Read the rest of the Pelican 1510 Review in our forum.

While all of this is probably true the desire to build some sort of craft is overwhelming. I’d love to build an ultralight airplane, electric car or something along those lines but I think the satisfaction of the build will come pretty easily in building a canoe.

So I emailed Eskimo Tom over at http://www.finewoodwatercraft.com and he sent me a huge PDF of canoes he has designed. The one that caught my eye had this description: Based on lines from Prospector Canoe Not yet finalized…

Read More about my Stitch and Glue Canoe in the forum.

Steps

1. Select a river. When choosing a river, it’s a good idea to find one that has a reputation as a good camping river. Many rivers are unsuitable for camping as the flood plains tend to be uneven and have high river banks. Pick up a river guide in your area and read about the river. Easy sloped banks, sand bars, and flat level camp sites will make your trip more enjoyable.
2. Select your tent. The upside of camping with a canoe vs. backpacking is that it affords you the ability to take a great deal more camping equipment. The downside is you may be tempted to take too much. You should pay particular attention to your tent, a comfortable tent is very nice on the river; however, if you go too large you may have difficulty finding a place to put it. A tent between 7′ and 11′ (2.1 – 3.4 meters) square works pretty well. Large cabin tents may be a bit much for many sites. On the flip side, tiny tents like clip flashlights or similar lightweight hiking tents can be very cramped and tight. Try to get a self standing tent instead of one that needs to be staked down. Tent stakes don’t work well in sand. Don’t worry about the weight of your tent. Pick one that will give you the comfort you desire without overdoing it.
3. Select the menu. Camping is about good food and drink. Whether you’re 10 miles back country or at a KOA, one of the great pleasures of camping is preparing and eating hearty, robust foods. Like car camping, the weight of your gear isn’t that big a deal, so you’ll be able to carry a cooler or two. Plan your meals in advance so you know what you’ll need, you won’t be able to hop in a car and run to a grocery store if you forget something. Plan each day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and a few hor’s deourve’s and snacks. Doing dishes on the river isn’t fun so keeping it simple can make it more enjoyable. Some ideas may include:
   • A cold breakfast of cereal and Parmalat milk with toaster pastries or bagels.
   • Lunch: Cold sandwiches in pita or wraps
   • Dinner: Steak, keilbasa, or hot dogs cooked on a grill.
4. Plan for beverages. Pack breakfast juice, soft drinks for the day, harder beverages for whenever. Also plan for water; some rivers contain potable water so you might be okay to take from the river, but it is always a good idea to bring drinking water and a filter pump. Try and cool anything that needs cooling before putting it in your cooler. Meats that you won’t be eating on the first or second day can be frozen. A great tip for some of your water is to freeze 20oz water bottles and put them in your cooler. They keep your other stuff cool and when they melt you have drinking water. Authors Note: Some well meaning but shall we say “uninformed” people (I hesitate to use the word stupid) have accused me of wanting to kill people by recommending the freezing of water in plastic bottles. Here is what snopes has to say. In a nutshell, you won’t get cancer from a PET bottle.
5. Prep the kitchen. You’ll want some kind of gas stove (whether propane or white gas) for cooking vegetables, heating water for coffee or tea or just to have warm water to wash dishes. A roll up table or two and a stove stand make cooking much easier and much more enjoyable. Paper plates and bowls help keep the clean up low as they can be tossed on the fire after you’ve finished your meal. Bring as many paper goods as possible and only bring a cup, a coffee mug and silverware that require cleaning. For pots and pans you can bring anything you have. Bring some pots designed for camping or, if you have some, pots and pans you’ve retired from the kitchen. Avoid cast iron on the river as it will most likely get wet and start to rust which may ruin it. For coffee, try a manual drip coffee maker; there are many styles to choose from, some very inexpensive, which will give you a cup of coffee as good as you get from home without electricity or having to resort to ‘backpacking’ techniques.
6. Bring clothes and personal items. While summer camping is usually warm, you should bring extra clothes just in case. Most years you’ll only need a bathing suit and T-shirt, but a pair of sweat pants and sweat shirt can really be nice if the weather turns cool.
7. Choose your bedding. On the trail, it may be prudent to bring a light, thin, self inflating mattress on which to lay your weary bones, but you have a canoe, so bring that queen sized air mattress and the electric pump to fill it.
8. Use dry bags. A good dry bag is best for keeping your stuff dry in rough conditions. They’re specially designed to keep things dry even if submerged. Don’t trust ordinary trash bags, they’ll only keep it dry if it’s a light rain and they are easily punctured. If the rain is severe or you dump your canoe, everything will get soaked. You’ll be glad you made that $20 or so investment when you’re soaked and your bedding and extra clothes are still dry.
9. Pack “common” items in a trunk. A dry trunk is just a plastic trunk or container of some kind into which everyone puts their “common” camping items. Common camping items are things like pots, pans, coffee pot, mug, cup, camp saw, stove stand, paper towels, paper plates/bowls, cutting board, knife, bug spray, matches/lighter, emergency space blanket, extra batteries, lantern mantles, sponge, camp soap, silverware, bottles of stove fuel, hiking stove etc. These are some things that you can leave in the trunk from one year to the next and know that all you have to do is pack that plus your tent, bedding and personal items and you’re ready to go. You can even bring more than this, but it is the minimum for a decent camping trip. Select one that fits your canoe well and has some method of latching the top closed. If you dump, you don’t want it spilling all your gear over the bottom of the river. Empty 5 gallon paint buckets (about $6 with lid at home repair centers) are a great dry place to store small items, like backpacking stoves, extra fuel, small lanterns/flashlites, charcoal, radios, etc.
10. Bring a toilet, and shovel This is where canoe camping becomes more like backpacking, sooner or later you’re going to have to take care of business and leaning against a tree or squatting simply isn’t that much fun. A portable toilet system allows you to dig a hole in the soil, set up over it and do what needs doing. When it’s time to leave, you simply pack the potty up and fill in the hole you dug. You might want to get a kit that has a nice shelter to give you privacy, but it is pricey. There are less expensive options you can choose that will work just as well, but go for a product with good durability. For a shovel, any good folding shovel will do the job.
11. Test pack your canoe the night before. There are two objectives here, one is to pack efficiently so that the gear isn’t sitting too high above the gunwales, the other is to balance out the canoe so it doesn’t list to one side. Once you have it packed, you’ll want to develop some system of tying everything into the canoe. A small tarp with criss-crossing ropes works well or just threading the rope through handles or other openings is a good idea. Anything that will keep the gear with the boat if you dump it.
12. Bring extra paddles. Tie extra paddles to your boat in case you go over and lose the ones you’re using.
13. Use a motor. Purists may not like this one, but an electric motor can be a lifesaver and a timesaver. This is an expensive option though, so if you’re trying to go on the cheap, you may want to avoid this as you’ll need the motor, a battery for the motor and registration for the canoe.
14. Bring a chair and table. A sling chair and accompanying table makes life on site so much more comfortable.
15. Bring an umbrella. For about $14 you can purchase a beach umbrella with a 6′ (1.8m) spread. These are great if you need to get out of the sun or keep rain off of you. You can keep it in the boat, so if it rains while you’re traveling downstream, you can throw it up quickly and stay dry. You can also use it at your campsite for the same purpose.
16. Wear water shoes. No matter how soft, sand feels it’s like sand paper on your feet. Flip flops and sandals aren’t as good, as flip flops fall off when walking in the water and sandals tend to get small stones between your foot and the sole. If the river is known to be rocky (like those in central US (Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee), you’ll want water shoes with hard stiff soles, rather than flexible soles like those found on “aqua-sock” type shoes. What ever you use, you’ll want it cover your toes and be secured on your heel. Otherwise, when wading or lining your canoe in shallow areas, a foot injury or lost shoe is likely.
17. Use your imagination. This is what makes canoe camping so much fun. You can do it very simply and bring very little, or you can bring a screen house, a self standing hammock, an 11×11 tent and everything else listed above. A river is where all the characters come out. So load up your canoe, bring something distinctive and have fun on the river.

Tips

• Use Tupperware or similar containers to group things you’ll need in camp and then store them in your dry trunk. For example, keep all kitchen utensils in a box with your knife, matches/lighter and silverware, this means you only have to grab one box when it comes time to make dinner and eat. Another box for your bug spray, camp soap, sponge, clothes line and other items that won’t be used for cooking or eating keeps potential poisons away from other things.
• Zip lock bags have many uses. Always have a few on hand just in case you need a tiny dry bag or a place to put leftovers.
• Pack so that the stuff you need quickly is on the top of your dry trunk and the less used stuff is lower down.
• Telescoping compression sacks are a great way for packing clothes. You can get your clothing into a much smaller space or in a medium sized dry bag.
• Keep a medium sized dry bag (8 liter) which has your clothes along with your wallet, cell phone and car keys with you at all times. Tie it to a thwart on the canoe so it won’t be lost it if you dump.
• Heavy duty tin foil has many uses. You can cover a rusty grill with it, make food packets for potatoes and summer squash for over the grill and store leftovers in it.
• If you have to use the river bank as a toilet, please bring a shovel and dig a hole for your business. Not only is it unsightly to see toilet paper all over the river banks it’s also unsanitary. You or someone else may have to camp on that bank.

Warnings

• Beware of poison ivy. It can often be found on riverbanks. It is a good idea to wash with a grease cutting soap, such as mild dishwashing liquid, after a portage.
• If you are planning on bathing while on your canoe trip, use a soap that is biodegradable, such as a real soap, like Ivory, (not a deodorant bar or liquid body wash). Some camping soaps are available at camping and fishing supply stores. It is important not to use deodorant or antibacterial soaps that pollute the land and water.
• Keep your food well contained. Raccoons are notorious thieves and will take away any loose food they find. They can also carry away and open simple and small containers. Don’t give them a chance.
• Land owners are often lenient with you using their property as long as you respect it. Carry in, carry out. Always leave a campsite better than you found it.
• As noted above, if you must use the river bank as a bathroom please bury your waste. Property owners don’t want to see this and you or someone else may have to camp on that bank.
• When camping in true wilderness areas, beware of bears and wildlife. Cooking meat and fish on a open campfire will attract unwanted animals. Even the drippings from foods cooked over a fire remain in the firepit and can be smelled from miles away. You don’t want to be awakened in the middle of the night to find a spooked bear looking for something to eat. It might be you!

Things You’ll Need

• Canoe (15′ or longer recommended)
• Paddles
• Life vests (1 each per person)
• Maps
• Chair backs for canoe seats (optional)
• Motor (optional)
• Battery for motor (optional)
• Motor mount (optional)
• Registration (optional only if not using motor)
• Line for tieing canoe and securing gear
• Fire permit (required in some areas)
• Food
• Beverages
• Potable Water (figure .5 gallon per day per person for drinking, at least 1 gallon per day extra if using for washing dishes)
• Hiking water filter pump
• Cooler
• Dry trunk
• Ice
• Aqua shoes
• Dry shoes for around camp (optional)
• Extra Clothing
• Personal items specific to you (tooth brush, tooth paste, medication, sanitary items etc.)
• Towel
• Lighter
• Matches, either waterproof or in a waterproof container (Strike Anywhere are great)
• Fire paste (for starting a fire with slightly wet wood or starting a white gas camp stove in the cold)
• Pots and pans
• Roll of paper towels
• Tin foil
• Ziplock bags (Quart and gallon size, for food and to keep things dry)
• Tupperware (or similar for keeping things dry and together)
• Garbage bags
• Silverware
• Unbreakable coffee mug
• Unbreakable cup
• Good folding knife
• Tongs
• Bamboo Skewers
• Spatula
• Grill fork
• Camp toaster
• Biodegradable camp soap
• Bucket or tub for camp sink
• Stand alone grill (for over the campfire)
• Paper plates/bowls (Chinet are very durable)
• Coffee Maker
• Camp stove (one or two burner)
• Extra fuel for stove
• Stove stand
• Roll up table or two (for food prep, eating, and off the ground storage)
• Chair
• Collapsable table (to use with chair)
• Bug spray (Off, Old Woodsman, Cutter, etc)
• Insect fogging spray (Yard Guard, Cutter, etc)
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Rain poncho
• Sun screen
• Complete first aid kit, including:
  • Solarcain (or other sunburn relief)
  • Cortizone cream (or other insect bite relief)
  • Neosporin (or other topical anti infection cream)
  • Pain remedies (Aspirin, Ibuprofen, etc.)
• Umbrella
• Clothes line
• Cutting board (camping cutting boards can be very small)
• Camp Saw (Sven Saws or other bow style saws work very well, avoid folding saws, most are junk)
• Emergency Space Blanket
• Flash light
• Extra batteries for flash light
• Lantern
• Extra fuel or batteries for lantern
• Lantern stand or tree hanger (optional)
• Tent
• Air mattress
• Mattress repair kit
• Air pump for mattress
• Extra batteries for air pump
• Sleeping bag or sheets/blanket
• Pillow
• Dry bags
• Portable toilet
• Shelter for toilet
• Toilet paper
• Folding shovel
• Camp hammock (optional)
• Compression sack (optional)
• Radio (optional)

Related wikiHows

• How to Paddle a Canoe
• How to Float a River on Innertubes
• How to Plan a Canoe Trip
• How to Clean Dishes on a Camping Trip

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Go Canoe Camping. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

I’ve seen quite a few people put a couple turns in a rope, feed the end through a loop, pull it tight and call it good. Later, while your canoe is in the water and ready to go they’re fidgeting with tangles of rope or calling for a knife. A canoe is likely your most expensive piece of equipment, it should be treated with care and caution when you’re tying it to your car or mooring it in a swift current. If you ever have to rescue the boat you’re going to want to know how to tie a reliable knot. If you have to rescue your paddling partner you’d better make sure it’s the most reliable and beautiful knot you’ve ever tied.

We’ll start with the bowline. You should remember this one from the Boy Scouts. When you need to tie a loop in the end of a rope this is a good way to do it. Since the bowline can be tied with the ropes working end it’s a good one to use for tying a painter to the front of your canoe.

Canoeing Knots You Should Know

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go paddling with Bear Bass, the owner of Ozark Outdoors canoe rental.

Read More

I am patiently waiting for the weather to get cold enough that I can paddle in peace. Until then lets discuss how to effectively deal with biting insects.

I’ve been using Repel with 40% DEET and it seems to work well for me. Nothing seems to work for Cate. We’ve constructed a defensive wall of citronella candles on our windward side and coated ourselves with spray. I know that the DEET just keeps them from landing and feeding but just hearing them buzz around is maddening.

I found this on webMD http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/avoid-mosquito-bites

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002, researchers compared several types of mosquito repellents head-to-head in laboratory tests. Fifteen brave study volunteers took turns sticking an arm treated with mosquito repellent into a cage full of hungry bloodsuckers. The researchers took note of how long it took a mosquito to bite.

“OFF! Deep Woods” repellent, a product containing about 24% DEET, fared the best. Its protection lasted an average of five hours.

The least effective products were wristbands treated with DEET or citronella, which offered almost no protection. According to the researchers, this wasn’t a surprise. It’s known that mosquito repellent only works on the surface to which it’s applied directly. Mosquitoes are happy to bite skin only four centimeters away from the repellent slick.

DEET has an excellent safety record, despite some people’s concerns. N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide doesn’t sound like something you’d want to spray on your skin, and perhaps its acronym reminds people of the dangerous and now banned insecticide DDT. They’re nothing alike, however.

According the this article DEET is the most effective. It also appears that it is pretty safe. I’d rather roll the dice on some tested repellent than being chewed on by disease harboring flying syringes.

There’s another article on webMD that helps explain why some people get eaten alive while others sit there wondering what the fuss is all about. http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet

Scientists do know that genetics account for a whopping 85% of our susceptibility to mosquito bites. They’ve also identified certain elements of our body chemistry that, when found in excess on the skin’s surface, make mosquitoes swarm closer.

“People with high concentrations of steroids or cholesterol on their skin surface attract mosquitoes,” Butler tells WebMD. That doesn’t necessarily mean that mosquitoes prey on people with higher overall levels of cholesterol, Butler explains. These people simply may be more efficient at processing cholesterol, the byproducts of which remain on the skin’s surface.

Mosquitoes also target people who produce excess amounts of certain acids, such as uric acid, explains entomologist John Edman, PhD, spokesman for the Entomological Society of America. These substances can trigger mosquitoes’ sense of smell, luring them to land on unsuspecting victims.

But the process of attraction begins long before the landing. Mosquitoes can smell their dinner from an impressive distance of up to 50 meters, explains Edman. This doesn’t bode well for people who emit large quantities of carbon dioxide.

The same article talks about some other interesting chemicals that have just been approved for use by the FDA.

Picaridin, fairly new to the U.S., has been used worldwide since 1998. Marketed as Cutter Advanced, picaridin has proven to be as effective as DEET but is said to be more pleasant to use because it is odorless and contains a light, clean feel. Picaridin is safe for children older than 2 months.

The chemical IR3535, better known as Avon’s Skin-So-Soft, also has been marketed as a mosquito repellent in the U.S. in recent years. To date, research shows it’s much less effective than DEET.

For those of us who are afraid of pouring something called N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide on our skin there are some au naturel alternatives.

“Of the products we tested, the soybean oil-based repellent was able to protect from mosquito bites for about 1.5 hours,” Fradin reports. He and fellow researchers found other oils — citronella, cedar, peppermint, lemongrass, and geranium — provide short-lived protection at best.

Oil of eucalyptus products, however, may offer longer-lasting protection, preliminary studies show. Endorsed by the CDC, oil of lemon eucalyptus is available under the Repel brand name and offers protection similar to low concentrations of DEET.

It also looks like mosquitos don’t like eating people that have a lot of thiamine (vitamin B1) being emitted by their skin.

Lastly, there are some new clothing items on the market that have some sort of repellent built in. I assume this is permethrin or something similar. Permethrin kills ticks on contact with treated fabric. While I like the idea of killing these things I wonder how safe it really is. The National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) has a collection or articles on it’s site with more details. http://npic.orst.edu/hottopic/ptc/index.html

So, even though the weather is getting cooler I’m sure we’ll all go paddling or camping before the bugs die. Let me know what works for you in our Canoeing Forum.

@AdventureCanoe RT to win a copy of “The Complete Wilderness Paddler” http://bit.ly/WildPaddle

Make sure to include the @AdventureCanoe so I can track it. I’ll tally the tweets and pick a random winner on September 26th. You can also use this link to tweet it if you’re already signed in to twitter.

If you’re not already following us on Twitter you should be. http://twitter.com/AdventureCanoe

The Complete Wilderness Paddler

Amazon.com Review
This classic guide to canoeing in remote waters has chapters on safety, outfitting a trip, and navigation. In addition, it lists a variety of possible situations for different water conditions, including ice, riffles, and whirlpools. Thorough and lively, this is a great resource for anyone who prefers paddling in the wilderness.

Product Description
A combination of detailed instruction and text (based on actual adventures) of all the techniques of canoe camping and wilderness cruising. You learn how to “find a river,” navigate, cope with accidents and much more. With 65 drawings and 11 maps.

If you can’t wait to win the book next Saturday click here to buy it on Amazon.

So, Friday night after work we loaded up the wagon and headed down to Hufstedler’s with the canoe. The customer service at Hufstedler’s was awesome. I called to see if they had any cabins available and the man on the phone said sure. He told us we could just pull in and they’d leave the door unlocked and the lights on. You can see some photos of the inside of “the party house” a bit later.

So we make the long drive down to Southern Missouri. Route 67 is currently under construction and there are multiple 30mph lane switches. The GPS is going crazy because it thinks we’re on the service road and is telling us to make u-turns and to head down country roads. We ignore it for the most part and get off at Highway 60. After a bit on the nice 4 lane divided highway we turn right on 21 because we’re looking for a beer.

We end up at some American Legion post where ordering a Captain and Diet is a great production of finding the rum. The bartender regales us with a story of how her fathers land was seized for moon shining and how they lived in a tent for five years. She has no idea where Riverton is and asks another bar patron. “Twenty miles on 160, you’ll see ‘em on the left,” is the response from a ridiculously drunk man at the bar who now wants to talk to us about his canoeing exploits. These include running Buck Hollow Spring in a stolen canoe with the rangers chasing him and getting busted by Federal Agents for smoking weed. He tells us that they had been smoking but weren’t when they got arrested so they shoulda just let him go. There was some other stuff about being careful and watching out for river patrol if we were going to throw bottles in the river. We leave quickly.

We finally arrive at Hufsteder’s and as promised the sign out front is glowing. It was more of a reflective paint thing than an actual glow but close enough. The house also has the lights on and the door unlocked.

Read More at Adventure Canoe Forum