"Grumman-581" typed:

"Brian" wrote ...
I'm planning a short 4 day canoe trip down the Wabash River and would
like to carry a bike with me to ride back to my starting point.

I would suggest that you tether it to the canoe, just in case...

No nooooooo........

"Tethering" is a ***terrible*** idea. "Tethering" means tieing it
with a single line and a lot of slack. If you do that, and you
capsize, the bike will sink to the bottom at the end of the tether,
and is very, very likely to snag. Then the current will push yer
anchored boat underwater, and there you will be (after you get ashore
and then hike back upstream to the accident site) with yer boat
anchored partly or fully underwater.

"Lash" is the operative word here. "Lash" the bike tightly to the
boat so that it cannot separate from the hull by even inches. ALSO,
if you are carrying much cargo of specific gravity greater than that
of water, you need to be aware that a swamped canoe can barely float
its own weight with just the ends showing above water. Put a
heavier-than-water bike in there and it might sink completely. Load
in some more heavy stuff (Coleman stove, frying pan, or whatever) and
you could be in real trouble if you capsize. Consequently, you need
to think seriously of lashing some floatation into the boat; even an
old inner tube will do, if it is lashed firmly into the hull belowe
the gunwhale line.

--
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty

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Richard Hopley, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll.
rhople[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
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