I recently got back into canoeing after decades of no canoeing. During this re-start, I was surprised at how skewed the chores versus fun ratio had apparently become: I found myself spending way too much time getting to the water, loading and unloading twice per outing, figuring out how to get the canoe from the vehicle to the water and back, and washing the salt off the canoe. I was actually spending more time on these non-canoeing "overhead" chores than I was spending paddling! This seemed like "doing things the wrong way"! In re-taking up canoeing, I want FUN, not more chores added to my already too-numerous chores.
I decided to attack the problem and make that fun versus chores ratio much better!
Here are some things I have done that some of you may also benefit from:
Reduced the distance I travel:
This helped a lot in 2 ways: It obviously reduces the driving time (and driving costs by the way too). But equally or more importantly, It reduces the number of tiedowns required GREATLY. When traveling short distances to local or nearby canoeing locations, I can stay off high speed highways and use roads that are restricted to about 65 kph speeds. This allows me to use just 3 tiedowns: 1 on the front rack crossbar, 1 on the rear rack crossbar, and 1 that ties a thwart on the canoe to the rear crossbar to prevent foreward or rearward sliding of the canoe on the rack. For short distances and low speeds, the bow and stern tiedowns are not needed.
Use quality tiedowns that are easy and QUICK to use, and also cut them down to customized lengths:
I used the quickly deployed Thule "belt" tiedowns with the "toothed" buckles (NOT ratchets!) for all 3 rack connections, and I have custom cut (and then lighter-flame-melted) the newly cut ends, so that once I have tightened the buckle on each tiedown, I have just enough "excess" to do a quick loop around a rack tower to secure the end against flapping (and to provide a backup to the toothed buckle).
When I really need the bow and stern tiedowns, I use the Thule underhood loops under the hood, and the Thule loops with the plastic "trapped pipes" at theie end for the trunk, and Thule "mini-ratchet" rope tiedowns, and I mark the ropes as either "hood" or "trunk", and cut them so that I have just enough excess to tie the ends off to the canoe's rear carry handle. The combination of the mini-ratchet action and the custom cut lengths took a HUGE amount of time out of the bow and stern tying process. Plus, the custom-cut lengths minimize the visual distractions while driving (no excess ropes flapping in the wind).
Pick canoeing locations with minimized obstacles between the car and the water:
There's a gorgeous lake about 15 miles from our home, but after you are loaded up, it takes a solid 20 to 25 minutes to drive each way (so 40 to 50 minutes of pure driving each outing). More importantly, once you get there, you have to either drive a rutted unpaved "trail" to get to a clearing designated for parking, or you have to park and unload / load on the highway shoulder! Plus, once you have the canoe off the car, EVERY pathway to the lake has either large deadfall trees or a steep hill on it, making the process of carrying the canoe to and from the water a lengthy, arduous, and risky process. And, the parking area is so small that you have to go at "off peak" times. While the lake is gorgeous, and freshwater (so does not require washing the canoe off once I get home), the time, effort, and risks of injury to either the canoe or me, make this an unattractive destination.
Compare this to my 2 new favorite locations. They are 1 mile and 3 miles respectively from our home, and so, once loaded up, take either 3 minutes or 10 minutes to drive each way. They both have good sized parking areas. They both have flat terrain. There is ample space to load and unload canoes from the car. They have no obstacles between the parking area and the water.
They are both saltwater, so do require a quick (5 minutes or so) spraydown of the canoe, paddles, drybag, lifejackets, etc after the outing.
But one has easy and short access to an estuary full of wildlife. The other has an approximately 1.6 kilometer horizontal distance between high tide mark and low tide mark (VERY shallow slope in the tidal zone!!), with water depths that range from just enough to float the canoe to about 4 or 5 feet, where you can SEE the underwater terrain, sea vegetation, and critters, from the canoe as you paddle along the shoreline, and where the shoreline itself varies wildly in its content (alternately incredibly tall trees or sand beaches or rocky beaches or seaplant gardens or sandbars or seagull congregations or geese or seals or multi-million dollar homes or vacation resorts). Lots to do and see and to photograph.
Keep most of what I need in the car trunk all the time, at least "in season":
This makes the outing "checklist" much shorter. This also saves the time required to find and load each required item, and to later UNload it. This also avoids the possibility of forgetting any key item (like any lifesaving or emergency gear). The sole exceptions are the paddles and the C-Tug Sandtrakz (see below). These are each either too big to fit into the trunk (paddles), or simply consume too much of the trunk space needed for things like grocery trips (The C-Tug)!
Keep things "pre-packed" for quick deployment into and out of the canoe:
I not only keep as much as possible in the trunk, wherever possible I also keep it "pre-packed" in either the dry bag or the waterproof box, so that I load or unload only a couple of items rather than a bunch of individual items.
Bought a C-Tug Sandtrakz:
THIS was HUGE in its impact! The C-Tug Sandtrakz is a canoe/kayak cart that is all plastic (no corrosion), has large wheels that go on or come off in seconds thanks to tool-less "lift pins", and comes with built-in tiedown belts. The "Sandtrakz" version of the C-Tug has flexible-spoked, wide "suspension"wheels that flatten a bit when rolling so that they act like "caterpillar tracks". This means they don't sink into beach sand or tidal mud, and they climb rocks like they aren't there. The cart allows me to balance my 42 lb Kevlar canoe over the cart so there is virtually no "lifting" required at the bow handle, and the forward pull required is VERY modest. It's actually EASY to pull the canoe from the car to the water and back.
In fact, whether unloading or loading the canoe off or onto the cart, it is MOST easily done with the canoe FLOATING in just a few inches of water, so you don't have much to lift, and you never scrape the bottom of the canoe loading or unloading. THIS was probably the biggest single impact on both time and effort of my entire program of improvements to the process.
Got a quality car rack & key accessories that save time:
The Thule-Mercedes roof rack I bought looks good enough that I just leave it on the car now at least in-season. This setup also NEVER touches the car's paint - Four 3/8" diameter bolts that thread into hidden trapdoored bolt holes inside the roof structure, so the actual towers never touch the paint anywhere. Adding the Thule "Portage" canoe hauling kit gave me (along with other things like the mini ratchet ropes) 4 plastic blocks that positively guide and then secure the canoe, so that it cannot slide sideways off the rack and car.
The entire assembly is well protected against casual theft, and since the rack is designed and dimensioned specifically for my specific low volume model of car, a pro thief will see the theft effort required and the small potential resale market as total turnoffs.
Developed 2 different processes for placing and removing the canoe on/from the roof rack:
This saves a lot of time. When my wife is accompanying me, we start BESIDE the car, she lifts the stern and I lift the bow, we lift and longitudinally center the canoe over the car, and lower it onto the rack. 21 lb each to lift (42 lb canoe weight / 2). We slide it forward or rearward until the "Wenonah" printing is about 4 inches behind the front crossbar, and then ensure it engages all 4 Portage blocks. Then tie it down.
If I am alone, I start with the canoe upside down, behind the car, in line with the centreline of the car. I put a Thule Waterfall blanket onto the (short) trunk lid. I lift the bow of the canoe from the ground, and place the bow onto the Thule waterfall blanket on the rear edge of the trunk lid. I get under the gunwales, and work my way rearward until I have just less than half the weight of the canoe forward of me. I lift the bow and walk forward until the bow can rest stably on the rear crossbar of the roof rack. I thne reposiiton myself further rearward under the canoe and lift and push the canoe forward onto the front crossbar, using the rear crossbar as a fulcrum. By using small lifts and sideways movements, I can drop the canoe into the rear and front Portrage blocks. Then tie it down.
Working alone, I can load and tie down the canoe to the roof rack in just a few minutes. With my wife assisting, it is even faster.
Developed a quick post-outing washdown process:
We live in a condo with assigned underground parking. Just inside the garage entry door, there is a 16 foot wide "car wash" bay with just a on-off faucet, hose, adjustable spray nozzle, and 2 floor drains. When I return from an outing, I stop at the car wash bay (not at my assigned parking slot). The equivalent in a private home setting would be stopping in your driveway, not your garage.
There, I unload and spread out the canoe, the C-Tug (body plus 2 individual wheels), the paddles, and anything else that was exposed to saltwater or saltwater spray. I then spray down every item, being sure to catch both sides, and to do both the inside and outside of the canoe. Then, I use the C-Tug to haul the canoe, with everything else that was washed inside it, to my storage slot. No lifting required.
At my storage slot, I remove all the gear from inside the canoe and set it out in my locked but top-ventilated storage locker to dry. The canoe itself goes onto a pair of custom wood support frames I built to keep it stored upside down and off the floor. The Sandtrakz then gets put into the ventilated locker.
The whole process of washing and then rolling everything on the Sandtrakz to the storage area, and then putting everything away now takes just a few minutes.
A couple of days later, after everything has dried, I put the gear back into the car trunk when I am opening up the locker anyway to prepare for a motorcycle ride.
Practical anti-theft provisions for the canoe:
I have a LONG (about 16 feet as I recall) flexible, hardened and plastic coated cable with a good lock. It loops through the front third of the canoe, being routed BETWEEN all the fittings (bow handle, bow seat frame, front thwart, etc) and the hull. It also loops AROUND a solid concrete garage pillar that is 12" x 24" cross-section! This cabling is fast and easy to do. And it is inside an access-controlled underground garage, where only the 30 residents each have a registered garage door opener.
This means that the thief must be able to first KNOW that the canoe is there. He must then be able to get into the controlled access garage. He must then cut the 3/8" hardened cable in order to steal the canoe. He cannot simply cut out the bow handle. he would have to cut out the bow handle, the bow seat assembly, and a thwart to get the canoe if he cannot defeat the cable. That would make the canoe unsaleable and usable without seriously costly repairs, and would also mark the canoe for easy post-theft identification. And, the thief must do all this without being noticed or heard, in a building that has only 30 units, where everyone knows everyone else who lives there.
You can't make a canoe "unstealable" by a pro thief, but you can certainly discourage an attempt even being made.
So, this is everything I have thought of so far to take time and effort out of the "overheads" that steal time away from the actual canoeing. I'm feeling much better about my opportunities to canoe now, as both the time slot and the before and after effort required have been greatly reduced!
Jim G
Last edited by JimGnitecki on September 30th, 2017, 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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