Not RainIng

[Black_Fly]

 

[Black_Fly]

Unfortunately, the Phoenix isn't a great pooch canoe. I took it upriver against a swollen, fast current, then across a small bay on a lake and up a creek. The wind was gusting to about 12 mph. Dog enjoyed the ride, but the pucker factor had me glad to be heading home without a swim.

 

[gumpus]

I had a Phoenix for a short time but traded it in. Not sure what made you pucker. It's a bit full in the ends so not the sleekest for driving against fast current. I kneel. I would think that with your puppy that far forward the boat would be bow heavy (and stern light) so wanting to spin around.

 

[gumpus]

It may not be raining at the moment but we sure have plenty of water.

Took the dog down to the river to play with sticks but the river bank is gone.

Had the local farmer and his wife over for dinner and he again encouraged me to use his property any time to go canoeing but I can't remember the last time his lower field was dry enough to pull a canoe cart through it.

 

[Black_Fly]

I had a Phoenix for a short time but traded it in. Not sure what made you pucker. It's a bit full in the ends so not the sleekest for driving against fast current. I kneel. I would think that with your puppy that far forward the boat would be bow heavy (and stern light) so wanting to spin around.

Well, I don't kneel first off. No cartlidge under the domes. Pup is great weight wise, I carry a water jug with a little water in it that I can slide aft to trim the boat. The jug is a low, stable weight for the most part. The pup, however, is neither. He's a solid dog, heavy on top when sitting. It he shifts his weight (as he is prone to do with regularity), and I am leaning a little the same way he shifts, and a gust of wind hits just right, my sphincter muscle is put into jumping jacks.

I'm not throwing in the towel yet. I do have a neoprene knee pad that has yet to see duty other than outside the dogs' shower stall, and hope it doesn't come to that. I'm also playing with the weight I put in back. If I don't drown, I hope to get comfortable on moving water with the dog. If not, I'll get another boat.This

This is one of my favorite dog paddling photos:

 

[gumpus]

That's funny..or at least humorous. My black lab was a 70 pound chunk and would lay calmly in front of me sideways in a solo and just stay there for hours on end. The coonhound mutt is long and slender so has to lay lengthwise and as you say when she shifts her weight from one side to the other with just a little hip movement you sure feel it. I like your pic...looks like the boat is almost too deep for the dog. I had a Hemlock SRT years ago that was 15 inches deep at center so too deep for the lab to rest her chin on the gunnel when laying down.

 

[Black_Fly]

Heelers lay in ways that defy logic and sometimes the laws of nature and mankind.

 

[yellowcanoe]

You need to lower that thwart.. My Golden did that too.. She had definite preferences for canoes with lower thwarts..

 

[Black_Fly]

I thought of lowering the thwart, but since I still have to add pooch padding to the floor, and the fact that the boy has grown vertically since then, I decided to wait until this year to lower the thwart. After all, we want to be precise.

 

[gumpus]

Before you can lower the thwart you'll have to wake up that poor suffering pooch.