Can the l'Edge be used as a tripping boat?
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leclercraven
- C Guru
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:15 pm
- Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Re: Can the l'Edge be used as a tripping boat?
Thanks for all the input guys! I'm convinced now. I'll keep the Raven for multi-day whitewater trips and I'll look at getting a smaller plastic boat like the l'Edge in the near future for single day technical rivers and creeks.
Re: Can the l'Edge be used as a tripping boat?
well i'm sure it will get some laughs, but yes, it can be done.
this spring I did the Temagami river in ontario in a l'edge. we thought we'd take 3 days/2 nights, but ended up doing it in 2 days. its a pretty common tripping run where folks tend to take tripping boats and portage all the 'good' stuff. we did it in ww open boats and kayaks, running everything instead. i took my l'edge cuz it was my best option (i also had a spanish fly and squirt boat with me), and i had more than half of the group gear and nearly all our food cuz the other folks couldn't fit much in their boats. we were traveling light, but comfortable.
the flat water sections were, as you'd expect, sloooow and a bit painful, but in current, it was all good. it was sort of like running filled w/ water all the time, except it didnt slosh around. i was still able to make all my lines, i just had to start setting up waaay early. i ran nearly everything out there, including some stuff the butt boaters wouldn't mess with, and had a great time. on the right section of river, i'd take it tripping again, with an ulta-light 'backpacking'-ish load (hopefully with other folks pulling their weight) for another overnighter or two. where and how you load the boat definately made a big difference in handling...
so yeah, its not ideal, but i still managed to have a lot of fun in it...
this spring I did the Temagami river in ontario in a l'edge. we thought we'd take 3 days/2 nights, but ended up doing it in 2 days. its a pretty common tripping run where folks tend to take tripping boats and portage all the 'good' stuff. we did it in ww open boats and kayaks, running everything instead. i took my l'edge cuz it was my best option (i also had a spanish fly and squirt boat with me), and i had more than half of the group gear and nearly all our food cuz the other folks couldn't fit much in their boats. we were traveling light, but comfortable.
the flat water sections were, as you'd expect, sloooow and a bit painful, but in current, it was all good. it was sort of like running filled w/ water all the time, except it didnt slosh around. i was still able to make all my lines, i just had to start setting up waaay early. i ran nearly everything out there, including some stuff the butt boaters wouldn't mess with, and had a great time. on the right section of river, i'd take it tripping again, with an ulta-light 'backpacking'-ish load (hopefully with other folks pulling their weight) for another overnighter or two. where and how you load the boat definately made a big difference in handling...
so yeah, its not ideal, but i still managed to have a lot of fun in it...
ain't nothin but water, rocks, and gravity
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CurlyFries
- Pain Boater
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:59 pm
- Location: Guelph, Ontario
Re: Can the l'Edge be used as a tripping boat?
Depends how light you pack. If you pack light, definitely. K1 creekers do it. It would probably suck paddling the flat water sections though.
I paddled the Temagami river and Petawawa last summer. Both times we just towed a play boat behind a tandem tripping boat and took turns every rapid. We usually ran the harder ones a couple times.
I paddled the Temagami river and Petawawa last summer. Both times we just towed a play boat behind a tandem tripping boat and took turns every rapid. We usually ran the harder ones a couple times.
Re: Can the l'Edge be used as a tripping boat?
Ditto ↑↑↑
Have done a overnighter in a Spanish Fly, so it ought to be rather easy....
.. although it was mostly a whitewater run, and not much flat. Was geared even lighter than a backpacking trip, and spread communal gear with other two boaters (k1) - one stove, one water filter, one first aid kit, one pot, one fuel bottle and so on.
Have done a overnighter in a Spanish Fly, so it ought to be rather easy....
.. although it was mostly a whitewater run, and not much flat. Was geared even lighter than a backpacking trip, and spread communal gear with other two boaters (k1) - one stove, one water filter, one first aid kit, one pot, one fuel bottle and so on.