The first step is admitting you have a problem!

[Cookannapurna]

I'm admitting I'm a gearaholic. I like gear, all gear! I like playing with it, I like trying new things. I'm constantly tweaking little things hear and there. Here is my current set up for solo tripping (although it doesn't change much when I'm with someone). Most of my canoeing is local here in RI, and the Adirondacks. Not pictured is my food bag, clothes bag, or water as they vary to a certain degree trip to trip. I like everything to fit in one bag so as to single carry. I try to go as light as possible, but when I'm in a canoe I like some comforts. If I'm going ultra-light there are som items I cut or replace, but this is my "baseline".

Frost River timber cruiser (longer trips require the big Duluth)
Pack liner
The blue thing under everything else is a hinged section of closed cell I use as a back pad in the pack and a doormat for my hammock
The green and blue stuff bags are my hammock and tarp (Hennessy Safari with Hex tarp)
The compression dry sack in the top right is my down under and over quilt
First aid kit
Platypus filter
12x12 sil nylon tarp
Folding camp seat
Hudson Bay axe
Folding camp saw
Match case/Swedish steel
Black Diamond lantern
Headlamp
Pack towel
Cup
Spoon
Trangia cook kit (I home dehydrate almost all my own food. I do a mix of actual cooking and freezer bag)
Fuel bottles
Map and compass
To this I would add a food bag, sil nylon dry sac with clothes, and water bottles or bags.
I also have a small thawart bag with emergency stuff

I'm interested to see what others carry with them!

No judgements on weight or style, I just think it's fun to look at other's gear, and maybe learn something or pick a tip up!

 

[yellowcanoe]

I don't see a problem at all. Hey it all gets used.. hence what's the problem?
Wabakimi Ostrom Pack, Cooke Expediton pack. Pack liners by Ostrom. A host of drybags and compression drybags.
35 liter SeaLine backpack
Alder Creek daypack and yes its canvas.
Helinox chairs, Crazy Creek Chairs ( not sure what I will use those for now)
Helinox table..( not going canoeing with it)
Marine radio with weather channels.
OK..cooking.. car camping Coleman stove
Two small twig burners
Old Coleman 442 stoves (2)liquid
MSR windpro( isobutane)
York Box and 30 l and 60 l barrels. York box sits better in the Monarch and the barrels have harnesses and are better for portaging. The York box is a wanigan essentially.

Silverware and utensil pouch. My long handled spoon is a joy.

MSR MiniWorks and MSR Gravity filter.

Bob Dustrude Folding Saw and Pelkey Folding saw. Sven saw from long ago.. but don't use it anymore.
Granfors Small Forest Axe. Bought at discount.

Four headlamps. We hike a lot too and two always stay in our hiking packs.

A candle lantern and a UCO Flip lantern for when we do not need heat to chase the chill out of a tent.
A beach umbrella that screws into the ground and a CCS 10x14 tarp

I canoe in Florida, the Everglades, the forested canoe country( Adirondacks, Ontario, Lake Superior) and in the desert and the Northwest. Hence the variety of gear.

And tents.
Limelight 3..usual summer tent for two and for one in Florida in the heat
Mountain Hardware Trangia 3.1 for couples camping spring fall and dusty areas. Not for portaging!
Hubba Hubba.. Two of em. McCrea made me buy the new one with the gear loft. It needs to get out this fall.
North Face Tadpole 23. Solo tent for colder weather.

Hmm.. I guess that I should not poke around the outdoor store in St Johns this am.. its raining..good excuse. Its indy..not an MEC

 

[madmike]

No Title

This is my problem. The "good" stuff, and WW kayaks are inside. most of the hulls pictured are the top of 3 stacked.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

The problem is they keep making me turn up at work instead of going paddling so that I can use all the gear I bought or made...

 

[red langford]

4 canoes
13 packs
4 tents
1 hammock
5 stoves
5 cooksets (maybe more)
4 sleeping pads
5 sleeping bags
and on and on

It's not a problem, problem is I haven't tried everything yet so I can't confirm that what I amusing is the best for the application.

 

[Cookannapurna]

Thank God my wife puts up with me. On top of canoeing I'm an avid fly fishermen and casting instructor, I backpack, and I spent a good portion of my younger days as a climbing/mountaineering guide.

I put a 12'x16' room in the basement two years ago to hold all the equipment and that doesn't include things like boats. A friend made me a sign for the door that says "The Museum". I have a habit of never getting rid of gear, guns, or guitars, and a lot of gear in that room would be considered "vintage" now!

Wait, does that make me vintage or old? Maybe I should ask my kids

 

[Canotrouge]

7 canoes, a lot of paddles( I make paddles lol) lots and lots of paddling gear, we do tripping, poling, white water etc.... Tents, we sold one this summer, so it leaves us with 3. 8 sleeping bags, a bunch of mattress.... Axes and saws.... Cooking, pots, pans, dutch ovens, fire box, twigs stoves, gas stove, reflective oven, wood stove, wall tent and all the gear for the winter camping..... I like fly fishing and Hunting, so a few rods, and a few rifles and shotguns... Knifes, did I say knifes....

We also bike a lot, mainly MTB for me, so a few bikes...
Ho and in the winter we ski and snowshoe...
I use to work in a gear store, I'm a bit of a gear junky... Use to anyway.

 

[tump_lion]

6 canoes, (three wood/canvas, one fiberglass, one aluminum, one plywood...)
five woods packs
three duluth packs
two nylon eureka canoe packs
non-canoe packs -- freighter frames, internal frame overnight packs, day-packs, ski-packs, etc...
prospector wall tent
campfire tent
whelan tent (canvas)
whelan tent (nylon)
timberline outfitter 4
timberline 2
(then a pile of random odd tents...old nylon pups, some old canvas family campers i pick up cheap and save for rainy days...)
paddles, paddles, paddles....why?
4 therm-a-rests
three, or so sets of pots
three iron dutch ovens, one aluminum
reflector oven
'envoronmental fireplace'
box-stove


then when it gets to winter, there are the skis a dozen or so pairs...the snowshoes, nine or ten pairs, and three or four toboggans...one dog-sled...


the list goes on...

and on

is this the first step?

when is the next meeting

 

[Alan Gage]

This is my problem. The "good" stuff, and WW kayaks are inside. most of the hulls pictured are the top of 3 stacked.

That is a serious problem. You need a bigger building!

Alan

 

[Sturgeon]

yellowcanoe. St. John's, Newfoundland? If so, you do get around...

Cookannapurna. Optimus makes a titanium long handled spoon like yours, but the part you put in your mouth is polished. My Mountain Laurel Designs spoon got retired once I found that.

I'm going for a hike on the coast of Superior next week. I'll lay out my gear and take a pic before I go, on Thursday. It's basically the same as for canoeing: just for canoeing I go with a bigger tarp, hammock, helinox chair, ditch kit, and all put in a portage pack.

 

[lowangle al]

I never thought of myself as a gear nut, just a tripping nut, but over 30 years you run across a lot of good deals.


11 canoes, one I havn't even seen.

5 tents that I still use

I don't know how many paddles I have but I know there are 3 in my bedroom.

3 # 4 Duluth pacs, I need to get a smaller one.


I've got lots of other stuff too. The good thing is that when you get packed for a trip you can get all you need in a couple of packs at less than a hundred pounds.

 

[sweeper]

I have given away more camping gear to Scout troops from Maine to NY, most likely a couple hundred backpacks, one troop in MA came back for 35 pairs of Cross Country Skies and boots. Althou I only had about 16 sets of poles. All of it picked out of the Peterborough, NH dump. I have Coleman Stoves, Lanterns, Heaters, Ovens and Coolers. Two Canoes, Wood/Canvas pack boards with leather straps, Cookware, Old Brass Seva 123R Stoves, tents, hydration packs, Sleeping Bags. I picked up 2 brand new Kelty 15˚ bags with stuff sacks and winter storage bags. A pair of the 2 tone old blue Kastinger mountaineering boots almost new condition and all the little things that go with camping, all from that dump.

And then there's wooding working tools and hardware...

My neighbor used to come over looking for hardware for his Old Cape in my piles and boxes and that's when I knew I had a problem. I knew I had a lot of the parts he wanted but couldn't find them. Which lead to about a year of sorting and storing all of my finds. I ended up with an 18' wall of hardware floor to ceiling in almost every kind of storage unit



My 2 car garage was equally trimmed out in hiking/canoe gear.

If you can find what you are looking for when you need it there isn't that much of a problem.

 

[ppine]

Cook,
We are all in this together. I have 3 canoes, a tipi, wall tent, Baker tent, lean-to, 2 nylon tents, etc. but also a raft with 4 oars, a frame, cooler, dry box and a trailer. Then there is the aluminum power boat and a travel trailer. They are tools of the trade. As long I use them, there is no problem keeping them around. As I age, there will be some selling off of equipment. It is all part of the mental health plan that being in the outdoors provides. I have little in common with people I meet at parties that want to talk about golf, traveling to Europe, wine tasting and the stock market. To me it has always been about the outdoors and always will be.

I am going on a big deal backpacking trip to Oregon next month. Day trips are no problem, but eventually I will probably stop backpacking by age 70.

 

[BobMills]

This all seems familiar. My problems start with packing. I think I need to pack everything I own. I can't make a decision which canoe to take. It takes me longer to pack for a trip than the trip takes. Last Friday I did an overnight on a lake in Maine with one of my sons and my grandson. I had so much stuff I had trouble fitting humans in the canoe. Now I'm faced with unpacking and cleaning up all this stuff.

I'm supposed to meet another of my sons and my brother in Rochester, Minnesota and go to Quetico. I've been told to pack lightly because of the number of portages and their length. There are certain items of gear that I feel bad leaving behind, tradition has dictated that I take these things.

But it's fun just looking at each item and remembering trips, I have two paddles from my first trip to Temagami in 1960, which I stare at before each trip, and remember paddling into Sharp Rock Inlet or the camp site at Anima Nippising. Those paddles will not be going on any trips.

 

[yellowcanoe]

This all seems familiar. My problems start with packing. I think I need to pack everything I own.

.

Someday I would like to go through your store and imagine putting together the most perfect and lightest cook kit. Right now I am rolling thinking of you taking the entire store!

 

[tump_lion]

BobMills -- paddled thru sharp-rock just last week...

 

[scoutergriz]

What problem? isn't it normal to have your gear spread over three different houses (oh, and a storage unit)? I need MORE gear, I can only outfit 16 scouts and 5 leaders before I need to borrow gear! 9 tents isn't enough! 10 canoes doesn't cut it! I need a 2nd trailer, some of my friends don't have racks!
I DON'T have a problem

 

[Guest]

I DON'T have a problem

I got problems. I manage to find new problems. Then I find solutions.

I knew this was a safety issue problem the first time I test paddled the soloized Hyperform Optima, and I became more concerned on each subsequent trip. Fortunately there were never any catastrophic consequences, but it was time to take action before disaster struck.

All of our DIY beverage stabilizer devices, which hold canteen, coffee cup and or can coozie, are metastable when centered conveniently between my legs top that internal keelson. Egads, my coffee cup hath tipped over and precious caffeine is sloshing in the hull.



To say nothing of my canned ale ration.



Two pieces of scrap exercise flooring and some contact cement and that minicel base done got its groove on. Hardship and tragedy avoided.







BTW, that 1 inch thick x 3 inch tall donut of minicel insulation is great for helping keep hot things hot and cold things cold. Even if it is just water.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I gotta problem. Fell on my Synmat. It blew all the baffles.

Now ISO a lot of sealskin for a bed. No stores around. Nearest is an all day drive

 

[madmike]

No Title