Assembly Instructions

Flying with Folding Boats

Mapping Out Your Next Trip

Packing & Securing Gear in a PakCanoe

Repair & Maintenance of Pakboats

Skin on Frame Boats

Surviving Mosquitoes & Black Flies

Alaska and Florida         1996 - 1998

Dear Sirs,

I just recently have come across your listing in the January/February Special 1999 Buyer's Guide issue of Paddler Magazine. I own a 16' Escape, purchased from Mad River a few years ago. You must be the manufacturer, or you have taken over the line from Mad River, as i don't believe they market the boat any more.

I want you to know how much we appreciate what the boat allows us to do. Linda (my wife) and I have been canoeing for many years all over North America. We have run most of the major rivers in Ontario. Our boat of choice is a Wenonah 18.6 Odyssey, and this boat makes the majority of our trips.

In recent years we have expanded our experiences and have flown to destinations. In many places, renting canoes was expensive and required large Twin Otter float planes to carry them. Twin Otters carry canoes inside, as many pilots are shying away from tieing canoes on the floats.

We purchased our Escape in the spring of '96, with the sole purpose of flying to Alaska with it. We spent two weeks in Denali that summer and paddled Wonder Lake. Beeing able to check the boat as baggage opened a new chapter in our adventures.

I should mention here that we did have a problam with the boat on the way home from Alaska. Northwest Airlines lost the boat for over a month. They could not find it in any of their baggage claim areas. The airline was about to pay for the boat when someone finally asked if it looks like a tent! It seems they had it in their baggage claim area all along. They just did not know what it was.

Spring of '97 we flew to Florida with the boat and spent a week paddling in the Everglades National Park. Summer of '97 we again flew to Alaska with the boat. We spent two weeks paddling the bays on Admiralty island near Juneau. Fall of '98 we took the boat on a fly-in trip in northern Ontario to do a video shoot for an Outfitter. The compact size of the boat allows us to use a small float plane, which saves a great deal of money.

This coming summer, we have made plans to fly back to Alaska (with the boat), and paddle for 23 days on the Yukon River from Eagle to the oil pipeline road north of Fairbanks, a trip of some 420 miles. We intend to make a video movie of this trip.

Our folding canoe has greatly added to our experiences. We can now go and paddle anywhere planes fly. If you plan far enough ahead of time, plane tickets can be had pretty cheap.

We have enclosed some pictures we took a couple of years ago of some modifications we made to enhance transporting the canoe. Some of our trips require portaging, so the frame helped immensely. The locking biner prevents the bag from coming open while being handled by airline employees. At 50 lbs, my wife had no problem portaging. The boat is actually lighter than some of our portage bags.

Thanks for your time, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Sincerely,
Tim Kasten
Voyageurs North Productions