Читать книгу Packing and Portaging - Dillon Wallace - Страница 2

A SIXTEEN-FOOT canoe with a width of at least 33 inches and a depth of at least 12 inches will accommodate two men, an adequate camping outfit and a full ten weeks' provisions very nicely, and at the same time not lie too deep in the water. A fifteen-foot canoe, unless it has a beam of at least 35 inches and a depth of 12 inches or more, is unsuitable. Three men with their outfit and provisions will require an eighteen-foot canoe with a width of 35 inches or more and a depth of no less than 13 inches, or a seventeen-foot canoe with a width of 37 inches and 13 inches deep. The latter size is lighter by from ten to fifteen pounds than the former, while the displacement is about equal.

The best all-around canoe for cruising and hard usage is the canvas-covered cedar canoe. Both ribs and planking should be of cedar, and only full length planks should enter into the construction. Where short planking is used the canoe will sooner or later become hogged—that is, the ends will sag downward from the middle.

In Canada the "Peterborough" canoe is more largely used than the canvas-covered. These are to be had in both basswood and cedar. Cedar is brittle, while basswood is tough, but the latter absorbs water more readily than the former and in time will become more or less waterlogged.

Cruising canoes should be supplied with a middle thwart for convenient portaging. Any canoe larger than sixteen feet should have three thwarts. To lighten weight on the portage, and provide more room for storing outfit, it is advisable to remove the cane seats with which canvas canoes are usually provided. This can be readily done by unscrewing the nuts beneath the gunwale which hold the seats in position.

Good strong paddles—sufficiently strong to withstand the heavy strain to which cruising paddles are put—should be selected. On the portage they must bear the full weight of the canoe; they will frequently be utilized in poling up stream against stiff currents; and in running rapids they will be subjected to rough usage. On extended cruises it is advisable to carry one spare paddle to take the place of one that may be rendered useless.

Experienced canoemen pole up minor rapids. Poles for this purpose can usually be cut at the point where they are needed, but pole "shoes"—that is, spikes fitted with ferrules—to fit on the ends of poles are a necessary adjunct to the outfit where poling is to be done. Without shoes to hold the pole firmly on the bottom of the stream the pole may slip and pitch the canoeman overboard. The ferrules should be punctured with at least two nail holes, by which they may be secured to the poles, and a few nails should be carried for this purpose.

A hundred feet or so of half-inch rope should also be provided, to be used as a tracking line and the various other uses for which rope may be required.