On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 16:44:45 -0400, "AMG"
wrote:

It's been interesting to see the replies so far. I'll admit that I expected
a stock 'experienced paddler' answer. Now I'm thinking the best thing is to
take a loaded boat out in shallow water - with gear lashed - flip it, and
see if I can right it again without pushing off the bottom.

Not real gear. Just stuff of about the same size and weight as gear.
Stuff you won't care about if it gets wet or you lose it.

I used to buckle up my dry bags (with my sleeping bag in a plastic bag
inside, if I remembered, that was tied shut) and run a line through
the gap left in the buckles and tied off to the portage bar. That way
I was unlikely to be entangled in a dump if paddling from the stern.
Other way around would work, too. I canoed on a mostly mellow river,
so YMMV. If two are in the canoe, middle placement of gear would
work, I suppose.

My only canoe tipping was on a day trip and it flipped so hard and
quickly that almost everything stayed right in the canoe (floated
there), so I just swam it to shore, dumped it out, paddled over and
picked up my husband and we gathered up the little stuff as we paddled
downstream. A downstream sand and weed bar helped with that.
--
rbc: vixen Fairly harmless

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