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. Does
anyone know if you can fit a standard bike in a standard 16 foot canoe
safely, perhaps by removing one or both wheels? It will be a rented
canoe so I can't experiment before hand. Looks like there's some room
between the rear seat and the first bar across but don't know if you
can fit a bike frame under it.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated and happy paddling!

Get the Yakima pickup truck bed rack and mount......oh never mind.

--Chris

On 5 Aug 2003, 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. Does
anyone know if you can fit a standard bike in a standard 16 foot canoe
safely, perhaps by removing one or both wheels? It will be a rented
canoe so I can't experiment before hand. Looks like there's some room
between the rear seat and the first bar across but don't know if you
can fit a bike frame under it.

My canoe is about 35" wide inside, and has 11" clearance between
the bottom of the canoe and the middle thwart. That should be
more than enough room for a bicycle if you remove its wheels,
saddle/seatpost, handlbars and possibly one pedal. Whether it
leaves enough room for all the other stuff you want to carry, and
what would happen if you were to capsize is another question.

I regular kayak the Wabash's various tributaries in east central
Illinois and west Indiana. My standard procedure has always
been to lock my bicycle to a tree at the take out point before
starting the trip.

Richard.

Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans, U of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
email: ; (217) 333-1088

"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...

"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.

--
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rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
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OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
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I've used a bicycle to shuttle sections of river. One thing I've found out
is if you just carry one lock and chain then you have to plan ahead so you
never leave the canoe at one end of a run and th ebike at another because
you only get to lock one. I'd recommend carrying two locks and chains one
fastened to the bike at all times and the other fastend to the boat at all
times. The car comes with its own lock. All you have to be concerned about
there is losing the key or locking it inside the car. Hence the spare key
hidden behind the licence plate or somewhere. Logistics. Paddling is all
about logistics.

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"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote ...
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.

Ok... Makes sense... I wasn't familiar with the river in question and didn't
know if it was something that you would have to worry about with regards to
current... I'm in Texas and most of our rivers move about as fast as
lakes... For dive kayaks, it is recommended to tether all of your gear to
the kayak and I was using that as a basis for my recomendation... I still
would consider tethering it in addition to lashing it -- just in case...

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.

How you gonna carry the canoe on the bike?

PK

The weight of a typical bicycle probably wouldn't be a problem. The
components of any bicycle are heavier than water, I think, but the overall
weight shouldn't be as bad as an additional human. That is, assuming that
the weight is reasonably distributed in the canoe.

Daniel

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.

"Winters Shinkle" typed:

The weight of a typical bicycle probably wouldn't be a problem. The
components of any bicycle are heavier than water, I think, but the overall
weight shouldn't be as bad as an additional human. That is, assuming that
the weight is reasonably distributed in the canoe.

Daniel

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.


Daniel, *weight*, itself, is not the issue. It is a question of
specific gravity. A 200# human has barely lower specific gravity than
water, so would not sink a canoe at all (once the entire package found
its equilibrium, mostly underwater) whereas a bicycle, with a higher
specific gravity than water, would contribute toward sinking the
entire package completely.

IOW, if an otherwise empty boat were fully swamped, with a human still
sitting on the thwart, the boat (if the weight of the human were
balanced fore-and-aft) would sink to a depth of three feet or so,
while part of the human's head broke the surface, because the combined
buoyancy of the boat and the human. The boat and the human are both
(barely) lighter than water. But if the boat contained an object
heavier than water (heaver per cubic unit; i.e., of greater specific
gravity) that object might counteract the buoyancy of the boat, and
sink the combined package.

On 8 Aug 2003 14:01:17 -0700, (Paul J. Knoerr) 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.

How you gonna carry the canoe on the bike?

http://www.efn.org/~equinox/canoe.html