Most recent tripping kit subtraction?

[Glenn MacGrady]

Me.

My most recent addition after a year of shopping is a vehicle that only Grandpa Paddler would like. It must be a canoe vehicle because it has AWD. So far, it sure beats a 1995 Mustang convertible with standard shift for going to Walmart, church, the dentist and the mail box.

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

Me.

My most recent addition after a year of shopping is a vehicle that only Grandpa Paddler would like. It must be a canoe vehicle because it has AWD. So far, it sure beats a 1995 Mustang convertible with standard shift for going to Walmart, church, the dentist and the mail box.

So you got the Mercedes?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Me.

My most recent addition after a year of shopping is a vehicle that only Grandpa Paddler would like. It must be a canoe vehicle because it has AWD. So far, it sure beats a 1995 Mustang convertible with standard shift for going to Walmart, church, the dentist and the mail box.

NO!! The subtraction.
What do you use for the doctor?

 

[lowangle al]

What do you use for the doctor?

His canoe, that's what keeps him healthy.

 

[Odyssey]

Retired to storage:
Peak 1 stove and white gas. A solid little performer, but no longer required as either my go-to nor my back-up.
Gravity water filter. A big bag of luxury, but I can just boil water for a meal, or filter-pump some for our drinking bottles with not much effort.
Semi Retired to storage:
Coleman double burner propane stove. A bigger performer, turns camping to glamping with ease. We'll use it for base camping only.
Full sized axe. As much as I love cutting and splitting I really don't need to process firewood from larger logs. We'll use it for base camping only.
Full sized saw. Same as above. There's no shortage of smaller stuff to cut and split for the fire using my hatchet and pruning saw. We'll use it for base camping only.

 

[Iskweo]

Subtract? What manner of sorcery do you mean? I keep adding stuff. Although I will say that the two burner gas stove is staying home more often. I just bought a machete to replace my axe ...I figure the chainsaw can make up for no axe or bow saw.

I have a telescoping fishing rod so may make that my solo gear.
I dont take a boat repair kit any more. We used to drag resin, and cloth and all manner of stuff with us. It did get used in those days with our Jensen which was old and fragile. I suppose some duct tape at least would be prudent though.

The biggest thing that I no longer take very much....Karin.

And food...wow...I have discovered that when solo I can leave A LOT of food home and go minimal.Especially if there is grouse or pickerel to be had. I can stand to lose a few pounds too so no worries there. This in turn can lead to one less pack to carry as I redistribute the load.

In theory anyway.

Christy

 

[sweeper]

Sounds like 'White Gas' is headed the way of the Dodo Bird. I've switched to a stick stove and a tiny alcohol stove as a back up.

I also dropped the spare pair of pants except during the shoulder seasons.

The Gravity Filter is a permanent fixture on my list. It's so simple to use, I hate to pump and haven't used it for 7 years.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I too have a white gas stove. One burner the Coleman Peak 1.. It stays home now.. has for many years.. I ought to sell it

I have a dependable workable MSR Minworks. It was bought in 1990 and still works.. But I have gotten lazy and don't backpack anymore. The gravity MSR bag wins.

 

[sweeper]

Same with my Miniworks, When I bought it I thought it was the best thing since sliced beard but it doesn't compare to a Gravity Filter. But it was communal. All the hikers sitting around the water point pumping their water for the night's meal. I remember one night on Smarts Mtn in NH while hiking a section of the AT, four of us taking turns pumping water out of a small spring fed puddle. We ended up doing more drinking of alcohol then pumping water.

 

[red langford]

White gas stove. Trying to go 100% fire and alcohol stove back up. If I travelled during a fire ban Id bring the white gas stove

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

Not a recent subtraction but the one I miss the most when tripping: my wife, not because she's gone, she's just not physically able to do it anymore. We met on an Algonquin trip in '67 and the rest, as they say, is history

 

[Guest]

The gravity MSR bag wins.

Same with my Miniworks, When I bought it I thought it was the best thing since sliced beard but it doesn't compare to a Gravity Filter.

The Gravity Filter is a permanent fixture on my list. It's so simple to use, I hate to pump and haven't used it for 7 years.

Number four singing the praises of a gravity filter. We have a couple of different pump filters. I occasionally bring the smallest as a back up, but mostly they are relegated to the same frequency of use as the old white gas stoves.

Fishing tackle has been left behind too though I might take a small rod and reel next time. I wonder about an ice fishing rod? Should be fine for jigging under the boat and short casting.

I once was a fisherman. Fishing was often the main purpose of a trip, and we carried the sometimes inconvenient gear to do so. Or it was on backpacking trips, with small rod, reel, flies and, yeah, most effectively, hooks for grasshoppers. On backpacking trips we were fishing for flesh to supplement our crapty foodstuffs. Umm, coffee and pan fried trout for breakfast, and augmenting the noodle dish for supper.

But I stopped doing trips where fishing as the principal reason for being there. And stopped counting on fish flesh to supplement my foodstuffs, mostly because I was not buying a fishing license, often pricey Out of State, just to not actually do much fishing.

Correcting the record, the last thing I subtracted from my typical gear was my emergency fishing kit. That was nothing more than a 5 inch long plastic centrifuge tube, heat melted in the middle into an hourglass shape and wrapped with monofilament line.

Inside the tube were hooks, lures, flies, split shot and a small bobber or two. We used it a few times when the boys were little, and actually caught and released a few fish. A fish on a hand line is particularly exciting in direct tactile connection.

P9013889 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

But the emergency bit was a complete lark. It was cute little compact kit, but I could not foresee so dire a foodstuff situation that I would be hanging around crudely hand fishing for sustenance. Plus I try to adhere to sensible rules and regulations, so chucking a hand line in the water when I was well fed just to feel fish funsies on a line was unlikely to happen without a license.

 

[sweeper]

For a backup to the Gravity Filter we just bring a spare Sawyer Filter, (s) for it. We don't use the MSR Filters that came with it anymore.

 

[Iskweo]

Not using white gas, or naptha as we call it, is a bit of a problem as I have 30 gallons of it . I keep giving the stuff away.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Once upon a time, I needed a white gas stove because I spent a lot of time at high altitudes in the cold. Nothing else would put out the heat like my MSR Whisperlite. I still do altitude some and I still do cold, but I'm past doing both together, as a rule. Anyway - I'm not doing them both ever while canoe tripping. Can't say it's recent, but I gave up the Whisperlite (still keep it in reserve for imaginary reasons) and now use a Pocket Rocket that nestles in my MSR camp pot. So much neater, cleaner, and easier to live with. Yes - it looks like white gas has lost popularity - at least with those of us without Sherpa-like aspirations.

I haven't done nearly as much canoe tripping as most here. By comparison to a lot of you, hardly any. But I can't think of anything that I've always brought that I never will. The Helinox is a new addition that will probably see a lot of use, but I still can see me taking a real chair on some trips with the tandem canoe (no long portage involved). Paddling and poling have taken priority over fishing, but fishing gear is still sometimes welcome - especially when I'm on my own with no strict schedule. An ultralight fly rod with a small case of bugs doesn't weigh much or get in the way.

It's nice to have options.

 

[Guest]

For a backup to the Gravity Filter we just bring a spare Sawyer Filter, (s) for it. We don't use the MSR Filters that came with it anymore.

I really should get a Sawyer filter as a back up for the Platypus, even if I need to make some tubing adaptors to fit. The Sawyer MiniWorks filter is speced for an absurd 100,000 gallons of water, vs the Platypus Gravityworks listed 1500 liters, ie 400 gallons.

I thought at one time Sawyer sold a larger filter than the MiniWorks, but do not see it on their website.

Sweeper, what Sawyer filter did you use, on which model water bags and tubing?

 

[sweeper]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Unfortunately they don't have just the filters, or at lest I haven't found just the filters.

 

[Alan Gage]

I really should get a Sawyer filter as a back up for the Platypus, even if I need to make some tubing adaptors to fit. The Sawyer MiniWorks filter is speced for an absurd 100,000 gallons of water, vs the Platypus Gravityworks listed 1500 liters, ie 400 gallons.

The large Sawyer filters have a 1,000,000 gallon guarantee. Just marketing BS though I'm sure. No way to keep track and no one could run close to that much through it. So it's basically a lifetime warranty but no guarantee that it won't crap out in the middle of a trip.

That being said they do seem to be great filter and it's nice that they're backflushable. I find about 2 weeks into the trip that mine starts to plug up pretty good and a backflushing with the supplied syringe puts it back in business again.

I originally intended to use the large Sawyer filter to make my own gravity system and was disappointed to find you couldn't buy just the filter. I already had bags I could use and rigging up hose and fittings was no trouble so I didn't feel like spending the extra to buy their "system". But a little digging found the Sawyer filter bottle, which is a plastic bottle that holds 32oz. and has the large filter inside. It's easy to pull the filter out if need be and I thought the bottle would be handy during the day and then I could remove the filter and rig up my homemade bag system to gravity filter in camp. But it turned out the bottle was so handy I never bothered using the bag setup.

Which leads to another thing I left behind on my last trip: Bags and tubing for gravity filter.

But if you're just looking for the large filter it's a cheap way to get it and you just might find the bottle comes in pretty handy too. I suppose I've got close to 100 days on mine.

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-Personal-Bottle-Filter/dp/B0117VX8H2

Alan

 

[Frenchy19]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Unfortunately they don't have just the filters, or at lest I haven't found just the filters.

Here is a Sawyer mini single...

 

[Bob B.]

I boogered up my knee again and am afraid my kit will be tough on me when Porting long distances. Thinking of not taking my wool blanket in my bed roll this spring - will save me 7 pounds ... wow this is a hard to consider. Might just gut it out anyway ... we will see.

Bob.