RoguePaddler

[molawns]

Some of you might cringe when you read this but I like to pack most of my gear in five gallon buckets. I know this trick is nothing new and for some reason doesn't find favor with too many people. I mostly canoe camp in a 16 foot Mowhawk canoe and my trips are primarily on medium to small sized rivers, streams and average sized lakes so that makes this technique possible. I personally don't like sea kayaking/canoeing even though I live less than a mile from the Gulf of Mexico. I also recently purchased an Old Town Predator K140 kayak which has room for a bucket or two also. I'm the kind of guy that would take a pickup truck over a sportscar anyday and this translates over to my personal tastes in watercraft. If it can't haul alot of gear I don't want it.

For me, this seems alot better than buying a bunch of drybags (I'm kinda cheap when it comes to CERTAIN things) because the buckets with lids can be had for little to NO money, are almost indestructible, and you don't have to worry about the contents getting crushed. Check with the restaurants in your area and many will just give them to you. Buckets, obviously, float when the top lid is closed properly and when you get to camp you have several camp stools/seats. Wrap the lid in tin foil and you have a handy work surface for preparing food or even cooking on(make sure your campstove doesn't melt the plastic under the foil!)

When solo tripping in either my canoe or kayak, I can fit ALL my gear--non-"refrigerated" food included--in 2 buckets for a week long trip. I use a jungle hammock so I don't have to worry about packing tent poles and , obviously, I leave my ultralight fishing rod handy for good spots along the way and a small daypack with hydration bladder for water, snacks, and rain gear handy. Throw in a small softside cooler and you're all set! All of these can be lashed to the thwarts of the canoe or tied in and attached to the seat in the kayak in case of tip over to keep your gear from floating away.

[editor]

One cool way to save space on a trip is to use those space-saving vacuum/compression bags that hold clothing (the name varies, but they're all pretty much the same thing: a sealable bag with a air-purge-vent that allows them to compress tightly). I've found them for just a couple bucks on clearance... they keep clothes tightly compressed and relatively watertight if you double up the bags.

Also, I like to keep one set of "spare" dry clothes on a trip. I use it in case of an emergency (if all my clothes get wet), or else save it for the end of the trip to have clean-smelling clothes to wear on the drive home. The best way I've found to pack this "spare" set is to put it in an oversized vacuum-seal bag (not the roll-up type I mentioned above, but actual "vacuum seal" bags) and then run it through my vacuum sealer (the motorized kind you use in the kitchen) to compress it to a very small, ultra waterproof packet. When it comes time to wear the clothes, you just slit the package with a knife. The clothes come out severely wrinkled (because so tightly compressed), but completely dry and clean, and none the worse for wear.
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Paddle smarter, not harder.

[doncee]

I'm pretty much a day tripper and might be out on the water not more than 1/2 a day. I'll bring what I'll need plus my keys, wallet and cell phone in a dry bag. That still leaves a lot of room inside the boat. Putting a float bag in the hatch and partially inflating it keeps the load from shifting around.

[editor]

Some people like to keep "delicate" stuff like cell phones in a hard-case, instead of a dry bag. I've never had trouble either way, but folks who are concerned their cell phone might get squished in a soft dry bag (or other stuff like an expensive camera they can't afford to crush) might want to look into the Otter Box and Pelican lines of hard-sided cases.

These cases can be pricey, but sometimes you can find good deals. I've sometimes found cases at HALF PRICE at the following website:

http://www.all-pelican-cases-4-less.com/

I haven't bought from them in a long time, but years ago, their service was good and their prices were the best around--by far. Check them out if you're looking for a nice hard-sided case.
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Paddle smarter, not harder.

[editor]

Another option for packing.... a deck bag. The kind that mount on the foredeck can be handy for easy access to, say, a camera... However, I find that they often get in the way of paddling or just "clutter up" the deck in an unattractive way when you're trying to capture nice photos.

A better solution, in my opinion, is to fit your kayak with the Under Deck Bag and/or Side-Mount Cockpit Bags manufactured by Northwater. These are probably my favorite upgrade that I've ever made to my kayak... On long trips, I keep energy bars and snacks in the cavernous under-deck bag (hangs under the deck, in the unused space between my knees). The bag isn't waterproof, but PowerBars and other snacks usually come sealed in watertight packaging anyway. I keep a small VHF radio, sunglasses, and some other stuff (bug spray, sunblock, etc.) in the side-mount cockpit bags which are tucked to either side of the hull. If you have the space for these, I highly recommend them. The whole works comes out easily by releasing some nylon snap-clips. Only the vinyl anchor patches remain permanently mounted inside the kayak. One caution: The anchors don't mount well in plastic kayaks (hard to get any adhesive to hold well), so this upgrade might only be practical for owners of composite kayaks.
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Paddle smarter, not harder.