spray covers

[Erica]

I've decided the next most important piece of gear I need for solo tripping is some kind of a canoe cover. The pouring rain fills up the boat too fast and it would make the heavy waves a bit safer.

I've read this through, looked at the Cooke and NW websites. Does anybody have any updates for canoe covers?

I was thinking just getting a tarp cut more or less to size and velcroing it to velcro mate cemented to the canoe. I like Robin's idea of the $35 DYI, if it was something I could do....But the three piece NW ones look pretty nifty....

Does anybody have any updates for canoe covers? The boat, for now, would be the 14' Mohawk solo.

Thanks, Erica

 

[yellowcanoe]

I have the Cooke covers on my Nomad and on my Monarch.. As they are snap on they require thumbs of steel. A flat steel surface between thumb and knob does help the pain.

I have Velcro partial covers for my Rapid Fire. I alas cannot find the old pix I took of them..

Each has advantages and disadvantages. The Cooke are two piece full covers where the halves velcro together and there is an entry tunnel. So you are completely covered. That said the rainwater still puddles in your lap and here I don't like cold water puddling against me. While I am dry, it is still cold.

The RapidFire has two partials with about a three foot gap in the center for you so entanglement would never happen and you can portage the thing with the covers on ( though you have to peel off to get your gear out). It has a tent pole hoop shaped thing that the ends fit in pockets of poly tubing that hangs from the interior ends of both sides of the thwarts fore and aft in the canoe. This allows rainwater to run off and not sit in a puddle against you. However it will still rain on you so its more for the gear. Velcro is not as strong as snaps and it can fill with sand and lose its grip.. Every so often we take a dog grooming wire brush to the velcro to get the sand out. Velcro and a flat tarp cover would not work well ( even the Industrial Velcro that is on the RF) as saggy water is heavy.. Now if you can fashion some sort of tent shape to encourage water to run off , tarp piece and velcro might work fine..

Surely better than the duct tape decks I have seen on local canoe races.. Temporary and require a lot of duct tape.. Seattle Fabrics has coated packcloth and that might be lighter than blue tarp material.

 

[Canoeyak]

I have a North Water three piece cover as shown on page one of this post that I bought with my canoe in 2015. I still love it as much as when I first got it. The slide in hoop and tightening up the cover keeps most of the water off from puddling. I find the ladder bar attachment system is better than snaps or Velcro as it is way more adjustable for loads etc. I even added some snaps and more Velcro to make it more versatile for different situations. I always use the whole thing or at least 2 sections of it. It still looks like brand new even though it has been used a lot. The key to it or any other cover lasting is looking after it with a little common sense and some maintenance. The big thing for mine is the canoe and cover are always in the garage when not in use. My last motor boat was always outside in the elements including snow and it was real tough on covers. Even the good quality ones would only last a couple years before rotting and falling apart from UV and weather. After going through a couple covers, I bought another new one but also threw a cheap blue throw away tarp over it and the cover lasted until I sold the boat. If I ever bought a new canoe again, I would also get a North Water cover with it. The only scary part is how expensive they have gotten. I never paid anywhere near the price they are now when I bought the canoe and everything else as a package.

 

[Dan Cooke]

yellowcanoe, since you purchased your covers We have been offering the option of a zip in-out cockpit that supports the cockpit opening so you can take standing waves minimizing the puddling on top of the cover. The piece of cloth that is removed for the cockpit area is reinstalled with a zipper that can fully support the cover in front of the paddler whil;e paddling or seal off the opening while not paddling.

 

[yellowcanoe]

yellowcanoe, since you purchased your covers We have been offering the option of a zip in-out cockpit that supports the cockpit opening so you can take standing waves minimizing the puddling on top of the cover. The piece of cloth that is removed for the cockpit area is reinstalled with a zipper that can fully support the cover in front of the paddler whil;e paddling or seal off the opening while not paddling.

Thats good to know Dan..Good products that are constantly improved.. I just don't use the covers enough to get new ones in my old age!

 

[Kayak_Ken]

I have a Wenonah Voyager with a Cooke cover. I was in a Dollar store one day and saw some cheap beach balls and had an idea. I bought two of them placed them on top of my gear and inflated them enough so that they raised the front and rear covers to allow the rain to run off instead of pooling on the cover. They are cheap, light weight and fold up very flat when not needed.

Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)

 

[Erica]

What a wealth of information. Thank you all.

yellow canoe...good to know about the snaps. My fingers would not tolerate the pressure needed to do the snaps over and over. I get it about the velcro getting full of sand, same thing happens to my old fashioned tevas.

canoeyak: I'd love to have one of the NW covers, but am also afraid of the price. Their website does not indicate prices and you know what they say: if you have to ask, you can't afford it. I get it also about keeping things covered. We do not have anyplace to keep boats covered, so maybe that should be our next project. Do you think the ladder/adjustment system, which makes sense, could be a dyi? Keep in mind I am not much of a dyi person.

Dan Cooke - I am going to stick my neck out here and state you must be the guy behind the Cooke covers. Thank you for the update on the cockpit cover. I would hate to have water puddling against me too, even if I were dry.

Kayak Ken - I love the beach ball idea.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Our first tripping canoe was a Mad River Explorer with wooden gunwales. Kathleen made our spray deck (cover) with coated nylon. I inserted stainless steel snaps around the perimeter to snap onto screws in the underside of the wooden gunwales. Kathleen made separate pieces for our spray skirts, as we had heard that capsized canoeists sometimes drowned by becoming entangled in the single--unit spray deck. The spray skirts had a drawstring at the top, and elastic sewn into a seam at the bottom. The cockpit coming was made with a flexible poly butyl pipe that could be fitted into a seam on the spray deck. If raining, or when paddling difficult water, we snugged the elastic at the bottom of the spray skirt over the cockpit coming with the poly butyl pipe. The skirt easily detached from the coaming simply by standing up or pulling on it. No danger of entanglement.

We were advised to make the spray deck tight, as it would expand on cool days, and pool water. This was a mistake. On hot days, the deck contracted. We had to pour water on it to make it loose enough to get the snaps off. We broke many finger nails over the years.

We always travel with the spray deck on. Keeps the boat dry, reduces wind resistance, keeps the paddlers a little warmer, I think, and looks tidy and neat. Kathleen and I never tie the gear into the boat. I know it sounds like a lot of hubris, but we never capsize when tripping. We capsized a lot on day trips with our club, trying to improve our skills. But we never capsize while tripping. Once, on a trip with another couple, the guy and I were tracking our canoes upstream through a Class III rapid. My boat overturned, and I belayed it into an eddy. We righted the canoe, unsnapped the spray deck, and easily removed the packs and gear. Everything had been held in place by the spray deck. Nothing was lost. Not even the tea cups, which were still floating free in the bottom of the canoe. I think I would feel naked not travelling with a spray deck.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I have a Wenonah Voyager with a Cooke cover. I was in a Dollar store one day and saw some cheap beach balls and had an idea. I bought two of them placed them on top of my gear and inflated them enough so that they raised the front and rear covers to allow the rain to run off instead of pooling on the cover. They are cheap, light weight and fold up very flat when not needed.

Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)

OMG! Hmm.. if you see someone that is really fat.. that is me with a beach ball in my lap in my Monarch..!

 

[yknpdlr]

in 2017 we made spray covers for two C4 canoes that we took to the Yukon River Quest. That was the first year that C4 canoes were allowed. In previous years we used voyageur canoes. In each case we made our own spray covers for each boat including the tube that could be rolled up going up to our chest. Covers are required by race rules for paddling the segments through Lake Laberge and the Five Fingers Rapids. We made a team party out of the construction/sewing process. Get the fabric tight enough to the velcro on the gunwales and a simple lift of a knee would expel any puddled water (we made that tightening adjustment after departing on time in this photo). It also made for a nice eating platform in front of each paddler, and makes the lower body a bit warmer with all that cold water around. When desired, the cover is easily removed (or installed) by each paddler in turn. The mid section cover in this photo was made large enough to go over gear that might be piled in for a future Y1K race or another adventure expedition.

YRQ 2017 Leaving Carmacks

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Here is a picture of the spray deck that Kathleen and I made from coated nylon. It was very light weight, and easy to fold into a piece no bigger than the cockpit cowlings, which could then be draped over a paddle in a side pocket of the canvass pack when portaging. We liked it very much, but very difficult to get off when dry. We also carried spare snaps and a tool to make the snaps. On most trips one or two needed replacing.

 

[Paddlinhal]

I bought a boat in 2014 that came with a cover similar to CCS. Used it for the first time over Thanksgiving. It was nice for keeping the winter weather, drips and splashes out of the boat. It took a little discipline for loading and unloading gear but by the end of the weekend it wasn't bad. I think I'll keep it.

 

[jefffski]

We paddle our canoe on the ocean. For a long time, we did not want a skirt because we felt that using one would raise our preceived level of safety and we would push our limits. We also did not paddle much in bad weather. Then, we bought a second hand Kevlar Clipper Tripper that came with a snap on skirt. So, we tried it.

Impression
We liked how the skirt kept the wind out of the canoe. I think upwind we were a bit faster. We were also warmer on cool days.

Snaps
To say that it was hard to snap on is an understatement. I would say dang near impossible. Getting it off wasn't much easier. Eventually some snaps broke, then the skirt tore as we were trying to remove the skirt. To get into the cargo area, we had to unsnap one side. PIA.

Laces
We caved and bought a one piece North Water skirt (it was on sale for 25% off--but still expensive) with a central zippered area and a paddle holder. Map holders are another option, but we did not buy one. The cockpits have hoops to keep the skirt up to deflect water and to keep the skirt off our knees. The cockpits can also be velcroed open, which we do unless it's raining, the water is very wavy or in cold weather. Getting the skirt on takes less than 10 minutes. It adds seven pounds, as others mentioned, which is not noticeable when paddling. By unlacing part of the skirt, we can keep both or either the bow and stern areas open and the cargo area covered. Loading or unloading gear is easy with the zippered area. Perhaps loading is not as easy without a skirt, but it's not onerous.

Benefits
The benefits are that we are warmer on cool days, faster upwind, and it's relatively easy to put on. While it keeps most rainwater and most of any splashes from big waves out, it's not waterproof. Some water will get in and water will puddle on it. However, in wavy conditions that we would paddle in even without a skirt, it takes away some of the stress and work of angling the boat to avoid waves from splashing over the gunwales.

When we use it
We either store it in the canoe or have it on. We have it on in cold, rain, wind or wavy conditions and on multiday trips when there is less room to store it in the canoe. On day trips or overnights with no rain or wind in the forecast we store it behind the stern seat.

 

[Canoeyak]

Erica
The web ladder attachment system on the North Water covers are not that difficult to put on if you are not afraid to drill a bunch of holes in your canoe. You drill the holes and rivet the straps on using the waterproof rivets. There are people that love this system and some that hate it. I had different people tell me you always snag the web ladder on things. It has never happened. I love it and have not seen a system that would work better for me. I feel it is the best system for adjustability and fairly fast and easy to put on and take off. I ordered the Clipper canoe with changes and add-ons as a package deal and Clipper installed the web ladder while building the canoe. The reason I went with the North Water cover was they are located close to Clipper Canoes which made it easier as Clipper purchased it from North Water. The other reason is its a Canadian Company so I didn't have to take the dollars, shipping, duties and taxes into account. I order items from south of the border on a regular basis and the dollar, shipping, duty, taxes and brokerage fees can add a lot to the original price. I recently ordered a part for my motorcycle that was not available in Canada and it cost me more than double the original price when I was done.

North Water has all the prices on their site and you can choose either Canadian or US dollar.
https://northwater.com/products/canoe-spray-deck

Looking at their Canadian prices for a three piece solo cover with the options I have, it would now come in over $1,000.00 cdn., which is no where near what I paid in 2014/15.

 

[yknpdlr]

DIY, coated ripstop nylon is relatively inexpensive. We made a trial fit pattern out of inexpensive muslin fabric. I used snaps on my Hornbeck canoe with good performance and relative ease of installation and removal, used velcro on the bigger boats. The most expensive part is rolls of 2" wide velcro, expensive even from Walmart. It takes several rolls to go around a 28' voyageur. We used contact cement to affix the softer loop it to the hull outside the gunwale (being kind to knuckles) and sewed the rough hook side to the fabric.

 

[Dan Cooke]

Erica- You are correct in Dan Cooke is the owner of Cooke Custom Sewing and sews the Canoe Covers. There are many home built covers out there with many styles of attachments and different ways to implement the technology that was used to make the attachment.

 

[Bearpaulsen]

Erica,

I'm GM at Northstar Canoes and also a friend of Dan's.
I've used CCS covers extensively:
Solo Trips: Multiple river trips in Wabakimi and Crown Lands in ON, Steel in ON, Pigeon, Berens, Poplar in MB, MacFarlane/William Rivers in SK, Thoa River in NWT
Tandem Trips: Fond du Lac in SK, Snake in Yukon, Seal in MB, Kazan in Nunavut
I probably missed some trips, but you get the idea.
I highly recommend CCS covers as well designed and easy to use.
Hot weather makes snaps hard to put on. You have to get the nylon cover wet, otherwise they're next to impossible to put on. Once dunked in the water and allowed to absorb a bit they're easy to put on. My initial reaction to getting them wet was reluctance, but when it comes to actually doing it on hot days you're happy to, and on cold, wet days you're already wearing rainwear, so it really doesn't matter then either.
I characterize them as great tripping covers. They can be taken off and put on very easily, which makes a lot of difference on trips that require a good bit of portaging.
Go with the zippered oval if you want to run whitewater.
The covers do pool on wet days or in constant rapids. However, all you need to do is heel the boat to dump the most of the water.

Hope this helps

 

[Ralph]

I have 2 Northwater Spray Decks with the attachment system that uses the patches on the inside with a loop of lacing that pokes through a drilled hole. I didn't like the time and effort it took to lace up the deck so I changed it to a system that works well for me. First I ran a paracord through all of the little loops around the outside of the boat, tightened it and left some excess inside the canoe near the bow. The cord came into the bow area via the hole made for the grab loop.
IMG_1607 by Ralph5145, on Flickr

Then I found a clip (which was not ideal but the best I could find considering all factors) and I threaded one clip on the cord between each section of cord that goes through the loops on the deck. unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the deck on the canoe. So there is one clip for each section of deck cord between the deck attachment loops. Yes, I have a bunch of clips and I carry a few extras in my repair kit (have never needed them). Instead of the cord on the deck being threaded through each loop on the side of the boat, the clips on the deck cord clip on to the cord that is permanently attached to the boat. The first time I put it on, I had to do some adjusting but now, it is much faster and easier to attach and the deck is much tighter.
IMG_2563 by Ralph5145, on Flickr
IMG_2562 by Ralph5145, on Flickr

I just leave all of the clips attached to the deck and stuff them into the carrying bag. This system also allows me to get access to the bow or stern areas relatively easily.

 

[Holmes375]

Interesting system, Ralph.

I also have a NW spray deck - a 3 piece for my Magic. I seldom use the central cockpit section but I often use the bow and stern sections as they help noticeably on windy days.

I may try something similar to your set up. If I'm understanding you correctly, you have a line run through the spray deck loops in addition to the line run through the boat mounted loops. The clips are strung on the deck line and then clipped to the boat line when you put the spray deck on the canoe.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I like your refinements to the NW spray deck, Ralph. With our new Wenonah Prospector, we bought a NW spray deck. With two of us to lace it on, it doesn't take too much time. We like the convenience of being able to zip open the centre. But compared to our previous homemade coated nylon spray deck, the NW is very heavy and bulky.