For 15 years and all of my canoe tripping life I’ve been renting, borrowing and using the canoes supplied by the various companies whose summer jobs managed to get me an education. With driver’s licence, degree, real job and wife all checked off my list, buying my own canoe seemed the last rite of passage left for this skinny Canadian man. Seasons spent kneeling on blue foamy sleep pads in boats whose only modifications were Kevlar patches inspired fantasies of one day building my Ultimate Tripping Canoe (UTC). I pitched the idea to wilderness river tripper and meticulous boat outfitter Brian Shields and late last fall the project began.
The basis of the ultimate tripping canoe is a good boat. I chose the Esquif Canyon for its generous rocker and depth, which make it both a big-water tripping boat and also one that likes to play the river. The Canyon will be slower and not track as well in flatwater but we were building our ultimate whitewater tripping canoe and were willing to make some sacrifices for river paddling performance.
The DIY guide to outfitting your canoe for whitewater
1 Where to start…
We began at the yoke, replacing the Esquif stock version with a laminated ash and cherry yoke by Madawaska Valley yoke builder SlipStream—an aesthetic touch with the highest benefit-to-cost ratio when it comes to slugging our fully outfitted 77-pound tripping boat.
Tanya and I have fallen into the pleasant agreement that I’ll spend my time in the stern and she will enjoy the freedom and view from the bow. Locating our seats and thwart position to accommodate our typical tripping gear was the next and most important step, and one that affects the rest of the outfitting process. Having legs better for walking in deep snow than sitting comfortably on public transit, I made leg room my top priority. The Canyon comes set in a more aggressive and centred playboat-like seating position so we had to move the stern seat rearward to gain my stretching room and leave space ahead of the seat for camera gear. We know we will have to shift gear forward to weight the bow to compensate and trim the boat.
Adjusting seat height and angle are the easiest and cheapest modifications you can do to improve your paddling comfort. Moving my stern seat naturally raised the seat and increased the tilt due to the rise in the gunwales toward the stern. This was perfect for my larger feet and longer legs. The bow seat we lowered and tilted forward slightly so Tanya could reach a comfortable kneeling position without the nagging ache of a level seat bar eating into her legs. Add too much tilt without thigh straps, however, and you slide forward off the seat. Remember to be kneeling on a kneepad or piece of foam to ensure correct seat height and angle.
How to adjust yoke & stern seat
2 Float bags
Perhaps the best insurance policy you can buy for your whitewater canoe is a set of float bags and properly installed bag cages. Float bags come in both nylon and vinyl. Vinyl bags are worth the extra money. They are lighter, easier to work with, especially in the cold, and far more durable. Voyageur 36-inch end bags are the perfect length for tandem tripping boats, tucking just ahead of the bow paddler’s knees and behind the stern seat.
The Mike Yee Outfitting bag cage system is far superior to tying bags into the boat. Although all float bags have sewn tabs, tying bags into your canoe isn’t enough to keep them down. An upright boat full of water floats the bags, focusing all the stress at the sewn tabs. The water will displace the bag above the gunwales, rather than the bag displacing the water in the hull.
As we installed the stern bag cage, we realized the combination of moving the seat back and me having long legs meant that my feet were going to interfere with the anchors. This was aggravating, and dangerous if my river shoes caught when I needed out of the boat. We simply moved the anchors back, shortening the cage area by a couple of inches.
By necessity, the copious leg room usually enjoyed by the bow paddler gets filled by the face of the bow cage; however, we were sure to lay out our kneepads and eye things up before we drilled the cage holes to set their location. We wanted to ensure there was still enough space in front of the bow seat for Tanya to sit up and stretch a little.
How to install float bags
3 Comfort and security
Thin pieces of blue foam offer some comfort to the knees, but proper outfitting has so much more to offer. Contoured knee pads and thigh straps stop your knees and butt from sliding around and connect you to the boat. Coming from a tripping and playboating background, we wanted the comfort and security of quality, well-placed kneepads and outfitting in our ultimate tripping boat. If the bow and stern positions will be shared, the kneepads have to be located to fit both short and tall paddlers. A tip from Brian was to be sure to space the kneepads far enough apart that you can drag a bailer between them. We also wanted this gap between the kneepads for stepping in and out of the boat.
We anchored our thigh straps on the sidewall of the boat, centred between the seat supports. Some canoe tripping outfitting loops around the seat pillar or around the seat itself but the ultra-fine stainless steel bolts used as seat hangers are not suited for the lateral forces exerted by the thigh straps. The bolts bend, work loose and can break under your body weight if the canoe happens to ram and stop on a rock. Having the anchor between the seat support brings the thigh straps into an aggressive, secure position.
How to install kneepads & thigh straps
Although some paddlers may say we’ve gone overboard on the outfitting for wilderness river trips, the sporty Canyon with fully rigged outfitting bridges the gap to tandem playboat.
But, we didn’t stop there.
4 Getting northern-river ready
With dreams of traveling north to explore the massive rivers draining the Hudson Bay watershed—the Harricanaw, Rupert and Moose—I placed a call to Morgan Goldie at North Water to order our Expedition Spray Deck. I found myself in the garage with a tape measure and the cordless phone.
I hadn’t thought about it, but all canoe covers are custom-made. Any modification from the canoe builder’s specs affects the cut of the deck. I had moved my stern seat eight inches back, so North Water had to cut my cockpit opening to line up with my seat—it’s imperative to have your seats set before you order your deck.
How to install a spray deck
5 Getting ramming-speed ready
There is no doubt in my mind that Captain Kirk had a quality set of Voyageur skid plates protecting the bow and stern of the Enterprise. Low-water weekend trips grinding down the Petawawa, Dumoine, Coulonge and Madawaska take their toll, even on ABS boats. And “ramming speed” is the ABS canoeist’s answer to shallow sections and keeping feet dry at portages. When you wear the skid plates out, simply grind them down and slap on another set. Remember this isn’t a cedar dock decoration. This is our whitewater UTC.
How to install a skid plate
6 Finishing touches
“You’ll thank me later,” Brian said as his Black and Decker augered holes in the Canyon’s plastic deck plates. I’d sourced a pair of Fluid Designs’ nacho-coloured Painter Bags. These babies are the bomb for keeping your ropes from looking like bowls of spaghetti. They come with 30 feet of floating 3/8-inch rope stuffed inside. Through his new holes, Brian tied short pieces of 1/8-inch bungie cord and snapped my painter bags in place on the decks—very clever. With age comes wisdom.
How to install a deck bungee
Too cheap to smash the celebratory bottle of Blue Nun on her bow, we slid our UTC quietly into the river—no marching band or confetti. Feeling like we’d just walked into a honky tonk in graduation tuxes we ferried our fully rigged and decked northern river tripper into the crowded eddy of Class II weekend canoeists. My whitewater adolescence paddling in beat-to-a-pulp rental canoes is over.
This two-part article was first published in the Early Summer 2003 and Summer 2003 issues of Rapid Magazine. It was republished in part in the Spring 2008 issue of Canoeroots Magazine. Feature photo: Scott MacGregor
