This is very different from whitewater paddling boat set-up and use. For starters, I paddle on both sides, switching off to balance my muscle use, and also for advantage when going around bends. I wouldn't think of paddling all day on one side. I'd end up in knots. On whitewater rivers the current is often very 'pushy', fast, so you need any mechanical advantage you can get from using the best side of the boat to maneuver it around easily and quickly. Also, There are a lot of lines on a whitewater open canoe, what with airbags being held in place, water scoops tied in, etc. Basically, everything has a line tied to it if you want to still have it on board after the first rapid. With so many lines that one can get caught in when the boat flips it's essential that they all be tidy and tucked away so you don't get an arm or leg caught up in them. I did, one time. I survived, but I never allowed it to happen again. So the bow and stern lines are prepped so that they are nice and tidy but a tug on the end of them sets them free. Also, they are both selected to be light and floating lines. Of course, I remove the seats, since I paddle from a kneeling position with my knees tucked into closed-cell foam cups, and with thigh straps to keep me in the boat when I need to lean way out for a big draw stroke. I replace the seat with an aluminum tubing cross-bar to stiffen-up the gunwales. One other difference in whitewater paddling is that I use a T grip paddle, not a pear grip, and a metal and plastic paddle, because it gets serious abuse. A pear grip is easy on the hands for all-day repetitive paddling strokes, but in whitewater the ability to position the blade angle with power and certainty demands a T grip for the leverage and for how clear the T grip communicates the blade position to the paddler. You need to feel it in the grip and the force of the water. You don't have time to look at it and think about it. I learned to canoe as a kid on lakes and slow rivers in Michigan. So when I moved out to Colorado as an adult I thought I knew how to paddle. I told a new friend I'd met that I was a pretty good paddler. He asked me to tell him about the importance of boat rocker, about secondary stability, and the difference between pear grips and T grips. Then he asked me the correct technique for eddying out and how to read tongues and pillows. At about that point I figured out that it was an entirely different sort of canoeing than I grew up with, and that I was a novice. So I signed up for a training class, and 3 years later I was leading river trips. Now I paddle everything, but I use the right gear and techniques for the type of paddling I'm doing.
In my next three minutes video I’ll show how you can read the port a joke so that you don’t have lines tied to different pieces of gear and it will make it much safer for you. Thanks for commenting. Thanks for watching.
One of the best addition to a canoe for anyone going solo is a strap riveted all around the canoe. Not too tight as to leave a small slack. This allows you to grab the canoe from every different angle possible. You add that to the two tow-lines at each end, and you have the best safety system. Also, some people tuck the two-lines inside the canoe which is not the best. The best is to add a bungee-strap at each end and to tuck the lines under it for a fast deployment and easy reach. That setup is a basic thing with most expedition canoes in the great North and should be applied everywhere. Not good for a cedar canoe tho! lol
Got to step in and Karen this up a little. Well, that's not a solo canoe of course. Solo paddling from a center seat is a totally different experience--in a boat designed to be used as such...with the torso centered over the fulcrum of the hull, etc. Paddling a boat backwards by means of using the forward seat doesn't make it a solo boat of course. (Yes, as is done in the guiding, working, freighting tradition of canoecraft). Beginners may be mislead by the assumption that all boats are symmetrical and may not know that a solo canoe is best (re: most rewardingly and efficiently) paddled from amidships.. Paddling a solo boat is a totally different experience from paddling solo in a backwards tandem boat, where the seat position is ambiguous at best. You can sure "set up" a tandem boat to travel solo, but it still ain't no solo boat, and it's a world away from the solo experience in a performing boat. Just sayin.' Anyway you knew that. Onlookers might be wonderin' about solo paddling tho. Maybe do a bit on solo canoes to clarify this rather deep discrepancy. Maybe ya have and I just ain't seen it yet. I just can't abide that front seat backwards paddling stuff! And of course, there ARE asymmetrical tandem boats out there....
awesome info. Really like the idea of making the rope long enough to be used from either end. Only suggestion: piling the rope up is an entanglement hazard. I put a loop of shock cord on the deck & stow the rope under it. Then you can simply grab & it will deploy, but is out of the way of catching limbs should you capsize
Ruby is a gem and so are you! i just found your channel and hope you have a video on your hat! I've been looking for a good, wide-brim hat for a little bit now. I've been too afraid to buy junk, so I haven't purchased yet. I'll be in Maine next year for the first time to visit (2,000 mile road trip one way for me) and hopefully can find one there!
Thanks Lisa. Good tips. I completely agree with the painter rope staying loose. Sometimes I tie a bailing bucket to mine, but nothing more. I have a question regarding stern seat removal. I see most canoeist remove this seat, or don't use it when soloing. I understand the logic of putting our weight centrally, and being able to reach all angles in the paddle stroke, but that's the logic I'm questioning and so I'm interested in the response, especially from people within the Establishment, so to speak. Let me list some reasons. I started paddling solo from the stern seat the last few years after watching a long term paddler do it. I notice that most old time Australian paddlers use the stern. I discovered the benefit of the lifted bow: 1. gives more room behind the yoke. 2. gets over logs easier, because the center hits and then I move forward over the yoke and tip the bow in and the stern slides off. 3. A lifted bow catches down wind. 4. A weighted stern and lifted bow is very maneuverable in most situations. 5. You can access all gear in front of you. 6. You're always close to a painter rope. 7. You can easily paddle the center by kneeling and straddling a bag. I've become convinced by these reasons. What am I missing? Why does everyone else not paddle stem (apart from old time Australians :)
Physics work heavily on a canoe. Having you bow above the waterline in wind and rapids usually leads to trouble. In both cases if your bow is going where you want it to you’re gonna be ok. Thanks for watching. Hope this helps.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide not to labor my point, but the room between the stern seat and the yoke is considerable. Rapid requiring careful maneuvering - move to your knees at the yoke. Wind at your back - sit in the stern. Etc. I guess one argument I can see against my suggestion is storage room is lost a bit.. but not that much really, not compared to comfort..
On my Mad River Slipper (15') I like a 2" aluminum tube for my portage bar (1/2" pipe insulation is lashed to that tube). I have the seat just a little further back and put all the gear in the bow for balance. A ten foot 3/4" keel stiffens the hull and prevents oil canning, and it helps in a cross wind. Thanks for the sensible video.
Thanks for watching. Check out my website 3MinutesMaineGuide.com. I plan to share recipes and some patterns for paddle sleeves and axe sheaths this Winter. Plus my Poling class schedule.
Thanks so much Lisa. I have been looking forward to this video. Packed full of great tips. One question...Do you ever replace the "stearn" seat with a thwart for structural reasons. I love the boats you showed as I solo in a Pathfinder. We appreciate you sharing your years of experience. You channel is so practical.
Thanks for watching and commenting. The seat. Sex is temporary until I can do the seatbelt webbing on that one. Probably a winter three minutes with the main Guide episode.
Very good video! I prefer to use duct tape from either Tyrex or Gorilla since they are much stronger than any electrical tape. Everyone in the outdoors should carry some good duct tape already, but having an additional lengths is always good. It can be used as fire starter, to make repairs, to make cordage, etc...
Thanks Lisa - appreciate your wisdom and experience. I have a cedar strip canoe with 3/4" thick, white ash, hand-canned seats. How much weight, in your experience, can that seat reliably hold?
I have so many I have to keep them outside. I treat them with 303 every Spring, keep them off the ground with a DIY canoe rack and they are stored in a thick old growth hemlock grove so they are out of direct sunlight. I’ve thought about tarping them for the Winter but never have done it. UV damage is the real killer of ABS canoes.
16 footer I expect. I know a guy that just picked up a similar boat, green and as close to new condition as it gets. Curious if you have ever seen a deck rip off in the extraction process of a pinned boat? What are your thoughts on a hole drilled in the stem for painter lines? Do you have the tension strength of the loop and painter lines? I like the seat fix. I have an older Penobscot with a plywood seat that could use a bit of foam.
Yes a 16 footer. No I have never seen a deck plate rip off in a rescue but I’m not a fan of the particular deck plate with just a small hole drilled in it and clipping into a deck plate even if it’s got a climbing line on it is more of a thing to use as a staging line when you can get anything at all underneath like the webbing, or anything else to take the tension off a single point in a rescue that’s the goal. The foam is temporary until I can get the seatbelt webbing in. I think that’s gonna be a Winter three minutes episode. Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting.
Love the videos Lisa! I have a 15’ camper and I understand it’s also meant to be paddled solo in reverse from the bow seat. In my solo canoes the seat is dead center of the boat (pretty much). I have also noticed when you are paddling solo with a load of gear you are pretty far back in the boat not at center. What’s the advantages or disadvantages of this?
Yes, I do that because I do always have weight and the bow even when I’m paddling solo I’ll just put like a 5 gallon water jug in there but I like to sit further back. I like to face my stroke what they call it in paddling where you sit off to the side, (traditional)and I love to use the gunwale for mechanical advantage paddling.
Thanks for always answering my questions. Why do you tie the spectra cord on and THEN tie a the painter rope to that cord loop? Why don't you just tie the painter line with a bowline to the hole you drilled? Thanks again! @@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide
I roll them up when portaging, and if it was a different deck plate, design by wood drill a little hole in there and put an elastic loop that I could shove it under. I probably will do that eventually , I just didn’t have time to show that. Thanks for watching.
Lisa I named it TRIPPA, yep I don't have to be pretty,it just has to work. Does the new fangled rope float? I use 3/8s hollow Chinese hand cuffs stuff.
Lisa. One guide to another, great video. However, your bowline is tied “sideways”. It’s an easy and common mistake. Fortunately, it’s easy to remedy! Happy paddling.
Thanks for the tip! The old guy who taught me said I tied my knots like a left-hander. When I first started school I wrote with my left hand and they tied it to my leg until I taught myself to use the right. Thanks for watching.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide Sounds good to me. I just got a barely used (3 floats) Discovery 158 and they sanded it for skid plates already. It was nice to get a steep discount on a barely used canoe though.
Lisa, thanks for commenting and watching. I’m still really busy with the classes go to three minutes main guide.com and check it out. I’m determined next year to start a series of all women’s classes for the summer and I am doing trips but right now it’s mostly just for me. I have a small bucket list that I really need to get to.
Never understood why canoeists carry SO much crap. As a kayak camper, everything I need for a week or two would fit in one blue barrel, but I pack it in three mid-sized dry bags. I've never brought more than forty pounds of gear and food.
Hey, thanks for crossing over to the dark side and watching 3 Minutes! If we ever bump into each other on a river and you want to stop in for beef stroganoff, a glass of wine and a slice of cherry pie, in the middle of nowhere, you’re always welcome. I’d love to see your setup. Thanks for watching.
Your absolutely rock lisa de hart You such an inspiration And such a laugh The cowboy coffee video.. makes me "Piss" myself when ever I'm making a camp coffee😂 I incorporate your methods both on and off the waters The canoe tent is absolutely brilliant 😊💛🏞🌊🛶🌊⛰️🏕🌄🌌🌠
People (including me) tend to over think things. Thanks for reminding me: simple, uncomplicated, effective. Thank you.
This lady is amazing.
This is very different from whitewater paddling boat set-up and use. For starters, I paddle on both sides, switching off to balance my muscle use, and also for advantage when going around bends. I wouldn't think of paddling all day on one side. I'd end up in knots. On whitewater rivers the current is often very 'pushy', fast, so you need any mechanical advantage you can get from using the best side of the boat to maneuver it around easily and quickly.
Also, There are a lot of lines on a whitewater open canoe, what with airbags being held in place, water scoops tied in, etc. Basically, everything has a line tied to it if you want to still have it on board after the first rapid. With so many lines that one can get caught in when the boat flips it's essential that they all be tidy and tucked away so you don't get an arm or leg caught up in them. I did, one time. I survived, but I never allowed it to happen again. So the bow and stern lines are prepped so that they are nice and tidy but a tug on the end of them sets them free. Also, they are both selected to be light and floating lines.
Of course, I remove the seats, since I paddle from a kneeling position with my knees tucked into closed-cell foam cups, and with thigh straps to keep me in the boat when I need to lean way out for a big draw stroke. I replace the seat with an aluminum tubing cross-bar to stiffen-up the gunwales.
One other difference in whitewater paddling is that I use a T grip paddle, not a pear grip, and a metal and plastic paddle, because it gets serious abuse. A pear grip is easy on the hands for all-day repetitive paddling strokes, but in whitewater the ability to position the blade angle with power and certainty demands a T grip for the leverage and for how clear the T grip communicates the blade position to the paddler. You need to feel it in the grip and the force of the water. You don't have time to look at it and think about it.
I learned to canoe as a kid on lakes and slow rivers in Michigan. So when I moved out to Colorado as an adult I thought I knew how to paddle. I told a new friend I'd met that I was a pretty good paddler. He asked me to tell him about the importance of boat rocker, about secondary stability, and the difference between pear grips and T grips. Then he asked me the correct technique for eddying out and how to read tongues and pillows. At about that point I figured out that it was an entirely different sort of canoeing than I grew up with, and that I was a novice. So I signed up for a training class, and 3 years later I was leading river trips. Now I paddle everything, but I use the right gear and techniques for the type of paddling I'm doing.
In my next three minutes video I’ll show how you can read the port a joke so that you don’t have lines tied to different pieces of gear and it will make it much safer for you. Thanks for commenting. Thanks for watching.
One of the best addition to a canoe for anyone going solo is a strap riveted all around the canoe. Not too tight as to leave a small slack. This allows you to grab the canoe from every different angle possible. You add that to the two tow-lines at each end, and you have the best safety system. Also, some people tuck the two-lines inside the canoe which is not the best. The best is to add a bungee-strap at each end and to tuck the lines under it for a fast deployment and easy reach. That setup is a basic thing with most expedition canoes in the great North and should be applied everywhere. Not good for a cedar canoe tho! lol
Got to step in and Karen this up a little. Well, that's not a solo canoe of course. Solo paddling from a center seat is a totally different experience--in a boat designed to be used as such...with the torso centered over the fulcrum of the hull, etc. Paddling a boat backwards by means of using the forward seat doesn't make it a solo boat of course. (Yes, as is done in the guiding, working, freighting tradition of canoecraft). Beginners may be mislead by the assumption that all boats are symmetrical and may not know that a solo canoe is best (re: most rewardingly and efficiently) paddled from amidships.. Paddling a solo boat is a totally different experience from paddling solo in a backwards tandem boat, where the seat position is ambiguous at best. You can sure "set up" a tandem boat to travel solo, but it still ain't no solo boat, and it's a world away from the solo experience in a performing boat. Just sayin.' Anyway you knew that. Onlookers might be wonderin' about solo paddling tho. Maybe do a bit on solo canoes to clarify this rather deep discrepancy. Maybe ya have and I just ain't seen it yet. I just can't abide that front seat backwards paddling stuff!
And of course, there ARE asymmetrical tandem boats out there....
There’s no Karen in canoeing.
Thanks Lisa. Always a pleasure
Always a pleasure. Thank you
awesome info. Really like the idea of making the rope long enough to be used from either end. Only suggestion: piling the rope up is an entanglement hazard. I put a loop of shock cord on the deck & stow the rope under it. Then you can simply grab & it will deploy, but is out of the way of catching limbs should you capsize
I do have that on my other boats. Thanks for sharing and watching.
Loved it!
Ruby is a gem and so are you! i just found your channel and hope you have a video on your hat! I've been looking for a good, wide-brim hat for a little bit now. I've been too afraid to buy junk, so I haven't purchased yet. I'll be in Maine next year for the first time to visit (2,000 mile road trip one way for me) and hopefully can find one there!
My hat is made by AKUBRA hats. A snowy river model. They still sell them. David Morgan.com has them for $185.
Thanks Lisa. Good tips. I completely agree with the painter rope staying loose. Sometimes I tie a bailing bucket to mine, but nothing more.
I have a question regarding stern seat removal. I see most canoeist remove this seat, or don't use it when soloing. I understand the logic of putting our weight centrally, and being able to reach all angles in the paddle stroke, but that's the logic I'm questioning and so I'm interested in the response, especially from people within the Establishment, so to speak. Let me list some reasons.
I started paddling solo from the stern seat the last few years after watching a long term paddler do it. I notice that most old time Australian paddlers use the stern.
I discovered the benefit of the lifted bow:
1. gives more room behind the yoke.
2. gets over logs easier, because the center hits and then I move forward over the yoke and tip the bow in and the stern slides off.
3. A lifted bow catches down wind.
4. A weighted stern and lifted bow is very maneuverable in most situations.
5. You can access all gear in front of you.
6. You're always close to a painter rope.
7. You can easily paddle the center by kneeling and straddling a bag.
I've become convinced by these reasons. What am I missing? Why does everyone else not paddle stem (apart from old time Australians :)
Physics work heavily on a canoe. Having you bow above the waterline in wind and rapids usually leads to trouble. In both cases if your bow is going where you want it to you’re gonna be ok. Thanks for watching. Hope this helps.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide not to labor my point, but the room between the stern seat and the yoke is considerable. Rapid requiring careful maneuvering - move to your knees at the yoke. Wind at your back - sit in the stern. Etc. I guess one argument I can see against my suggestion is storage room is lost a bit.. but not that much really, not compared to comfort..
Thanks for the video, I appreciate every single one!
Glad you like them!
Cool. Inexpensive. Repurpose old stuff. Painter line stowage advice ... me likey ❤
Yes! Thank you!
On my Mad River Slipper (15') I like a 2" aluminum tube for my portage bar (1/2" pipe insulation is lashed to that tube). I have the seat just a little further back and put all the gear in the bow for balance. A ten foot 3/4" keel stiffens the hull and prevents oil canning, and it helps in a cross wind.
Thanks for the sensible video.
You’re very welcome.
Boy, oh boy , I like your tutorial videos . Nicely done. I'm paying attention to these . Thank you .
Thanks for watching. Check out my website 3MinutesMaineGuide.com. I plan to share recipes and some patterns for paddle sleeves and axe sheaths this Winter. Plus my Poling class schedule.
Cool boat!
Thank you‼️
You’re welcome 😊Thabks for watching and commenting.
Thanks so much Lisa. I have been looking forward to this video. Packed full of great tips. One question...Do you ever replace the "stearn" seat with a thwart for structural reasons. I love the boats you showed as I solo in a Pathfinder. We appreciate you sharing your years of experience. You channel is so practical.
Mike, thanks for watching. Yes I have replaced the stern seat in an old town Hunter with a small thwart I’ve done that before.
Very nice canoe Lisa. Those are hard to find in that shape. I like the seat idea. Thanks
Thanks for watching and commenting. The seat. Sex is temporary until I can do the seatbelt webbing on that one. Probably a winter three minutes with the main Guide episode.
Very good video!
I prefer to use duct tape from either Tyrex or Gorilla since they are much stronger than any electrical tape. Everyone in the outdoors should carry some good duct tape already, but having an additional lengths is always good. It can be used as fire starter, to make repairs, to make cordage, etc...
Great point!
Thanks Lisa - appreciate your wisdom and experience. I have a cedar strip canoe with 3/4" thick, white ash, hand-canned seats. How much weight, in your experience, can that seat reliably hold?
Ash is strong and traditional. I couldn’t venture a guess on the weight but the material has done the test of time in the canoe world.
Great tips. 🙏🏻✌🏻🛶
NO WAY!!! i just bought an Old Town Camper and im about to go solo 400+miles in just a couple of days!!!
Good luck. Cruise a couple of tarps videos too. Stay safe.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide I will check Tarp out for sure, thanks! About to shove off from Ithaca, NY (Cayuga Lake). Chesapeake or Bust!
Can you do a video on storing a canoe in the off season?
I have so many I have to keep them outside. I treat them with 303 every Spring, keep them off the ground with a DIY canoe rack and they are stored in a thick old growth hemlock grove so they are out of direct sunlight. I’ve thought about tarping them for the Winter but never have done it. UV damage is the real killer of ABS canoes.
16 footer I expect. I know a guy that just picked up a similar boat, green and as close to new condition as it gets. Curious if you have ever seen a deck rip off in the extraction process of a pinned boat? What are your thoughts on a hole drilled in the stem for painter lines? Do you have the tension strength of the loop and painter lines? I like the seat fix. I have an older Penobscot with a plywood seat that could use a bit of foam.
Yes a 16 footer. No I have never seen a deck plate rip off in a rescue but I’m not a fan of the particular deck plate with just a small hole drilled in it and clipping into a deck plate even if it’s got a climbing line on it is more of a thing to use as a staging line when you can get anything at all underneath like the webbing, or anything else to take the tension off a single point in a rescue that’s the goal. The foam is temporary until I can get the seatbelt webbing in. I think that’s gonna be a Winter three minutes episode. Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting.
Love the videos Lisa! I have a 15’ camper and I understand it’s also meant to be paddled solo in reverse from the bow seat. In my solo canoes the seat is dead center of the boat (pretty much). I have also noticed when you are paddling solo with a load of gear you are pretty far back in the boat not at center.
What’s the advantages or disadvantages of this?
Yes, I do that because I do always have weight and the bow even when I’m paddling solo I’ll just put like a 5 gallon water jug in there but I like to sit further back. I like to face my stroke what they call it in paddling where you sit off to the side, (traditional)and I love to use the gunwale for
mechanical advantage paddling.
Thanks for always answering my questions. Why do you tie the spectra cord on and THEN tie a the painter rope to that cord loop? Why don't you just tie the painter line with a bowline to the hole you drilled?
Thanks again! @@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide
That is a gem. For a portage, do you roll up the painters or leave them loose?
Good question!
I tie the back one up for portages and find the front one quite handy to balance the boat while walking.
I roll them up when portaging, and if it was a different deck plate, design by wood drill a little hole in there and put an elastic loop that I could shove it under. I probably will do that eventually , I just didn’t have time to show that. Thanks for watching.
Lisa I named it TRIPPA, yep I don't have to be pretty,it just has to work. Does the new fangled rope float? I use 3/8s hollow Chinese hand cuffs stuff.
Yes. It’s a nylon/poly combo that floats. Thanks for sharing great name for a boat!
Lisa. One guide to another, great video. However, your bowline is tied “sideways”. It’s an easy and common mistake. Fortunately, it’s easy to remedy! Happy paddling.
Thanks for the tip! The old guy who taught me said I tied my knots like a left-hander. When I first started school I wrote with my left hand and they tied it to my leg until I taught myself to use the right. Thanks for watching.
Do you put skid plates on a canoe right away or wait until someone bashes them into a rock and they need to be repaired?
I wait until they’re all scratched up. Then you know exactly where they go.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide Sounds good to me. I just got a barely used (3 floats) Discovery 158 and they sanded it for skid plates already. It was nice to get a steep discount on a barely used canoe though.
what is the diameter of your 'painter line' exactly?
I believe it’s 3/8 inch. Thanks for watching!
Wow, you must be up very late to upload this video...BTW I want to take a canoe trip with you!
Lisa, thanks for commenting and watching. I’m still really busy with the classes go to three minutes main guide.com and check it out. I’m determined next year to start a series of all women’s classes for the summer and I am doing trips but right now it’s mostly just for me. I have a small bucket list that I really need to get to.
Never understood why canoeists carry SO much crap. As a kayak camper, everything I need for a week or two would fit in one blue barrel, but I pack it in three mid-sized dry bags. I've never brought more than forty pounds of gear and food.
Hey, thanks for crossing over to the dark side and watching 3 Minutes! If we ever bump into each other on a river and you want to stop in for beef stroganoff, a glass of wine and a slice of cherry pie, in the middle of nowhere, you’re always welcome. I’d love to see your setup. Thanks for watching.
I do admire chefs on the water, good food makes for a good day. I just don't want to lug it. Different strokes for different folks.
Your absolutely rock lisa de hart
You such an inspiration
And such a laugh
The cowboy coffee video.. makes me "Piss" myself when ever I'm making a camp coffee😂
I incorporate your methods both on and off the waters
The canoe tent is absolutely brilliant
😊💛🏞🌊🛶🌊⛰️🏕🌄🌌🌠
Thanks for watching and commenting. I only show you something I know works from being a Guide for 26 years. Glad you’re using it. 👍