As I age, I'm trying to figure out how to use a canoe cart to maximum benefit. After renting one and finding it somewhat useful, I bought a nice 15'-no-air-all-terrain Suspenz cart. It handles flat terrain like a champ, and I've done several 1-1.5 mile long portages with it. It handles a gravel trail (like the portage into Boreas Ponds) very well. It handles the portage from Little Clear to St Regis to Fish Pond (with its roots and washouts) fairly well. Where I run into trouble is on rough patches, where the cart bounces and hits off-angle washouts and drainage channels (usually angled across the path). In those cases, the canoe tips sideways, or shifts sideways to the way you're walking (Roll and Yaw, if you're familiar with those terms).
The gear I carry in the canoe isn't really all that heavy... I use 2 packs. One is about 20lbs of personal gear (hammock, over and underquilt, clothes, odds and ends, saw/hatchet. It's the bright green one in the picture below.) The other is about 30lbs of camp gear (tarp, cooking gear, foodbag, fuel, stove, camp chair. It's the darker OD green one in the picture.) I also have a 2-piece paddle, a PFD, fishing rod, and a thwart bag with rain gear, tackle, and lunch/water. Maybe 60-65 lbs total. The canoe is a Hemlock Nessmuk II, 22lbs, 12' long, 30?" wide.
The straps consist of two sets of plain straps that larks-head into the frame (both on one side, front and rear, according to the instructions), and two sets of locking clamps that larks-head into the other side of the frame. You run one strap over to the opposite side, run the end through the clamp, and cinch it down. Pretty simple, but when you hit anything at an angle, it all goes haywire. I've tried looping the straps through the gunwales and thwarts in an attempt to keep it more rigidly in place, to no avail... it keeps shifting.
This afternoon, at home, I tried a different approach. The locking clamp strap cannot be both larks-headed to the frame and pass through the drainage holes in the thwarts the way the regular strap can... so I un-larks-headed them and used an S-hook on the frame instead... this allowed me to pass their narrow end through the holes and then hook into the frame, with the buckle end still up on top. This SEEMS to have helped, but my yard is a bit smoother than an actual trail. I tried two methods of running the straps; straight up from the frame, and at an angle from frame to a spot about 2' off center. The off-center method seems to be a bit more rigid.
One thing I'm considering is making my own set of straps... I would basically take one normal strap and sew a hook into it, to clip into the gunwale at one of the drainage slots. I would then shorten the locking clamp strap to about 4" long so it was between the frame and gunwale, enabling me to cinch it there. However, I would need to buy two more locking clamps (no issue).
Does anyone understand what I'm experiencing, and have a better way to load?
Here's a picture of it this past weekend... hadn't slipped too badly in the picture, but it sure wasn't solid. You can see my straps wrapped around both thwarts in an attempt to keep it in place.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
The gear I carry in the canoe isn't really all that heavy... I use 2 packs. One is about 20lbs of personal gear (hammock, over and underquilt, clothes, odds and ends, saw/hatchet. It's the bright green one in the picture below.) The other is about 30lbs of camp gear (tarp, cooking gear, foodbag, fuel, stove, camp chair. It's the darker OD green one in the picture.) I also have a 2-piece paddle, a PFD, fishing rod, and a thwart bag with rain gear, tackle, and lunch/water. Maybe 60-65 lbs total. The canoe is a Hemlock Nessmuk II, 22lbs, 12' long, 30?" wide.
The straps consist of two sets of plain straps that larks-head into the frame (both on one side, front and rear, according to the instructions), and two sets of locking clamps that larks-head into the other side of the frame. You run one strap over to the opposite side, run the end through the clamp, and cinch it down. Pretty simple, but when you hit anything at an angle, it all goes haywire. I've tried looping the straps through the gunwales and thwarts in an attempt to keep it more rigidly in place, to no avail... it keeps shifting.
This afternoon, at home, I tried a different approach. The locking clamp strap cannot be both larks-headed to the frame and pass through the drainage holes in the thwarts the way the regular strap can... so I un-larks-headed them and used an S-hook on the frame instead... this allowed me to pass their narrow end through the holes and then hook into the frame, with the buckle end still up on top. This SEEMS to have helped, but my yard is a bit smoother than an actual trail. I tried two methods of running the straps; straight up from the frame, and at an angle from frame to a spot about 2' off center. The off-center method seems to be a bit more rigid.
One thing I'm considering is making my own set of straps... I would basically take one normal strap and sew a hook into it, to clip into the gunwale at one of the drainage slots. I would then shorten the locking clamp strap to about 4" long so it was between the frame and gunwale, enabling me to cinch it there. However, I would need to buy two more locking clamps (no issue).
Does anyone understand what I'm experiencing, and have a better way to load?
Here's a picture of it this past weekend... hadn't slipped too badly in the picture, but it sure wasn't solid. You can see my straps wrapped around both thwarts in an attempt to keep it in place.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
