesterday.. Two isobutane canisters and Natrapel prompted the cashier at Eastern Mountain Sports to ask if we were headed to warmer climes.. Yes Northern outfitters are stocked for escapees. However sunblock is very hard to find here now.. Which is odd as you can get a fierce burn from snow if you are outdoors.

 

[Jackpine Jerry]

I suppose you are right about swimming snakes. Perhaps it was just laziness after all. Or maybe because I forgot the tent stakes and poles.
I've gotta tell ya though...be choosy who you canoe with. I was with a group of " friends" years ago on the Ontonagon river mainstream. We had gotten a late start so we camped on a sandbar. Wanting to be different I chose to sleep in my canoe (tandem). I guess I sleep like the dead as the next time I awoke I was several miles downstream and tipped over in a rapids. My buddies had untied my canoe whilst I slept. Now you know why I paddle alone!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually I do paddle with some of them but we joke about how we camp on opposite sides of the river now. In solo canoes of course.

 

[Jackpine Jerry]

oh yeah, Anyone got a used yellowstone solo for sale or similar type solo ?

 

[Guest]

At scout camp the boys would carefully carry a sleeping scout in his cot to the lake and put him in a canoe and push it off. The plan was to let him wake up in the morning out in the lake. They seldom had the patience to wait and threw rocks or yelled to wake him up-almost always falling in the water.