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

Canoe in a Duffel
by Ted Kerasote, Sports Afield Magazine - February 1997

In the South Seas, Polynesians used canoes to get from island to island. The Inuit paddled them across the Arctic to migrate from Siberia to Greenland. In North America, canoes opened the fur trade from the St. Lawrence to the Mackenzie Delta. Today, open canoes - some of which hold up to 800 pounds of gear and people - are still the craft of choice for long wilderness trips. Even when setting off on a day trip near home, there is no two-person craft more pleasant for moving through water.

But portage 80 pounds of canoe a few miles and the sweetness of paddling becomes a distant memory. Likewise, those who own tiny cars, or live in small apartments, or whose garages are already full, will find that 17-foot canoes are much like old buddies who come to visit: You love them, but where do you put them? And then there is the ultimate falling-out: the air-taxi cost of flying a canoe into and out of the wilderness. This can be so high that sometimes it's cheaper to abandon the canoe (rather than fly it home) and buy a new one later.

ECONOMICAL: Hence the invention of the packing canoe. Made of PVC skin held under tension by an interlocking framework of tubular aluminum, a packing canoe looks like a regular rigid-hull canoe but is much lighter. A 16.5 footer weighs 48 pounds and packs into a 35x17x13-inch duffelbag, which can be checked as airline luggage. Over the years, I've taken packing canoes down the 350-mile length of Alaska's Noatak River, through Labyrinth Canyon on Utah's Green River, across lakes in the Rockies, and most recently down 240 miles of the Thelon River in the Central Barrenlands of the Northwest Territories. Not only have these craft saved wear and tear on my back, they've also saved me thousands of dollars in backcountry air shuttles.

The newest offering in the packing canoe line is Mad River Canoe's Escape series (1999 note: Now marketed as the Pakboats PakCanoes) in 14-, 15-, 16.5- and 17-foot models. Air sponsons between the skin and the frame provide hull rigidity and, in case of a capsize, displace water and keep the craft afloat. After some practice a companion and I were able to put it together in 30 minutes. Breaking it down took half that time.

VERSATILE: People used to rigid canoes will find the flexing of packing canoes - they ride over waves rather than through them - a bit disconcerting. This, however, makes for a drier ride. The flexibility of the hull also increases versatility, since it lets the craft be trimmed for different padding situations. In rapids, for instance, where you want a rockered, maneuverable boat, you can concentrate the load near the center of the canoe, leaving its ends buoyant and high. On flatwater, when you want a straight keel line to improve tracking and speed, load the ends of the canoe. Seats, adjustable fore and aft, also help to distribute the weight of paddlers.

The 16.5-foot model which has a 700 pound capacity, is ideal for trips up to three weeks. Paddlers who weigh more than 150 pounds, who take longer trips, or who plan to bring out game, should opt for the 17-footer which holds close to 900 pounds.