Paddle Wheels

Paddle Wheels

a Carolina Paddler article

by Alton Chewning

∞ As paddlers we have basic needs.  A boat, a paddle and a little extra gear.  A river or lake or other body of water to paddle on. Maybe a friend or stranger to paddle with.  A deep hope for enough water and an absence of strainers and people’s trash.

If we have these, we’re ready to go paddling but first we have to get to the water. Maybe we’re lucky and live on a pond or creek and can drag the boat to the bank and jump in.  Most of the time we have to get to the water some other way, while hauling our stuff with us.  If we paddle a river that runs steeply downhill, we need a way to get from where we washed up, the takeout,  back to where we plopped in, the put-in.  We need a shuttle.

Our purpose in this article is to throw a dim light on the business of getting a paddler and boat to water. It all depends on the boat, right?  If your vessel is one of those stunted play boats, then practically any motor vehicle can haul it to water. At least one fullslice will fit in a Toyota coupe, maybe two.  What if your boat is larger or you want to carry multiple boats and passengers?

What other vehicles could you use?

I once was paddling on the Eleven Point River in Missouri and came upon a put-in. The place was busy with several parties collecting fishing gear, coolers and all varieties of vessels.  Backed up to the ramp was an old funeral home hearse, complete with a makeshift roof rack and a couple of well-used canoes. The hearse appeared to have hauled many a passenger and vessel.

Another time I was at Jordan Lake.  As I neared the landing, I wondered what was the gleeming white vehicle backed down the ramp. Two men, one younger, another older, were loading a double recreational kayak onto the car’s roof rack. The car was big and showy, as out of place as a white Lipizzaner show-horse rearing up on the ramp. The men moved away from the car to grab a paddleboard, revealing a clear view of the car, a very new Panamera, the largest, most luxurious vehicle Porsche makes.  As I hoisted my sandy kayak on my shoulder and walked past them, I couldn’t help but nod towards the car and say to the younger man, “Quite a boat hauler you’ve got there.”  He replied in a deep, polished voice, one that matched his handsome face and lovely car, “It’s what I have.”

Yes, the vehicles we use to get our boats to water are usually what we happen to have.  It might be tailored for boat hauling but often it isn’t. Sometimes we have to use the hearse or Panamera. It’s what we have available and we’ve found a way to make it work.

The basics

So, what are the basics of getting a boat to water?  Boat. Vehicle. Way of putting the boat on, in or behind the vehicle.  Let’s start with the boat since its size will determine some of our choices. While a full slice might fit in the Civic, the sea kayak will not.

For many people, putting the boat on top of the vehicle, usually a car, is the best solution. A car is what they have. The most common method of transporting boats on a car is to plop down real money for a roof rack, like a Yakima or Thule or one of the many others.  Roof racks come in many designs and are capable of working with almost any vehicle. Some crossbars clamp onto factory rails, others onto specialized footings.

Roof rack crossbars use mounts or cradles to hold the boats and allow for securing. For whitewater, vertical posts are typically used, since plastic WW boats are tough and don’t need padding. The posts allow for more boats to be mounted, turned on their sides. Longer, more delicate fiberglass or kevlar sea kayaks typically rest in padded mounts, saddle style or J-type. Several saddle style docks have rollers to assist in sliding a long boat onto a vehicle. Some even have elaborate hinging capability to mechanically assist in lifting heavier boats onto taller vehicles.

Another option I’ve used are inflatable roof racks. Malone is one manufacturer. Other brands are sold for a pittance in big box hardware stores. The weight limit is usually under 100lbs. and the narrow width can only support one canoe or two angled kayaks. Care must be taken with strapping and keeping the air-filled cross tubes properly inflated.

There are downsides. Scratching your vehicle paint is a distinct possibility. I once left a kayak mounted on my car on a rainy night, resting on the inflatable racks. The racks were held in place by straps that run through the rolled-up windows. While this was a relatively dry operation–even in a thunderstorm– while the car was moving, the overnight drenching allowed the straps to become sodden and wick water onto the seats.  Not good.

The other issue I had was on a very hot day. I paddled twenty miles on a river and when I made it back to the car, the sun had been baking the racks for most of the day.  One tube had exploded. Fortunately each cross bar on the Malone rack consists of two tubes so I was able to limp home cautiously.

Speaking of caution, let’s talk about strapping or roping a boat mounted to the roof of a car. This care applies to boats mounted elsewhere precariously, such as trailers or open tailgates of pick-ups, etc. As Larry Ausley pointed out, when I asked his advice for this article:

Be a responsible human part 1. “Use a solid transportation system that ensures your (and other) boat(s) remain securely attached to your vehicle. Use not only cross-starts to secure the boat laterally, but also include some type of capture step that keeps the boat from sliding fore or aft. The friction of a cross-strap alone is not reliable for this step. A kayak flying off a car on the highway is a lethal weapon.”

I have admittedly been guilty to not always using the capture step (rope or strap) on the bow and stern of a car-topped boat. Sometimes I rationalize it’s just a small boat(s) or it’s only a short distance. My justification goes something like, “They are modest whitewater boats, merely a couple, and we are driving only five (ten, fifteen) miles over mostly flat terrain.” Regardless of our luck and rationalizations, we’ve all heard horror stories of this cross-strap-only arrangement suffering malfunctons.

Another friend invokes the effort/risk formula. If loaded with short boats and only going a short distance, he doesn’t use bow and stern lines. Length is a factor. If going longer distances, particularly with longer boats, he uses the fore and aft straps. Weather and geography makes a difference too. If storms or windy conditions are predicted or if driving on freeways or twisting mountain roads, the bow and stern steps make an awful lot of sense, even for one or two short boats.

Now suppose you don’t want to car top your boat, or don’t have a suitable car. The smaller your boat, the more options you have. It’s not the size of the boat on the water, it’s the size of the boat package you’re transporting. For example, a big-ass Shredder cataraft, capable of carrying two boaters down Class V water, when not employed can shrink down to backpack size, weighing only 50 lbs. or so. Carry it anyway you want. Walk from home with it on your back and a paddle under your arm.  Or chunk it in the passenger seat of your Panamera.

Do the same with the inflatable kayak. Or the pinnacle of petite, a packraft. The MRS Nitrogen packraft weighs less than 2 lbs. Maybe too big to carry in a back pocket but diminutive and lightweight. Your PFD probably weighs more.  Not being an air boater (yet) I’ve gravitated to folding kayaks. The lightest I have is a Folbot Gremlin at 27 lbs.

The heaviest, a quite robust 16ft. TRAK, coming in at 49lbs. Foldboats follow the traditional skin-on-frame Innuit design and were the first whitewater kayaks used in Europe. A foldboat fits into a backpack and can be easily transported in the trunk of a car and stored in a closet.  I’ve flown with mine many times, carrying boat, accessories and camping gear and not paying overage for baggage.

Kayaks made by Oru and other innovative manufacturers take the folding approach even further, making packable boats that fit into a modest satchel.  While not designed for whitewater or surf conditions, these lightweight origami boats are surprisingly durable.

Larger, Harder, on Vans

What if the boat doesn’t collapse like a balloon or pack like a tent?  Then you’ll need a bigger car.  Short playboats, the Apex Rebound is 5′ 3″, can fit in a tiny two-seater.  Once you’re into creek boats, which can stretch to 8 or 9 ft., storage inside a car is no longer an option.  Ah, but a minivan is very doable. Or if, money and parking space are not limitations, a Sprinter van can hold the whole crew and their boats.

I have an older Honda Odyssey minivan. With the rear-most seats folded down and one passenger mid-seat removed, I can fit three paddlers and their creek boats in the minivan’s  interior, loading them quickly without the fuss and uncertainty of ropes or straps. The collective smell can start to percolate but otherwise it’s quite convenient.

Some peripatetic paddlers champion minivans as the best rental vehicles for fly-in trips. Here’s the idea. Rent a minivan. Most minivans have roof rails, the bars that run parallel with the chassis.  Some may have cross bars too. If yours doesn’t, run by a hardware store and buy a 2×4 board eight or ten feet long and ask to have it cut in half.  Lash these pieces on to the roof rails and voila, you have a roof rack. Load your rented or air-shipped boats onto the rack and hit the trail. (This is a good case for using bow and stern lines in addition to cross sets.)  When you arrive at your camp spot, unfold your sleeping bags into the cargo area and two friendly paddlers can rest in comfort throughout a rainy night.  Wake, eat and go to the river.

We’ve mentioned mini-vans and extolled their virtues. Full size vans also have their devotees. Paul Ferguson, of the Paddling Eastern North Carolina guidebook fame, has exhausted three Ford Econolines in his extensive perambulations across the Carolinas. The cargo area of his vans are simply outfitted with a twin bed and underbed cabinets. When his third van died, he lifted the bed/cabinet arrangement and installed it in van number four.

There’s room for a short kayak inside but the main boat hauling is done on top. His rack system is a elegant version of the improvised racks we discussed for outfitting a rental vehicle. Simple lumber used as cross pieces. His are a little more elegant.

Paul has brackets that attach to the roof gutters and on those fittings are polished, beveled and rounded 2×6 mahogany cross bars, making it a very durable and beautiful rack system. Ropes are fitted through predrilled holes in the mahogany for fastening his canoes.

Then there is the royalty of vans. What the Panamerica is to car haulers, the Sprinter is to vans. The original Sprinter is a Mercedes product although other brands have proliferated. Like the Shredder brand name used for all frameless inflatable rafts, the “Sprinter” term has predominated over “high-roof cargo van” or “European style van.” This type of van has a large cargo area and allows passengers to stand upright. If outfitted as a boat transport solely, many vessels can be stored inside or on top. Or the interior can be transfigured into a small-house, motor home. Most paddler-outfitted Sprinters fall somewhere between these uses.

On the other hand…There is another opinion.

Site Zed is a highly readable, well-informed platform for hard-core dirtbagger and balls-to-the-walls paddlers. A recent post was titled, Fan Mail: “Ban the Van.”  The gist of the entry was “Vans are for posers.” Other highlights are “vans take up a space and a half of parking,” “Vans can’t handle rough roads…. ones Honda Civics tear it up and down,” and “a friend [with a Sprinter] was hesitant to drive to the put in because his bed would get wet if a bunch of nasty paddlers piled in.”

The fan mail to Site Zed makes a strong case against the gentrification of river wheels.

However, I recall Richard Hopley, a paragon of paddling basics. Richard canoed rivers for decades, teaching and sharing. Running the Upper Gauley in an open boat. Not looking or acting particularly privileged.

The first Sprinter I saw used as a river vehicle belonged to Richard. It was not just for occasional paddling, it was his home on the road. I and a friend, Kristen Roberts, rode with Richard over a three day Easter trip. We tented but Richard slept in the Sprinter. He hadn’t done much to customize the van. No bed in back. Very simple shelving on one side. Mostly a big open space for putting gear and small boats.  His canoes went on top. Richard was a stickler that he, and only he, would load the canoes. He was not a young man but he had a method and it worked. He slept on the narrow bench seat behind the driver’s seat, undeterred by the reeking paddle gear he encouraged us to “just leave” at the end of each day. Richard didn’t sleep in the dirt, like a true dirt-bagger, but his credentials were real. Richard died in 2025, a scroungy, lovable river-rat, Sprinter or not.

Pick-ups

Invariably, when you talk of hauling boats, the cynosure of vehicles is the pick-up truck. Boats can be chunked into the bed of a pick-up, four to a layer. Wet, smelly gear can be tucked inside cockpits, reasonably assured of it not flying out. Strapping is important but minimal. Enterprising truckers have store-bought or custom crafted raised mounts, allowing another tier of vessels (or ladders, lumber, etc.) to be attached above the cargo bed. Pick-ups can pull other boat haulers–trailers. The empty bed of a pick-up can accomodate six or eight or more paddlers for short shuttles. Equipped with four wheel drive a pick-up can get a team into that sketchy put-in up that long, muddy road. In short, pick-up trucks are the Swiss army knife of paddling utility vehicles.

Trailers

Yet another method of getting a boat, or many boats, to water are trailers. Many people aren’t fond of trailers because of the difficulty in backing and parking them. Others love the convenience of disengaging the trailer and using the tow vehicles as a proper car or truck.

Trailers can come in many versions. Heavy ones are used by outfitters and livery services to haul a dozen or more boats at a time. These are usually pulled by half-ton or larger pick-up. Lightweight trailers capable of hauling 3-5 boats can be pulled by a small car.

The photo at the top of this article comes from Allison Finch. It was taken in the mid 80’s during Week of Rivers. Her 1979 Ford Fiesta pulls a small trailer. On top of the car are a custom Kevlar K-1 and a glass Phoenix Seewun C-1. The long sticks are, you guessed it…. for her tipi. The cover for the tipi is in the trailer. Allison traveled and paddled all summer using this kit.

Trailers come smaller.  Another river exemplar, Fred Ruddock, aka Fast Fred of Ocoee fame, used a motorcycle trailer for many years. Fred said, “It worked well but I did wear out some belt drives and clutches.”

Here’s a lovely photo of Milo Duffek. Duffek was the Czech paddler who intentionally lost an international competition in order to escape across the border into freedom in Austria. Milo is associated with the paddling innovation of the bow draw or hanging bow draw or simply “the Duffek.”

Here, Milo is pedaling to a river, towing a Klepper foldboat on a miniature trailer.

Shuttling

Let’s touch on shuttling.This is the point where other delivery devices most often come into play. If you paddle a downhill river, then you aren’t likely to paddle back up it.  Sometimes a whitewater river has a short, enjoyable run, and you can hoof it back to the top for another go. I’m thinking Cedar Falls on the Deep or “The Loop” on the Lower Yough.

Elsewise, paddlers arrive at the end of a run and need a ride back up to the start to retrieve their vehicle. With group paddles, two or more, this can easily fit into the two vehicle approach, one car at the put-in, one at the take-out. If more than two paddlers are involved, advanced military-styled logistics come into play for getting the right combinations of boats-paddlers-vehicles effectively positioned. We’ll return now to Larry Ausley’s sage advice:

Be a responsible human part 2. “Don’t be a leech. If you’re in a shuttle, do what it takes to participate in the shuttle. Either have a vehicle capable of carrying multiple boats and be a part of the shuttle or actively compensate the drivers who are providing the shuttle. There are no free rides.”

Enough said. Whatever your wheels, if you’re going to paddle with other people you should be capable of transporting at least one other person and boat.

What if you are alone? Solo paddling is usually discouraged, especially in whitewater situations. Paddling with someone else is safer and it gives you a shuttle buddy.

But sometimes we solo, for whatever reason. How to get back to GO? We can walk back to the top or we can hitchhike, thumbs out. We can beg a ride off a stranger at the take-out and offer cash or many thanks. Or we can bike.

Many solo river paddlers take the biking route if their vessel can accomodate a deconstructed bike. A friend did a biking/paddling tour of Vermont, putting his bike together and pedaling some sections, and then breaking out the packraft to haul him and the bike on other reaches.

If your vessel is not large enough to hold a bike, a shorter kayak, for instance, then there’s another approach. Take your bike to the take-out and lock it up or hide it there. When you’re done with the paddle, you pedal to the top and get your car. You still have to head back to the takeout for the boat so the shuttling takes longer but it’s a good option for solo paddlers.

There are other unique ways to shuttle. Zach Schiada has been itching to use a unicycle for riding back to the top.

Someone told me of a unique approach to solo shuttling. A friend of his paddled a river with cell service. About twenty minutes from the take-out, the paddler called a pizza joint and asked for a pizza to be delivered to the take-out address. There, the paddler gave the delivery person a nice tip to take him back to the put-in. The ride up gave him time to enjoy his pizza. This became a shuttle ritual.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Thanks for the many who helped with this article:  Larry Ausley, Paul Ferguson, Allison Finch, Jeff Macklin, Fred Ruddock, Site Zed, Zach Schiada and others.

If you enjoyed this article, you may be interested in these Carolina Paddler posts:

Richard Hopley, Oci-One-Kanubi by Alton Chewning

A portrait of Richard, the Oci-One.

“I Built a Packraft”  by Zach Schiada

Zach is always up for a challenge and his how-to project was another.  He has a new boat to show for it.

The Duffek Maneuver by Alton Chewning

Milo Duffek stunned the slalom racing world in 1953 with his technique and his daring.  His legacy still influences the nature of paddling, in racing and on the river.  Read the story of one of the most gifted and generous athletes of all time.

Lagniappe … a little something extra