C-Forum

Any Ocoee users out there done much tripping? Curious to how it handles for multi day trips. I have one, but I haven't gotten around to camping with it. I weigh 170. I gather people that weigh a bit more like the Ocoee, so I would think it would be alright with some more weight in there, or does it get pretty sluggish? I've heard positive reviews with the Viper 11 and tripping, but not really anyone mentioning the Ocoee in that regard. Eventually I'll try it for myself, but until then maybe you can fill my head with some expectations.

Suitability of any boat for "tripping" depends on the mind of the paddler and the nature of the river. But I think you're correct that, at 170#, you have boat capacity for maybe 50-60 pounds. If you can keep the weight close to the center of the boat, that'll help handling.

I suggest knocking at least a class off your usual river difficulty. Think about the mechanics of portaging. You won't want to portage often if your boat and gear aren't set up for carrying.

You should know within the first mile how much your handling has changed, and whether you can hit any eddy as usual, or need to be more conservative.

Because you'll be taking more water, and your boat will be full of gear, ordinary bailing on the run may not be possible. You may need a hand pump. An electric pump is nice, if it will stay charged.

I've seen a couple of occees on the dog/university river. Both were light paddlers. Probably carrying 60 pounds of gear.
With its edges you would be on your game all the time compared to tripping in something without edges.

Personally, I wouldn't be that interested in tripping in my Ocoee (or in a Viper 11, same dif). True, I am already 220lbs without gear, but even if I were lighter, I think I'd look to find a different hull for tripping (like the Outrage I've kept lying around "for my wife"). It depends on a lot of stuff, and it certainly could be done, but I don't think an Ocoee-type boat would be my first choice for most tripping.

Pat.

Thanks for the feedback! Have to admit that I've been thinking about selling my Ocoee. Might be moving to Richmond VA soon and I could really use the money. I've been using my Spanish Fly for the majority of my paddling lately. The prospect of the Ocoee working well for tripping is my main deterent at this point. I'm assuming that there will be some good options for some multi day whitewater trips not far from Richmond.

I've got to say that at 215#, I love my Ocoee. I'm sure I'd love it even more if I was 170. But if you were doing a multiday trip on rivers without too much slow flat water and you're gear weighed in at 50# or less, it would work out okay. Especially if you had the option of taking several knee and ankle rest stops.

The better option for multidays on easy class 3 and below would be an Old Town Cascade which is what I use for anything involving more than one day. IMHO.

Just about sold it off, but I decided against it. I love the Ocoee. Money makes me stupid sometimes.

The Ocoee is a brilliant boat. And you'll love getting back into it from time to time, coming from the Spanish Fly. Both are cool, and you'll appreciate the differences between both as well.

Just not the best tripping boat though, gt another one .

The whole issue of tripping with WW boats is a tricky question for sure and very dependant on style/philosophy of the tripping. What are your goals? If you want to paddle WW first and foremost, but it is remote/hard to reach WW, you'll likely be OK sleeping in a barely-warm-enough ultralight sleeping bag under your tarp and eat dried food for a week or so. This way, you should get away with just about 8kg of gear in addition to your usual river gear. But that is about as barebones as most people can stand, and already contains all your food.. so.. as WW paddling in general, not a thing for everyone.

I am actually amazed how many people who paddle WW and are thus badass already, are quite the sissies when it comes to camping. I came across this many times.. wanting to put up with wet, cold, long waits in the rain etc.. but too softcore to sleep under a tarp

Now if you're more likely to take a cast iron dutch oven, and the accompanying fresh butter, well, you either get a raft to come with you and haul, or take turns in a 350-kg-loaded tripping tandems if your group is willing to (and you can match up the outfitting of the WW boats).
There are other options for sure and a shirtload in between these two, includung re-fueling airplanes on arctic trips (which I consider.. well not an option, really, but people have known to do exactly that).

Also keep in mind that while larger paddlers (like me) like the Ocoee as a smaller paddler you'll also have less muscle to move the weight around. It's easy to try though, just load with the same amount on one of your local class II trips and try it. If you use "disposable weights" you can still enjoy the rest of your trip that day when you find out it doesn't work (e.g. river rocks..) ;D

In any event, enjoy your trip, start out light and short, and keep track of what you didn't need/use at all to shave weight for the future (doesn't pertain to safety gear/1st aid kit though ;D).

AND enjoy your Ocoees, y'all, as long as supplies last ;D

Depends on what you call tripping; days or weeks?

Lately i have been doing both, from 2.5 days to 7 days, considered short trips. I have used a Caption, as it is all ready paid for, and it has lots of qualities but I could see a smaller boat for shorter ww trips (3 days) working out.
A single change that I made was to invest in "airtight" drybags, and leaving them uncompressed & unpurged, full of air. This allowed me to use up some of the space formerly occupied by floatation bags.

I am using the ones made by Watershed (correction), with the rubber zip lok style closures and in 30" length. Combining this length with shorty floatation bags would work out for fit but this still leaves a weak link...you.

At the end of the day it is how much pain your knees can take that makes and breaks the trip. One of the benefits of the Caption is that it allows me to sit with my legs stretched out on the flat sections.