Sponges

[latremorej]

Tried many different sponges.. they dont do it for me. One word. SHAMWOW! I bought a 10 pack at BJs about 10 years ago. Still have a few unused ones. I find that they hold more water than a sponge.... they clean the debris from the bottom better than a sponge.. they clean the muck off your feet better than a sponge.... AND after a good rinse in the lake, they pull duty as a camp towel. Bright orange, I have also tied one to a tree next to the privy as a high vis marker for those late night trips in the dark. I cut a thin strip off one edge and used the material to sew on hanging loops.

oh, the dog has a dedicated shamwow too.

Jason

 

[Guest]

After having spent a summer in a PakBoat with all the frame members getting in the way of bailing, I'm thinking a pump is the way to go.

Depending on which Pakboat design, maybe. At least for the last between-the-frames bits. Maybe both a bilge pump and a bailer. And a sponge for the nasty gritty bits.

I know bupkiss about Pakcanoes. If you swim a Pakcanoe to shore can you simply upend and flip it over the empty the water?

Anything with a deck, or even a partial deck on rigid boats, is a PITA to try to empty with a pump alone if fully capsized. Rigid open canoes are easier, the water just pours out when inverted, even if you are swimming beside it.

I tried emptying a submerged water-trough of a decked canoe using a pump, a bilge pump that purged water on both upstroke and downstroke. My right arm may have a lot of practice at that repetitive motion, but X hundreds of gallons of water wasn’t happening, even with a high volume pump.

I gave that up and grabbed the bailer. Tossing out a gallon at a scoop was much faster and easier, until I got down to the bilge pumpable dregs.

 

[Mason]

Depending on which Pakboat design, maybe. At least for the last between-the-frames bits. Maybe both a bilge pump and a bailer. And a sponge for the nasty gritty bits.

I know bupkiss about Pakcanoes. If you swim a Pakcanoe to shore can you simply upend and flip it over the empty the water?

Anything with a deck, or even a partial deck on rigid boats, is a PITA to try to empty with a pump alone if fully capsized. Rigid open canoes are easier, the water just pours out when inverted, even if you are swimming beside it.

I tried emptying a submerged water-trough of a decked canoe using a pump, a bilge pump that purged water on both upstroke and downstroke. My right arm may have a lot of practice at that repetitive motion, but X hundreds of gallons of water wasn’t happening, even with a high volume pump.

I gave that up and grabbed the bailer. Tossing out a gallon at a scoop was much faster and easier, until I got down to the bilge pumpable dregs.

A bilge pump won't replace a bailer, but it should be faster than a sponge for the ends where all the rods come together. Boats were loaded (and commonly decked) so inverting wasn't an option.

 

[latremorej]

I tried emptying a submerged water-trough of a decked canoe using a pump, a bilge pump that purged water on both upstroke and downstroke. My right arm may have a lot of practice at that repetitive motion, but X hundreds of gallons of water wasn’t happening, even with a high volume pump.

I gave that up and grabbed the bailer. Tossing out a gallon at a scoop was much faster and easier, until I got down to the bilge pumpable dregs.

I have owned those pumps.(and dont forget to switch hands once and a while).. from my kayak days... they are supposed to slip into a special hatch on an expedition type spray skirt so after you re-enter the kayak and somehow manage to get your skirt back on while totally flooded out, you can expel the water. ( I have read that you could also close up the skirt part way and use it too if no hatch is present... never worked for me) A kayak with bulkheads holds alot less water than any canoe not equipped with huge float bags. I quickly found out why they are usually marketed as kayak bilge pumps when I had to pump water from the canoe.

Either way, as stated above.... a bailer is the only way to go for a swamped canoe.
Whenever someone talks about a sponge, i generally assume that they are using it for the last bits of water after the bailer, or when you are just cleaning up some rain water, light splash, and mud.

I would rather break out the kitchen set and use a pot than try to empty a whole canoe with a sponge, pump, shamwow, or anything else if I forgot or lost my bailer!

Jason

oh... and Mike, I too have had some repetitive motion although, the throw on the pump may have been much shorter