Sponge ??

[boatstall]

A question for the learned.
My old canoe sponge with it's tether, has gone awol, and must be replaced, as I have become accustomed to having it with me for all sorts of things.
It had been on countless trips, and while I realize that any large sponge would work to a degree, I thought that asking might prove worthy.
I think mine started life as an old car washing sponge. Countless choices out there now, with varying absorption, retention, and durability, from soft to firm.
Primary use is normal water extraction from canoe's interior. Rain, mud, rain, mud, rain. Typical Louisiana muck. Washing down prior to loading, wringing out over a campfire to extinguish, and the occasional wringing out overhead for cooling off in summer heat.
Advice appreciated on the simple sponge topic.
Synthetic or natural?

 

[sweeper]

I use large sponges from Home Depot, in a 4 (or 6?) pack in the Dry Wall Dept for cheap money

http://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-7-1-...and-Washing-Sponge-6-Pack-70005Q-6D/100566800

 

[Guest]

NRS Deluxe Boat Sponge. Surprisingly tough and absorbent. It takes a lot to wear em out. Great for blotting up sand and grit. The terry-cloth cover lets the sand/grit wash off super easily, unlike a non-covered, porous generic sponge. Might seem expensive, but you can get them on sale and as part of various promotions. Also, the tie string for a tether is really helpful in preventing loss.

edit: My use of the term "terry-cloth" was sloppy. It's more like microfiber.

 

[Canotrouge]

I use large sponges from Home Depot, in a 4 (or 6?) pack in the Dry Wall Dept for cheap money

http://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-7-1-...and-Washing-Sponge-6-Pack-70005Q-6D/100566800

I use the exact same sponge, and shove one in a mesh bag put a small beaner and it stays in the boat with the bailer 365 days a year!!

 

[wingnut]

If you know someone handy with a sewing machine I'm sure they could sew up a cover out of a micro fiber cloth with a nice strap for the Home Depot sponge and have the best of both worlds.

 

[sweeper]

Or you can buy a 6 pack of them use one until it wears out, then take out another one, <$1.70/sponge vs $12.95 +shipping for the NRS one, you make the call. A fella's got to cut a corner on gear somewhere.

 

[Odyssey]

And there I thought I was the only fussy person sponging out water at my feet from wet footing it. I too use the cheap sponges from HD, and pondered the easiest most effective way of carabining it to a grab handle; I never thought of putting it in an absorbent sock. (Yet another use for old socks?) Making one out of "miracle cloth" fabric would work too, thanks for this idea DaveO.
I might just try melting a hole through the sponge for some paracord and small carabiner. Or do what I always do and shove it under a pack strap for the carries.

 

[frozentripper]

An alternative or an addition to a sponge and possibly more multiple-use, is a medium-sized towel, preferably white... it will mop up water and mud from the bottom and can be washed out over the side. Other uses include a wet reflective cover (white) over the pack to reduce temps in hot weather, worn wet around neck and shoulders to keep upper body cool, refreshing wet towel on face and hands when needed, cover knees to prevent sunburn... it's going to be heavier than the sponge and a towel will not absorb water as quickly as the sponge, but the bailer is there for pitching out larger water volumes.

Either the sponge or the towel helps to keep grit off the bottom and knees when kneeling, helps to prevent inch-thick calluses from building up because of gravel grinding against kneecaps. Great thunderin' geezus, the pains I go to to paddle properly...

 

[riverstrider]

If you don't want to bother with a net bag or some other method to carabiner the sponge to a thwart, it is pretty simple to install a bungy cord un a thwart or next to a seat, and just secure the sponge under the elastic cord.

-rs

 

[Guest]

I use the exact same sponge, and shove one in a mesh bag put a small beaner and it stays in the boat with the bailer 365 days a year!!

Much the same here. I always have a sponge, sometimes two*, usually these inexpensive dog-bone things from WallyWorld.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Auto-Car...Color-Washing-Porous-Cleaner-Sponges/46425516

$14 bucks for 5 sponges isn’t bad, I keep a couple of the yet-unsandied virgins set aside for washing vehicles, and relegate them to canoe duty some grungy time later.

Those cheap sponges suck up a lot of water, and do a fine job of dredging out sand and mud, especially when stuffed inside a small mesh bag debris-grabber. I usually just stuff them inside the bailer, unclipped to the boat (issues with that).

*”Two” sponges. Gawd I’m a wuss; during summertime my barefoot heels ache after hours lightly locked on the foot brace, even resting on a minicel pad. I sometimes put a sponge under each heel, and adjust my peignoir accordingly.

I have cut them in half when I only brought one. Better that than rend that darling chiffon paddling robe.

 

[clemency]

Get the expensive one.

 

[boatstall]

Thanks for all the ideas folks.

Never had a sponge with a cover on it, but seems practical. Not having used either terrycloth, microfiber, or mesh bag style, I think that a comparison test is in order. Think I will try the HD multi-pak sponges. I'm trying to learn how to use a thread injector for outdoor projects, so covering a sponge with fabric should be a good first project.

My bride has a large natural sea sponge ($12-$15) for the tub, and that thing holds more water than any of my car or bilge sponges, but I have no idea how it would hold up to mud and sand. She thinks we should try one (not her's), and put it in a mesh bag as many have described here. May try the HD sponges first.

Towel has been standard for summer shade, but want to thank McCrea for the UV blanket idea (from another thread), as well as having 2 sponges for barefoot heel cushions. UV blanket is on the thread injector list. I do like to wet the towel and throw over my shoulders and back in summer sun. UV blocking added to cooling towel will be completed before summer X2. Bride liked that idea as well. Now she wants heel sponges as well. We should never need a bailer with that many sponges on board.

 

[pblanc]

Natural sponges are enormously more absorbent and efficient than any synthetic sponge but they are more fragile and will shed small pieces and become smaller and smaller.

 

[boatstall]

Bilge Balls.
Found these while looking at boat sponges. These could sure start some trouble.

https://www.amazon.com/Seattle-Spor...F8&qid=1494459245&sr=8-7&keywords=boat+sponge

 

[boatstall]

Natural sponges are enormously more absorbent and efficient than any synthetic sponge but they are more fragile and will shed small pieces and become smaller and smaller.

Think enclosed in a mesh bag would help?

 

[yellowcanoe]

My only contribution to this thread is that I really did go to Canoecopia and only bought a fabric enclosed sponge with a loop for a carabiner. Its come in so handy so many times and I can always find it. Unlike my water bottle
The reason for that meager purchase was.. we were flying.

 

[Guest]

Never had a sponge with a cover on it, but seems practical. Not having used either terrycloth, microfiber, or mesh bag style, I think that a comparison test is in order.

I agree about the material cover test We have a fabric covered sponge, but the fabric is some towel-like absorbent material, and unlike DaveO&#146;s NRS sponge it doesn&#146;t pick up sand or mud worth a dang. The naked dog bone car washing sponges do a much better pickup job with debris. Putting one of those dog bones in a small mesh bag doesn&#146;t reduce the sand/mud pickup, although the mesh bag can be a PITA if we end up with little twigs and sticks in the boat after a swamp trip; the woody debris gets stuck in the mesh.

Towel has been standard for summer shade, but want to thank McCrea for the UV blanket idea (from another thread), as well as having 2 sponges for barefoot heel cushions. UV blanket is on the thread injector list. I do like to wet the towel and throw over my shoulders and back in summer sun. UV blocking added to cooling towel will be completed before summer X2. Bride liked that idea as well. Now she wants heel sponges as well. We should never need a bailer with that many sponges on board.

Wetted fabric is great in hot dry conditions. Not so much in hot humid conditions.

I occasionally resorted to a shammie-type pack towel for a lap blanket. At 18 x 36 was too small to cover much of my legs. And way too hot underneath even used humid dry. The fabric I used for the lap blanket shade was some very lightweight &#147;95% UV protective&#148; material used for UV clothing. I was impressed at how much cooler it was underneath with the (dry) lap blanket on, even on hot humid days, when I really don&#146;t want a wet towel as shade.

We have four of those lap blankets now, one each. The initial trial version was cut a bit small to fully cover thighs, calves and (yes) sunburned bare feet, hemmed 36 x 48 was just barely enough coverage. The others are bigger, the king sized one is 50 x 60, but still packs into a softball sized ditty bag. On my shop small weight scale it weighs 5 oz with the ditty bag.

On hot buggy trips I spray the UV lap blankets with Permethrin to do double duty as a bare leg bug barrier. Best 5oz piece of gear we own.

Think enclosed in a mesh bag would help?

I think you would have little bits of decaying natural sponge in a mesh bag.

 

[Guest]

Bilge Balls.
Found these while looking at boat sponges. These could sure start some trouble.

https://www.amazon.com/Seattle-Spor...F8&qid=1494459245&sr=8-7&keywords=boat+sponge

Cute, and maybe fun to hurl at companions (or play wet-sponge bocce), but they would be useless for removing sand and mud from the inside of the hull. Probably roll around the hull bottom until they lodge somewhere just out of reach as well.

I think one of the reasons I find our cloth covered sponge ineffective in sand/mud removal is that it is too small to fold in half effectively and grasp a pile of scooped together crud. The cloth cover doesn’t help in that fold over regard either.

For beyond squeezing out the last dribbles of water it helps to have a sponge big enough to taco fold around a brushed together pile of sand or mud and pick it up & out. And pebbles; with an aggressive boot tread there’s pebbles in that there mud.

Maybe I’m just finicky, but sand or mud in the bottom of the canoe is more of an issue than a wee sponge-able bit of water. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do



That stuff is the enemy of boat and gear longevity, I don’t like that debris infiltrating the glued edges of D-ring pads or minicel or caked on the bottom of packs. I’ve seen composite hulls with heel scuffs worn down into the fabric, under sea kayak pedals especially, and grinding sand underfoot can only hasten the wear (good reason for thin sacrificial heel pads too).

Inverting the canoe for a carry I really don’t want mud plopping on my head or sand in my eyes. That crud is also best kept away from falling in at the butt ends of thwarts and yokes, where it forms a bacteria breeding ground trapped moist against the hull.

When you do the sponge experiments add some sand and mud to the mix. I love a good experiment.

(I do like the wet sponge bocce idea though. It might play into the strategy if throwing into the water hazard to resaturate the ball was part of the game)

 

[boatstall]

I agree about the material cover test We have a fabric covered sponge, but the fabric is some towel-like absorbent material, and unlike DaveO&#146;s NRS sponge it doesn&#146;t pick up sand or mud worth a dang. The naked dog bone car washing sponges do a much better pickup job with debris. Putting one of those dog bones in a small mesh bag doesn&#146;t reduce the sand/mud pickup, although the mesh bag can be a PITA if we end up with little twigs and sticks in the boat after a swamp trip; the woody debris gets stuck in the mesh.

Twigs and sticks are omnipresent with our local tripping ventures. Usually have enough debris in the canoe after unloading to start a fire with. Now that you mention it, the mesh bag would not work well at all for "swamp trips", which is our norm.

May just think about the mesh bagged sponges for the marsh trips, where the mud becomes almost glue like, and the rougher surface of the mesh bag will help in the scraping function.

 

[boatstall]

"Add some sand and mud to the mix". That's funny. Paddling in Louisiana without sand and mud would be mission impossible.