Recent content by SouthernKevlar

Work and weather kept me from answering your question, but after a couple of paddles on flatwater and a Class 1-2 river and jumping into a pool in the river (it was up to 86 degrees today!) , I now have a few answers. After testing the Force 6 Rescuer 3, I am very happy. Here are a few...

So much can depend on geography. Down south I have heard it called "tote" as in "Tote that canoe down to the river." A portage as a physical entity can be referred to as a path or trail as in "Tote that down to the river on that path". Does one "Portage" as an act of carrying or does one walk...

I guess that the only daily goal he could see would be the change on his GPS, sort of like watching the little plane on the screen when flying across the Atlantic, but a lot slower. Whatever his motive for this trip, it was quite a test of perseverance and persistence. It's not something that...

BOTH! Different tools for different uses. The saw cuts to length and the blade cuts to width. TOOLS: Well, sometimes I carry my Estwing 26" ax, sometimes a light hand axe and sometimes just a thick bladed 6 1/2" sheath knife (it's handy for making kindling by pounding the blade with a stout...

But there ain't no portages on an ocean!

Hello Kristina and welcome to the website. I think you will find a wealth of information on many canoe related topics from our members. One potential source is "Canoe Nation; Nature, Race and the Making of a Canadian Icon" by Bruce Erickson. It is a rather dry book that reads like someone's...

Those must have been a special modification if it was on a Monarch. My Mad River Monarch did not have hatches and there was not much room or need for a hatch with the long open cockpit; I wonder if they made the cockpit smaller for that trip?

Arrrgh... I had not noticed the change and on the SoloCanoe.com events site they are still listing it as June 6-8. I guess that plan for doing both events is shot down, at least for this year. It looks like the date change was posted at the WPSCR site on March 3 but I had marked my calendar at...

And now parts of the I-40 are in the river; they hope to have it restored in 2026 or 2027. If you had gone north on I-26 from Asheville, you could see where the Nolichucky River in Tennessee took out an Interstate bridge going that way. They have now got one lane in each direction open.

We have had a number of smaller wildfires in Spartanburg County and neighboring counties but fortunately none near my house. Last week one wildfire in the county did shut down I-26 near the North Carolina border and a number of state and county roads. It can get a bit smoky at times giving us...

I have never been to the Maine Canoe Symposium, but I just realized that it is the weekend before the Western Pennsylvania Canoe Rendezvous, which I'm hoping to attend. Maybe I'll do a nice long trip and hit both... Right now it is a dream. It may evolve into a plan. With enough planning, it...

That looks FUN! I'm envious. Right now in South Carolina we are in a dry spell with fire warnings up and rivers down. Some of our standard dam controlled runs are still closed from Hurricane Helene because the roads to them are gone! Hopefully the spring rains will bring some life back into...

I have a GRB Classic XL, and at 16'8" length and widths of 26" Max and 22" gunwale width, I consider it long and fast. I generally pack light and had to switch from my Granite Gear #4 portage Pack to a 90+ liter backpack just to get my gear int the narrow canoe. I don't really care for a heavy...

I think that I remember reading that they are a Carbon/Kevlar laminate, but I am not 100% positive on that; my memory banks are filling up after all these years. As light as it is, I do all I can to avoid rocks with it but I've got a Royalex canoe for that rocky river paddling. I do wet-foot...

I can't exactly speak for the GRB Classic 15'8" as I have the GRB Classic XL (16'8"), but I can say that the canoe is surprisingly versatile. I bought it as a fun "go fast" canoe for day trips, but have also loaded it for a 4-5 day trip in the Adirondacks. It handled the extra load just fine...