As we are running out of time on this site and in life . Fell I can not just sit back and lurk and learn any more. Would like to ask the canoe elders what to equipment is important to get to help when elderhood comes along. Trying to find all I can used on Craigs list. Often takes years down here in Florida for something to come along.
Weight saving, ease of use and efficiency I believe is what is needed. Am I right?
My dose is usually two ibuprofen with my morning coffee.
Lightweight canoe, paddles and gear are definitely high on the list.
That said I am not close to packing light. I am done with any long hard portage and, for me, comfort is King.
All day comfort while paddling. My boats are all outfitted for personal comfort, with foot brace, back band, utility sail thwart, minicel paddling, spray covers and other comfort touches. If I am uncomfortable in the boat I can, and will, remedy that.
The comfort boat outfitting stuff alone probably adds 10 lbs in most canoes. Next total rebuild I will weigh the hull in outfitting stages. Thanks to a Robin post I now have a hanging scale in the shop.
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/tay...ogleShopping&gclid=CNibgrbki8ECFajm7AodKyYAfA
Dammit Robin, I should have been using one of those on canoe rebuilds for the last 10 years.
And when I’m finished paddling for the day I want to be comfortable in camp. I’m done sitting on the ground; I can still get down there, but getting back up isn’t pretty, so I want a chair more than 6 inches off the ground. A good thick durable sleeping pad. A fair sized tarp with ample coverage and wind deflection potential. A well stocked blue barrel and folding tabletop. A rectangular sleeping bag, so I’m not mummy constricted and can use it as a blanket.
The duplicative little things add up too – spare paddle, water shoes and camp shoes, hats for both sun and rain/cold, canteens, dromedary bag and gravity filter*.
Lots of stuff has gotten lighter over the years – tent, sleeping bag, stove, tarp. Lighter and smaller, and the smaller is equally important to me for stuffing all it in a decked boat or in two dry bags in an open canoe. Volume matters.
*A gravity filter may be one of those things beneficial to an aging canoeist. Not having to squat down by the river or hover over a bucket while pumpingpumpingpumping is a wonderful release. Just fill and hang the “dirty” bag and walk away.
Those things are absurdly expensive, but one Gear Test I trust is - If I lost it would I immediately buy a replacement? I have a Platypus and have been very pleased; I’d buy the same filter again.
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platy...works-filters/gravityworks-40l-filter/product
I know some clever folks have DIY’ed gravity systems for half that cost using two dromedary bags, tubing, adaptors and a $20 Sawyer filter cartridge. The Sawyer cartridge is slower and more difficult to clean/backwash, but is “Rated to 0.1 micron absolute and filters up to 100,000 gallons”
http://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/
I may try to find the necessary adaptors and carry a Sawyer cartridge as a back-up filter canister for the Playtpus. With pump filters I was concerned mostly the mechanism; I could clean the filter, but field repairing the pump might not be so easy. With a gravity system about all that can go wrong is the filter cartridge.
$20 and another two ounces would provide all the back-up filtration I need.
One more thing this aging paddler needs – reading glasses. Plural, as in a primary set and a back up set. And, as soon as I can find a pair I like, polarized sunglasses with “cheaters” at the lens bottom, so I can read the dang map.