At one point, at the end of a long rock garden, we decided to boof through a hole that would have swamped the hard boats – and didn’t take on a teacup of water.
HOOD RIVER, Northwest Territories, Canada 2001
Re: PakCanoe
The Pakboat worked well indeed. The amount of gear we carried for this trip required us to use the space in the bow and stern, so we did not achieve as much rocker as the boat could have had with a different load distribution. Also, our weight distribution was such that the boat did not like to hold a line on a back ferry, so we powered through virtually all the rapids, going faster than the current, and it worked fine. The flexibility of the hull kept us dryer than the hard boats in high standing waves. At one point, at the end of a long rock garden, we decided to boof through a hole that would have swamped the hard boats – and didn’t take on a teacup of water. By the way, your system for attaching our Black Feather spray cover, fitted to the hull with a rope through the loops you attached, was perfect. Needless to say, portaging 55 lbs rather than 92 was a delight.
Some of our companions, who like to trip some of the more remote barrens rivers where canoe rentals are not available, are enthusiastic about what territories the Pakboat alternative opens up to them. They were also asking about what there is to paddle in Norway, and I said we need to talk to you about that in further detail.
The Hood river is an incredible place. Thanks to you and your staff for helping to make this amazing trip a reality.
Kind regards,
Jan Waldin
