Your three favorite pieces of comfort or luxury canoe camping gear

[Glenn MacGrady]

Here are expedition canoeist Martin Trahan's three choices. I believe the focus in on comfort and luxury gear items rather than essentials.

"When people ask me what my favorite pieces of canoe camping equipment are, they often expect me to name a boat model, a well-crafted paddle or some indispensable technical wear. It tends to surprise them when I mention my favorite canoe equipment for months-long expeditions are, in fact, a few simpler luxuries."

3 Pieces Of Gear Martin Trahan Won’t Canoe Camp Without

I’ve canoed over 20,000 kilometers across North America, both in my native country Canada and in the U.S. Recently I made my first long-distance paddling

paddlingmag.com

What are your three comfort or luxury choices?

 

[Alan Gage]

1: Dog
2: Butt sized foam pad for sitting on rocks or standing on when changing clothes
3: A couple books

Alan

 

[recped]

Well I can match 2 of his "luxuries", my chair (Helinox knock off), my extra thick sleeping pad (Thermarest Mondo).

For #3 I would say my selection of "housing".......

- a 2 person tent
- either a large floor-less tent/shelter or a 4 person high clearance tent I can stand up in),
- a bivy sack
- a mosquito bed net (for use over the bivy or inside the floorless shelter)
- a tarp big enough to sleep under and stay completely dry

Yes all of those go with me on a solo trip.

 

[Jmharrick]

1. Big Agnes Boundary Deluxe Sleeping Pad
2. Titanium French Press for coffee
3. MSR Whisperlite Stove for cooking

The boundary deluxe sleeping pad is bulky, but so comfortable I forget it’s a sleeping pad. The French press is light and small and makes great coffee. The stove makes cooking in a 10” frying pan super easy and quick.

 

[David D]

My chair.
My cot.
My reflector oven. I love baking out there.

 

[MyKneesHurt]

I am old and creaky enough that a chair and big sleeping pad are in "necessaries" not "luxuries" at this point.

- a hammock with a bug net purely for lunch naps, that's a big luxury. I have several but my favorite (which just this week was destroyed by a puppy) is (was) an ENO junglenest - light, easy, tougher than it needs to be. Hammock dogma dictates that I at 6'4" shouldn't fit into it, but the only con is they use proprietary treestraps.
-an overly elaborate sleep system - tent, tarp, generally a UL bivy, and a light wool blanket in addition to whatever quilt I'm using
-books and generally about five cutting tools

 

[Gamma1214]

I don't think that I take a lot of luxury / comfort items; most of my extra weight is usually due to taking too much food. I suppose some might consider the percolator coffee pot a "luxury" but I'd argue for "necessity" as life is simply too short for marginal coffee.

Same with the CCS tarp (which didn't get set up at all on the last trip).

Maybe the small forest axe is a luxury... (didn't use it once last time either)

I did take the first trip without a tent and that worked out ok and I rarely wear the pfd...

I think that's it: for "luxuries I won't go without", let's go with 1) tent, 2) pfd, 3) tarp.

Everything else is either necessity or subject to downsizing for the next trip.

 

[John Keller]

My context is what would I take canoeing that I wouldn't take backpacking.

1) a 4-inch-thick insulated air mattress.
2) a 4 person tent for 2 people
3) a two-burner Coleman stove

 

[Marten]

I too feel the Helinox Sunsetter chair, Exped thick sleeping pad and 3 man tent are now necessities! We do fly-in bushwhack base camp canoe trips so my luxury items are a chainsaw and Gazelle pop up screen shelter.

 

[Erica]

1. 3-person tent
2. 2 sleeping bags
3. Heavy excellent binoculars

For one person.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

1. Four-person tent for just the two of us.
2. Helinox Ground Chair 0.
3. Therm-a-Rest pillows.

 

[Seeker]

Wow... that's a tough one... "top 3". What was once luxury is now necessary.

I'm 60 now, and a bit creaky in the morning, but I usually limber enough after a hot beverage, getting dressed, and walking down to the water. A couple days of good fresh air, exercise, and fewer sugary snacks (and the resulting lessening in joint inflammation) do my body good. But I do like my hammock. So that's luxury #1... my hammock setup runs a little heavier (mostly because of the underquilt) than my tarp/air mattress setup, but the tradeoff is that I don't have to carry my Helinox One chair, which weighs about 18oz, nor a groundcloth (3-5oz, depending on material and size) nor air mattress (18oz). The biggest pain is the bulk of the underquilt and the slight additional weight.

My second luxury item, if I go with the ground/tarp setup, is the fancy chair. If I'm reasonably sure I'll get a lean-to, I'll leave it home, since I'm carrying a Crazy Creek chair in my canoe anyway, to sit on, so it pulls double duty and saves some weight while letting me sit cozily on the floor of the lean-to. Works less well on the ground, but some trips, the extra pound of chair is just not worth it (this will change with age, I'm sure.) But that chair sure is nice for sitting next to the cookfire, or moving down to the pond shore with a drink to watch the sun set.

The third luxury item is probably my air pillow... ground or hammock, I need it to keep my neck angle right while I sleep, or I'll wake up injured. It's the green Sea to Summit one, can't remember the name, 3oz. You can use a wad of extra clothing, but the air pillow is infinately more adjustable.

Honorable mention items include:

• a medium sized axe or large hatchet and a bowsaw (sometimes it's far easier to prep firewood if you carry more saw and axe than to work with smaller tools, especially in an over-popular area, generally 8-16oz more per tool than the smaller alternative)
• a cotton t-shirt solely to sleep in (8oz)
• a gas or butane stove (useful when you know the weather will suck, and you don't relish the idea of carrying and setting up a tarp, and cutting/splitting cookfire wood, the whole time.)
• Camp shoes (I normally just carry one set of footwear. e.g, a pair of Crocs is 16oz more)
• A different hat (normally pick just one, Tilley or ballcap, 5-8oz)
• Field shower (6oz)

 

[BWCA66]

As I get older I pretty much always take a backrest for the canoe, a chair for camp and my dog to have someone to talk to.

 

[Pseudonym]

These pieces of kit are extraneous and yet such a joy to use they still always come along. That epitomizes "luxury" for me.

1) My Rubber backed wool rug: My wife lived in Australia for years and this came home with her. Whether in the tent, or directly on the ground, it makes a luxurious surface to lay on and sort gear, keeping any duff or sand at bay. The rubberized side dusts right off easily.

2) PVC changing mat, which doubles as a wet bag. This is especially nice for hammock sleeping. You can step out of your shoes/boots while standing on the mat and then use the drawstring to wrap them up and keep them out of the dew at night. I originally bought it for winter surfing and wetsuit management but it lends itself very well to light camping.

3) Kermit chair: It's just my favorite. Great aesthetics, way more stable than most camp chairs and a proper arm rest. I can lean my whole body weight on one arm rest and it doesn't tip over, which is very nice when getting in and out of the chair.

 

[ppine]

a chair
a Moss Parawing tarp for sun and rain protection
my Border Collie Ruby Begonia.

 

[ErktheRed]

Choosing only three is tough, I think when I’m canoe tripping I tend to bring a few more than three…

1) Snowpeak titanium utensil set. Fork. Spoon and butter knife. I’m a fan of the three being separate and I know dang well there’s a knife in my pocket when I spread some butter and jam over eng. muffins. It’s a ridiculous must have for me and they don’t make the butter knife anymore

2) MSR Whisperlite stove. Reliable and fully maintainable, packed with a stock/custom repair kit.

Normally I would say my WM Alpinlite sleeping bag for my third, it’s comfy, light, perfect and has been so many places with me. I would also consider my Nemo Moonlite chair, small, light, comfy. Or even my Nemo Switchback foam pad, not as my main sleeping pad. It’s versatile for in and out of the canoe but works especially well for naps just about anywhere you want.

But

3) Good chocolate! Preferably some Cadbury with the mini eggs. I’ll usually stop at a market or larger gas station once I’m getting close to leaving the Soo across the border

 

[Odyssey]

It's hard to narrow all the luxuries down to just three. Just being there feels like a luxury I'm grateful to afford.
I'm used to making do and doing without in life and our ocassional tripping life is no different, so the luxury additions to bare bones basic gear has been gradual and welcome especially as we age. I suppose they're all about comfort rather than convenience.
1) Inflating sleeping pad. Once upon a time when I was young blah blah blah... I'm embracing the new old me more and more these days rather than fighting this thing so no more thin suggestions of insufficient layers between me and the hard ground. I'll never give up my air mattressy thing, tho' the only softer camp sleep system better than an inflating mattress is the thick pillowy loft of boreal moss. I still dream about that.

 

[clemency]

Put me down in the Whisperlite camp. Not the most high tech or lightest stove out there, but somehow it is very satisfying to use when compared to a cannister stove. And put me down for the camp chair as well. Last, not so much a luxury, but a down quilt has replaced a mummy bag for me. So much more comfortable and non-confining.

 

[Odyssey]

2) Coffee
A good cup of coffee makes every morning sing. On a sombre wet morn when the mist creeps out of the forest and swims across the waters the stillness is astounding, almost intimidating, whereas on bright mornings the fleeing shadows and rising sun feels welcoming. In any morning mood, whether introspective or exuberant, a pot of coffee (whichever your brew method) ushers in a new day with positivity.
I snatch the memory thread of some music appropriate to the day and listen as the pot gurgles along, helping set the scene. When she rises we sit together and greet the day with steaming mugs, and listen to the morning sing.

 

[kahel]

Just being there feels like a luxury I'm grateful to afford.

Just like me!