Recent content by PaddlingPika

Do the pocket-rocket style stoves work well even when it is breezy? I've been using a bulkier propane bottle top stove, but it seems to take forever to heat water, especially if there is any wind. Being a bottle-top stove I'm afraid that trying to use a wind screen could trap too much heat...

I have family in the PNW and also used to do more road trips to square dances (my other main recreation besides paddling) so about 27 years ago I bought a Mad River Escape 14, a folding canoe which was made by Pakboats. A year or two later when there was a close-out sale I bought the Escape...

Wrecking first dates isn't limited to recent times. My father used to tell a story about taking a campus beauty queen out in a canoe when he was in college (it would have been around 1939). Apparently they turned over and when the lady got out of the water there were streaks of makeup running...

How close is the stern seat (I'm picturing you sitting in the stern and your wife in the bow) to the end of the Lund? I think canoes tend to feel more tippy when paddlers are sitting closer to the ends. Maybe instead of or in addition to putting extra weight just behind your wife's seat to...

Depends how strictly vegetarian. Many cookie recipes include eggs and/or butter.

Do you prefer to paddle sitting or kneeling? The seating in the Wenonah looks good for sitting and the sliding bow seat may be an advantage but those seats doesn't look comfortable for kneeling. I'm guessing the Explorer would be more comfortable for kneeling.

Sorry to hear about your loose inserts, but thanks for posting the info. Somewhere on the Swift website, maybe in one of the videos, it says to always remove the detachable yoke before driving with the canoe on the car. Maybe they included that instruction after others experienced what you...

There are various products meant to provide UV protection for fabrics. Unless the cover manufacturer recommends against it, might be worth spraying the cover with a UV protectant.

Somewhere I read that extra-thin super glue sold at hobby stores could be used to wick into gelcoat cracks and seal them. I tried it once on very minor spider web cracking but it didn't seem to seep into the very small cracks. I'd be tempted to try it again though if I had spiderweb cracks...

My beater solo is a 46 lb Mohawk Odyssey 14 in R84. These days I mostly paddle lighter weight kevlar or carbon-kevlar solos but the Odyssey is a stable, roomy, easy to maneuver river solo that would be good for what you describe. Good luck finding one though.

Canoes listed as symmetrical sometimes list different bow depth and stern depth. If the bow is taller that might make a view from above look asymmetrical even if the only difference was that the sides extended a little higher up in the bow. I'm certainly not an expert on canoe design...

Here's my current vehicle with newest addition to the fleet.

Finally found and scanned a picture my father took showing the family with our new 1968 OTCA-17 atop our 1955 Rambler station wagon. I'm on the left with my mother and two brothers. Eight years after that picture was taken my parents gave me the Rambler which was the first car I owned...

If I were going to try to shorten your new paddle I'd attempt to remove the top grip, maybe with cautious application of heat, and cut the shaft at the top then reattach the grip rather than doing anything at the shaft joint. The grip came loose accidentally on one of my old Mohawk paddles so...

Northern is certainly relative. When I first read the title of this thread I pictured it being about paddling in the northern states (e.g. BWCA or ADK) compared to southern US creeks and swamps.