Supernova Rigging

[JagDaddy]

I worked on my boat rigging today. Finished gluing in the NRS PVC patch 1" 'D' rings and drilled the hull for the flotation bag cages. The 550 cord cages aren't quite done yet. I'm debating on drilling small holes in the thwarts for the top of the cage and I'll probably run a cam strap down the middle of the bags to the glued in 'D' rings on the floor. The gear is cam straped up tight to the bags and still has room to go fore and aft for balance. The Supernova likes most of the weight in the middle.

It's tough to strike a balance between playboat and trip boat. I like my boats (cataraft and canoe) rigged tight and low 'dress to swim-rig to flip' :- )

I test fit my trip load which is a Granite Gear "Traditional" #4 size pack that holds a Rubbermade tote that gives some semi-rigid storage for my cook gear and food 'staples'. It also holds a large Seal Line burpable drybag that holds my sleeping bag, clothing bag and a food bag. There's another drybag with my hammock and tarp rig. It also also my GSI aluminum dutch oven in its bag with it's accoutrements. And there's still room in the pack haha

On top of the #4 is a large Jansport daypack That has my day to day gear. Nav stuff, rain gear, extra-layer, water filter, water bottles, headlamp, fist aid and snivle gear and snacks and lunch etc.

Under the rear thwart behind the seat is my soft cooler because I don't mind a little effort for good, fresh food :- )
I layer hard frozen on the bottom dividing it from the fresh on top.

Most of the SW rivers are pack every thing out including your poop. I use a 'Big Wall Can' for solo trip groover. It was actually designed for climbers but works good for canoe tripping. Leak-proof, pressure relief valve and a rigging harness. Not sure were it's going yet.

I use a hog feed pan for a fire pan and it goes in a stuff sack under an air bag with the grill in it.

That's about it, once I sort out the cages I plan on lake flipping it loaded next week end :- )

 

[JagDaddy]

No Title

 

[Robin]

Nice job I had to look up the "snivle gear" thing...

Do you have a problem finding place to hang your hammock in the southwest? Are the rapids mostly big waves over submerged rocks or are rocks exposed or both, just curious as I have never been to the area but from pictures I see and the way you are rigged it looks like big water.

 

[JagDaddy]

Thanks Robin and it would have probably helped had I not misspelled 'snivle' haha

My Hennessy hammock works great here for my SW solo tripping. I almost never have to go to ground. There are lots of cottonwoods and tamarisk trees and failing that I get creative with boulders and such. The hammock also opens up some spots tents just won't work.

As far as the water goes, its across the spectrum and can change overnight, you can literally wake up to a different river. The Gila, Blue, San Fransisco, Salt, Verde, San Juan, Upper Colorado, Yampa et all get pretty sporty.

My canoe tripping is almost always spur of the moment and 90% solo so I decided to bag out the boat. I don't want to walk home :- )

 

[Uncle_Skwid]

Hey now! Zee boat est lookin good! Ready for some sporty scanoo camping! I love canoe camping the Class III/IV rivers. Get yer sporty downriver on while spending a bunch of nights on the river! (I'm not a big fan of the portage, anyway.)

So nice job on the outfit.

I guess the open spaces you left in the bow and stern will hold your dirty laundry? I'd scoot them bags up under your deck plates and get the water to / create more room in your cockpit (unless you've got grand plans for an extendable robo-arm go-pro device).

Speaking of dirty.... the Big Wall Can: LIKE IT? 8" seems pretty wide, though I'm sure it makes for comfy sitting. The Metolius Waste Case--another climbing innovation--looks pretty nice at only 6", but it's a wag bag container (soft shell) which doesn't fly for GC. Washable. Reusable. Etc.) According to NPS, I need 680 cubic in. for 17 days in GC. 12 days I could get away with the Big Can's 480 cub. in. (What I'm reading is 40 cub.in. / day / person, which sounds like a pile of doo doo, but I guess there is no arguing with the NPS. I'm modeling the kayak-camping logistics of Woody and Bryce's PWMS:

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26.5"L X 6" schedule 35 PVC (0.18 wall thickness--the thinnest PVC I could find without dipping down into that see-through yard drainage stuff). Cap on one end cleanout on the other. (It measures 5.75" inner diameter and gives me 688 cubic inches). My square-holed cutting board will act as a cleanout wrench/table. Kind of a weird thought I know, preparing food on the groover! Maybe I'll use it as a stool! (har har har). Inside the pipe I'm fitting a 1" piece of circular foam to separate my bags (yes, I will still use bags in my cleanable, reusable groover, sorry NPS) from my paper roll, wipes, unused wags, and U-Dig-It. The U-Dig-It I'll use to burrow my pipe in the sand so I can cut carrots on the table..... I still think 40 cubic inches a DAY is right much, so I'm planning to have extra space for general refuse or ash (if I burn anything).

I only bought the pipe and fittings this weekend so I haven't yet used it or paddled with it. My plan is to strap it under my stern float bag, where it will run lengthwise beside the drainage tube for the pump. (Shhh. It's a secret but I'm a big fan of the pump in big water.) Who knows, I may scrap the whole idea after spending a weekend with it. But I suspect after 17 days I may be riding a significant wheelie down the river. SO. I'll be packing my sleeping bag (uncompressed, mind you, spread out in the dry bag) / pads / tarp / bag liner (also not compressed) / down jacket / sleeping fleece in a too large bag (Watershed's 33" X 18" Colorado), and securing it in a sort of flat state under my bow float bag. As the trip progresses and my groover fills I can redistribute food / add gear to the Colorado bag in the bow and re-trim the boat! (Food from the center bag. Crap to the groover. Supplies to the bow. A fluid sort of PWMS. We'll see how THAT goes.)

The fire pan is a bummer of a requirement. I may have to construct a collapsible one out of 18G titanium or something. Suggestions welcome.

 

[JagDaddy]

Thanks Skwid :- )

I'm still fussing with the bags, I have them folded over in the stems because I have flotation chambers. I might very well pull them all the way forward under the decks and secure them there and just inflate them around the chambers.

Im trying to rig them secure but still be able to adjust them for different trips and rigging. On long trips I dont like loading and unloading the boat being a new adventure every time haha You won't either, especially on a winter trip, your going to be doing most of your cooking and boat rigging with a headlamp :- ) Rigging needs to be easy with as few bags as possible.


I like the Big Wall groover, it works as advertised and it's big enough for a semi-stable direct deposit :- ) I've also done the 'poop pipe' and they work too and probably pack better the way your rigging. I made a 'wrench' out of an old cutting board, dummy corded it to the pipe and slipped a piece of inner tube around the pipe to slide the 'wrench' into.

Your rigging plan sounds good, thats what we do and pretty much everyone I've done the GC with does. You'll want something for trash too, but an old drybag flattened under your flotation would work fine.

Hog pans make good fire pans. Don't skimp on size, the evening fire is going to be a big deal in Jan and get a good folding chair, it will be your new best friend at night haha
Personally I like the GC river stip's, you will too when you find all the camps with nothing but foot prints on them :- )

What are you doing about water treatment and dishwashing?

 

[Uncle_Skwid]

Poop tube works fine and fits into the boat like a dream. My only complaint is the WEIGHT. Direct deposit into this one can be a little tough (it's a little long and I've got to bury about six inches into the sand to get it low enough), but I'll be using the intermediary wag bags for collection...

I'm not familiar with the "hog pan," but I'm going with the NPS fire pan regulations on the size and sticking with the minimal 300 square inches X 3" high X 3" sides. It will break down into 10 pieces and assemble with wing nuts and measure 15" X 20". The floor will be a two-piece floating floor of 15" X 10" pieces that will easily pack into my Medium 2600 Pelican storm box with the rest of my laminated quads and other large, flat items. I get the m2600 free at work (our GPS receivers come in them), and keep my kitchen supplies and books and papers in the hard case, standing up between my rear thwart and my stern bag. For some reason I like the hard case for certain items. I'm thinking about 18 gauge titanium for the pan though it will cost me a few hundred dollars. If my calculations are right it should weigh in around 6 lbs. when all is said and done. I'm actually not a big fire guy, so I find some of the western river's fire stipulations sort of cumbersome. I'm happy with my Luci lights and a good book. I recall a summer trip (rafts and all, so packing wasn't an issue) down through Ladore Canyon. We were not charcoal cooking (we carried no charcoal), there were no open fires allowed in the summer, and yet the Park Service required us to carry a fire pan. Like I said, no big deal because we had some 18-footers with us, but still.... Was this an "emergency item"? Carrying a thirty pound pan that we couldn't use felt really bureaucratic. I noticed the regulations for GC have made the fire pan optional in summer. That's great.

I use a Steri-pen to zap my water and have been very happy with the results. (No water-borne illnesses that I know of for the two years I've been using it!) Probably carry some alum. And boil the water for cleaning etc...

Dishwashing won't be a bring production. I'm not a big chef, either. Food on long trips becomes calories and energy. I'll be aiming for 3000 calories a day. Half my food will be in bags, anyway. I'll do what I always do: heat some water and squirt in some camp soap. No, I probably won't be dipping the dishes in bleach, but I'll be alone and I keep things fairly clean.

And yes, clean beaches and rivers are nothing but a good thing. But often such regulations feel very pedantic and bureaucratic. As if to say without the regs I would be throwing trash and crapping all over the beach. (Which GC river runners in the 50's actually did! Thinking the high water would simply wash it away....)

 

[JagDaddy]

Sounds good Sqwid :- )

Everybody does things a little diffent for sure.

I completely agree with the bureaucratic hate. It anoys the heck out of me every single time when someone wearing body armor (plate carrier no less) a sidearm, taser and pepper spray, half a dozen flex cuffs and other bat belt gear is there to check the straps on my PFD and count my oars :- (

Personally we filter water on the Colorado, alot of icky stuff flushes into that river and zapping only kills the bugs.

Finished out my boat rigging and getting excited about the San Juan trip.