Portage Pack or Dry Bag

[memaquay]

I built a wannigan for my big 20 footer last year. I love it, I built it low, so it doubles as a middle seat, big enough for two kids or two kid sized adults. I wouldn't want to portage it, but you can't beat the functionality and the ability to organize stuff.

 

[Mihun09]

Out this way, portaging is a fact, it will happen if you want to get anywhere, away from everyone. Many small ones, some large, depending on where we are going. Portaging is not usually comfy, certainly not with barrels regardless of how light, or heavy, they may be. As Christy posted earlier, on one trip we took 2 30 litre barrels, one slung under her army pack, the other inside on of the 115L Eureka packs along with gear, on the longest set of ports we have ever done (4.7km total). We use the Hooligan harnesses and they are good, but not padded for your back, and considering I have little meat on me, they tend to dig in more and irritate. However, some discomfort to get "away" is worth it.

Barrels for food, dry bag canoe packs for the rest. As for costs... the only thing that goes down over time is disposable income.

 

[Sturgeon]

Coming from backpacking to canoeing, my gear is quite light and compact. I can hike a week with a 40L pack that weighs about 27lbs, food included. My base weight before food, fuel, water, is around 15-16lbs.

But canoeing requires more gear; not just a life jacket and paddle, but also a ditch kit if I get separated from my canoe, different footwear, etc.

And then the luxuries start to pile in once you don't need to carry everything every moment of the day. A chair! A second tarp! Better camera gear! Fresher food!

My solution was to carry my gear in my 40L backpack on my back, and add a simple small frameless pack sack holding tarps and food on my front, under 30L, but never full. Great. It also permitted me to trim a solo boat effectively by moving the 2 packs around.

Normally I do double carries, which was a good thing because if I tried to do a single carry, the height of the hiking backpack interfered with the canoe seat and thwart when portaging.and the pack on the front blocks my view of the ground. That's fine when I don't have canoe on my head, but disaster if I do. Now I'm getting a bit more ambitious. I want to go farther, and I want to try single portages so as not to waste time. Time for a single canoe pack.

I got severe sticker shock looking at the prices for canoe packs, even made in Canada. My jaw dropped. I just want a big bag to stuff everything in!

I saw this pack at the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto. I picked it up for CAD$60 (show discount, reg. $70). It has hip belt and tump line with padded tump, one mesh area on the outside for a wet tarp or jacket, and two water bottle side pockets you could put an axe head into, I suppose.
I'm posting it mainly because most Google searches only show the $200+ beauties. I'm sure those Woods and Duluth packs will last a long time, and are like heirlooms for your kids, but I feel this bag, if treated with care, will last a fair number of years, and not break the bank. I will let you know how it performs this summer.

http://worldfms.com/products/7552-no...-canoe-pack-2/

http://www.tentcityoutfitters.com/p/...ter-canoe-pack. Despite the description, it does not come with a liner. I'll use a contractor trash bag.

 

[Alan Gage]

Probably going to move to a Cooke's Custom Pack this season. Looking at the Pioneer Pack...seems like a great size for the bulk of one's kit, but would like a provision for an axe.

I checked my Pioneer pack when I got home for verification and on each side there are three cinch straps. One at the top, bottom, and middle. Should be perfect for strapping an axe, or anything else, to the side of the pack. In my Magic it barely fits between the gunwales when fully loaded so I wasn't able to utilize them. They should come in handy on future trips with slightly wider boats.

Alan

 

[shanks]

Thanks a bunch, Alan!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I got severe sticker shock looking at the prices for canoe packs, even made in Canada. My jaw dropped. I just want a big bag to stuff everything in!

I saw this pack at the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto. I picked it up for CAD$60 (show discount, reg. $70). It has hip belt and tump line with padded tump, one mesh area on the outside for a wet tarp or jacket, and two water bottle side pockets you could put an axe head into, I suppose.
I'm posting it mainly because most Google searches only show the $200+ beauties. I'm sure those Woods and Duluth packs will last a long time, and are like heirlooms for your kids, but I feel this bag, if treated with care, will last a fair number of years, and not break the bank. I will let you know how it performs this summer.

http://worldfms.com/products/7552-no...-canoe-pack-2/

http://www.tentcityoutfitters.com/p/...ter-canoe-pack. Despite the description, it does not come with a liner. I'll use a contractor trash bag.

Personal preferences aside, the prices for these canoe packs are ridiculous. A Duluth pack is nothing more than two pieces of canvas sewn together in an envelope with some straps sewn on. Admittedly I haven't seen a sewing machine in decades, but anyone with one of those ancient devices and some skills should be able to make a reasonable "canoe pack".

When I was tripping out of a kayak, I used an inexpensive big net bag with shoulder straps, which scuba divers use. The net scuba bag carried different size waterproof stuff sacks, which got put in the hatches. The scuba bag was then rolled up and put in a hatch.

When I was thinking of tripping in my outrigger canoe, which has hatches that are only 6" in diameter, I also used lots of stuff sacks and a Golite Gust backpack, which is an ultralight type of backpack and even more compact when folded than the scuba bag.

You can use anything, especially if you just go out a few days a year. I've seen many canoe campers in the Adirondacks just using garbage bags by themselves. For most of us recreational canoeists, canoe-specific gear spends the vast majority of it's lifetime, and ours, in storage. Why spend a lot of money on such a little used item? If you fly a few times a year, you could buy a $400 fancy-schmancy suitcase. You can also use a $30 duffel bag. They both do the same job.

Of course, for a person flooded over with gearslutmania addiction . . . perhaps only a 12-step program can save his or her bank account's life. That applies to canoeing and lots of other things.

 

[Philtrum]

Glenn, if anyone should call you supercilious, they should be upbraided for their inability to render a truly understated assessment.
What, pray tell, would you say is the standard to qualify for appropriately-designed equipment? Would three weeks of canoe tripping a year be enough? Less? More? Do the portages need to be long and arduous, or merely half-mile sashays down a grassy path?
As for the prices of canoe tripping equipment, one might bear in mind that such items do not benefit from economies of scale, being produced in fairly limited quantities.

Sturgeon, that nice-looking 100-liter pack is quite a bit smaller than the 92-liter Kondos pack I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread. I wonder at the ways these things are quantified. Also, if you want to spend some extra cash, you can get an eVent pack liner, I believe made by Granite Gear. It has a roll-down closure and compresses (through the eVent bottom) to save space. Its only downside that I know of is that because it vents, it won't hold the air that would otherwise make a pack buoyant. Glenn might say buying one is a symptom of "gearslutmania addiction," so if you get one don't let him know.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Glenn, if anyone should call you supercilious, they should be upbraided for their inability to render a truly understated assessment.
What, pray tell, would you say is the standard to qualify for appropriately-designed equipment? Would three weeks of canoe tripping a year be enough? Less? More? Do the portages need to be long and arduous, or merely half-mile sashays down a grassy path?

Which of my posts is supercilious--the one in which I deified the Duluth pack or the one in which I mocked it? Both included rhetoric to make a point.

My standard for canoe packs for the occasional recreational canoeist is what I said: Many products can do the simple job, and expensiveness or brand name don't necessarily make the product any better.

The Duluth packs are my preference because I bought them 35 years ago for traditional appeal when I had a lot more money. Now, I prefer them because that's what I have. Analytically and perhaps superciliously, what's "appropriately-designed" about an Original Duluth pack other than its general shape for a canoe hull? It has uncomfortable shoulder straps, no waist belt, no sternum straps, no pockets, no lash points, no molle straps, no nothing. Yet it remains popular. Why?

The popularity of the Duluth also proves you don't need padded shoulder straps, waist belts, sternum straps, pockets, lash points or molle straps on a canoe pack. So why do lots of other people think you do need those features?

Why do some people think they need barrels while others don't?

What's "appropriate"?

The obvious answer to all these questions is that no particular type of canoe pack design is necessarily appropriate, and that many products can do the same simplistic job of storing and portaging.

Hey, if one has money to burn on little-used hobby gear, go for it. But I was applauding someone like Sturgeon who seems to have found a much less expensive version of a canoe pack with lots of modern features. Maybe it's of lower quality and will last the recreational canoeist only 50 years instead of 100.

Here's a rhetoric hint for those who aren't familiar with my changeling posting style: Whenever I refer to GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) -- or, more colloquially, gearslutmania -- my primary target for such mocks is myself. I'm the guy with 15 mostly unused canoes, lots of paddles, several tents and other moldering things, and a recently acquired axe and bushcraft knife that will probably get used mostly in my fantasies. GAS is serious phenomenon, however, and sometimes can be highly detrimental.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Also, if you want to spend some extra cash, you can get an eVent pack liner, I believe made by Granite Gear. It has a roll-down closure and compresses (through the eVent bottom) to save space. Its only downside that I know of is that because it vents, it won't hold the air that would otherwise make a pack buoyant. Glenn might say buying one is a symptom of "gearslutmania addiction," so if you get one don't let him know.

How did I miss this comment. Did you edit it in, Philtrum?

As a matter of fact, I have two XL Granite Gear eVent pack liners for my Duluth packs, and they also fit my Golite Gust pack. One has to have some kind of liner inside a non-waterproof pack, and I recommend these Granite Gear liners, although they are thin and you have to be careful about punctures. However, I don't think they are made anymore. They were probably too expensive for the limited market, and I only bought mine because I got them on sale for $29. I've only used one of the liners, since I never take both Duluth packs on the same trip.

Another thing I'd say about canoe and camping gear shopping: You never need to pay list price for anything. Everything can eventually be found for at least 20% off and sometimes much more. You just have to be thorough and patient with shopping searches.

 

[Sturgeon]

Glenn, here's another link for the same product sold in Canada (your link didn't show a price).
http://www.gear-up.com/products/view/granite-gear-event-ultra-duty-pack-liner

 

[Sturgeon]

I think I will stick to 3mil plastic contractor bags. I tried silnylon pack liners before, and they always had a little seam or fray that let a few drops of water in.
With the tall narrow backpacking pack, I just put my quilts in one clear contractor bag, put it between my knees and squeezed the air out over and over. Placed it in the bottom of the pack sack...one more air purge and the quilts mould to the shape of the pack bottom. I twisted the long tail of excess plastic a lot and folded it under the bag. It's weight and the narrowness of the pack held the twisted ropy plastic in place. Never a problem. My clothing and hammock went in a second bag on top of that. Kitchen bag, fuel bag, dry shoe bag on top of that. Everything else loose: rain gear, Helinox chair, near the top.

Now with a wide canoe pack, I guess my quilts will need purge stuff sacks. Grrr. More money.

That said, I'm not averse to spending a few bucks for something super light and wonderful: Helinox chair one, I'm talkin to you!

 

[DuctTape]

Most of my trips involve significant portaging. Apparently much more than most here. It is a tripping style thing. Because of that, I single carry. When solo, I have just a sealine portage pack which is surprisingly comfortable even on mile+ portages. When tandem, I still carry the portage pack and canoe, while my partner carries another pack (not dry) which contains the heavy gear. Mostly food. He will also carry the paddles, pfds. This has worked for me. I tend to not bring a lot of gear. I am still very comfortable in camp and eat well. We all trip in different ways.