Todd Schwartz has come up with a very functional way to portage kayaks like those made by Pakboats. Below you will find pictures and information about his portage yoke as well as his experience with the PakPod. Click here to see his experience with the XT-17 on Lake Superior.
Greetings Alv,
Laura and I very recently returned from a 15 day kayak trip to the BWCA; about 60 miles of paddling, quite a few lakes, and too much portaging (chuckle).
Used your Pakpod as my deck bag…mounted my compass on the bag and stashed my camera, marine radio, and a few other items inside. Really like the bag. I like the hard shell insert to keep the bag formed and the design helped in our portages. I also like the way it mounts on the deck…pretty neat design. It is now my choice for paddle float.
Lastly, before the trip you and I spoke about the yokes I designed for the XT 17 and 15. You mentioned that
your head would hit…doesn’t happen. Mounted just fore of the balance point, the inflatable portion of the seat just brushes the back of your neck. We’ve done A LOT of portaging now and they work great.
Take care and God Bless.
Todd Schwartz
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Hi Todd,
Looking at your yoke, I can see that the bulky shoulder pads make the difference. Do you remove the deck completely for portage?
Best,
Alv
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Hello Alv,
Yes, we remove the deck completely, fold it up, and place it under the belly of the boat; the yoke strap goes under the folded deck, so when we’re portaging the deck is cinched on top of the boat. We fold the combing frame and place it under the seat and tie it in place with Velcro ties. Makes for a tight, neat package.
Sincerely,
Todd
