Here is the origin of the blue barrel for canoe tripping, as told by Wally Schaber, who was Bill Mason's canoe partner and former owner of Black Feather and Trailhead:
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"In 1985 I took a side trip on the way home from ISPO to visit a small British show at the Crystal Palace in London. In the literature it was called a canoe show which I quickly learned meant kayaking ,at the time, in UK. Aside from all the colourful and innovative British paddling products there was one booth selling tent poles out of a plastic barrel. I enquired about the lid for the barrel and was shown a wide mouth black lid with a gasket and metal clamp to hold barrel and lid together.For years ,in Canada ,we had been experimenting with various sizes of dry bags to line canoe packs or olive jars ,with their frustrating narrow mouth, to keep our gear dry.
"I knew instantly this barrel was the answer! It was the perfect size to fit across each side of the mid thwart of a 17`Prospector. Anxiously I bought all I could find at the show (6 plus four 30L versions that nested inside ) and brought them home as my luggage. Four of the original barrels ironically were green and are now rare collectors items.I found the manufacturers name at the show and immediately sent them a request for a container load price.
"Chris Harris, Bill Mason,Mark Scriver and I were excited to try them out but we had to invent a harness to use with the barrel to assist in portaging. It was Mark Scriver ,our canoe program buyer ,who sat down at the sewing machine and designed our first harness for use on the original 30 and 60 litre barrels. Ironically ,a group of Swedish and Danish paddlers on their way to the Yukon in 1986, stopped in Ottawa bought supplies at Trailhead and we arranged for them to meet Bill Mason. They were thrilled with the visit .They showed us their gear and to our surprise they had independently conceived of the barrel as the perfect Canadian canoe tripping waterproofing system.Their harness design cleverly incorporated the barrels handles where ours sat in a pocket the same size as the barrel bottom.
"By 1987 we were importing the barrels by the container load. Mark`s original harness design was improved by our chosen manufacturer, Cerro Torre Packs in Vietnam.
"Life was now grand and dry for canoe trippers throughout Canada.
"Eventually the marketplace discovered that the barrels could be purchased cheaper ‘second hand’ from importers who used them to ship chemical and dry goods around the world. Why someone would trust packing their clothing and food in a barrel that was used to ship dangerous products I could never figure out.
"Eventually the used and new market surpassed our abilities as importers (Johnson Camping who also owns Old town Canoes made their own Yellow Barrel) .
"As one of the many camping innovations Trailhead brought to Canadian canoe camping “The Blue/Green Barrel” is the one with the most far reaching impact . . . ."
***
No wonder I never heard of blue barrels in the early 80's when I bought my trusty, and much more aesthetic, Duluth packs.
***
"In 1985 I took a side trip on the way home from ISPO to visit a small British show at the Crystal Palace in London. In the literature it was called a canoe show which I quickly learned meant kayaking ,at the time, in UK. Aside from all the colourful and innovative British paddling products there was one booth selling tent poles out of a plastic barrel. I enquired about the lid for the barrel and was shown a wide mouth black lid with a gasket and metal clamp to hold barrel and lid together.For years ,in Canada ,we had been experimenting with various sizes of dry bags to line canoe packs or olive jars ,with their frustrating narrow mouth, to keep our gear dry.
"I knew instantly this barrel was the answer! It was the perfect size to fit across each side of the mid thwart of a 17`Prospector. Anxiously I bought all I could find at the show (6 plus four 30L versions that nested inside ) and brought them home as my luggage. Four of the original barrels ironically were green and are now rare collectors items.I found the manufacturers name at the show and immediately sent them a request for a container load price.
"Chris Harris, Bill Mason,Mark Scriver and I were excited to try them out but we had to invent a harness to use with the barrel to assist in portaging. It was Mark Scriver ,our canoe program buyer ,who sat down at the sewing machine and designed our first harness for use on the original 30 and 60 litre barrels. Ironically ,a group of Swedish and Danish paddlers on their way to the Yukon in 1986, stopped in Ottawa bought supplies at Trailhead and we arranged for them to meet Bill Mason. They were thrilled with the visit .They showed us their gear and to our surprise they had independently conceived of the barrel as the perfect Canadian canoe tripping waterproofing system.Their harness design cleverly incorporated the barrels handles where ours sat in a pocket the same size as the barrel bottom.
"By 1987 we were importing the barrels by the container load. Mark`s original harness design was improved by our chosen manufacturer, Cerro Torre Packs in Vietnam.
"Life was now grand and dry for canoe trippers throughout Canada.
"Eventually the marketplace discovered that the barrels could be purchased cheaper ‘second hand’ from importers who used them to ship chemical and dry goods around the world. Why someone would trust packing their clothing and food in a barrel that was used to ship dangerous products I could never figure out.
"Eventually the used and new market surpassed our abilities as importers (Johnson Camping who also owns Old town Canoes made their own Yellow Barrel) .
"As one of the many camping innovations Trailhead brought to Canadian canoe camping “The Blue/Green Barrel” is the one with the most far reaching impact . . . ."
***
No wonder I never heard of blue barrels in the early 80's when I bought my trusty, and much more aesthetic, Duluth packs.
