Bike DIY Tips

I asked for some ideas on DIY tips the other day on both Twitter and on the ACA forum.  The list over there has some great ideas. If you have some tips that you would like to share, please post a response and share it with everyone.

Bags

All you need are the .50 cent Ikea Bags for moving your gear around on your kayak trips.  These bags are cheap, fold flat, and nearly indestructible.  I carried 3 bags with me up the Atlantic Coast, and all three bags made the entire trip.  Through 9 months of loading and unloading, they were wrinkled and very dirty, but otherwise in absolutely perfect condition, so they really do last.  One of the other great things about the bags is that they allow you to easily organize your boat during the loading and un-loading process.

After loading the boat, a bag was stored in each of my hatches and was readily available for unloading.  When I arrive on shore, I pop a hatch, pull out a bag, and start loading it up.  With 3 bags I could completely empty my boat, and with two I had everything needed for the evening.  The process is just reversed for loading -- break camp, sort gear into your bags and then carry them down to the boat.  Each bag has its own compartment, so it is very easy to keep everything organized. 

As I have written about before, it is critical to load your boat in the same way each time when doing long distance travelling.  Not only does this make the process of boat loading quicker, but it provides you with a built in mechanism that will alert you to lost gear.  It is amazing how the brain works, but I guarantee you if you load your boat the exact same way each time, then when you go to load it and something is missing, your brain will start twitching until you realize what is wrong.  This has saved me many at time, plus it just makes things so much quicker.

I am now down to carrying a single Ikea bag worth of gear and one of the very small Ikea bags for the day hatch.  This ultralight setup means I have a lighter more manueverable boat and way more room for fresh food, which is often very bulky.  However, eating fresh fruits and vegetables makes meals much more appealing.

If you need an Ikea bag drop me a note, I have extras and am happy to send out a few.  I realize that not everyone has family that makes runs to Ikea for them and comes home with arm loads of blue bags.  I am hoping to score some of the new polka dot ones just to make a fashion statement out on the water or on the trail.

Omlets in the Field

So I read this great little blog post the other day about making omelets in the field.  So your first thought might be what is so new about this.  Right, simply whip up your eggs, add the ingredients, and put it all in that lovely little non-stick frying pan you have.  Simple, nothing new, works like a charm.  Well, what if you are going ultra-light and you don't have a skillet?  I know I don't carry one most of the time, so making omelets the old fashion way is out for me.  Alas, help is on the way.

This beautiful little post that I read describes the following steps towards omelet nirvana sans skillet:

• Gather your eggs and ingredients
• You need a single zip lock baggy, preferably the heavier kind
• Crack your eggs into the baggie and whisk
• Add your ingredients (onions, garlic, peppers, etc.)
• Close baggy tightly
• In your pot of boiling water, place the baggy in the pot, and let cook for 10-20 minutes
• Remove the bag and empty the now perfectly formed omlette onto your bowl, add salsa and consume

Note, I have tried similar things to this and you must be careful that their is enough water in your pot and that the flame is not to high.  If you don't, there is the possibility that you will melt the plastic bag and whatever is in it, in this case your omelet, will come gushing out.  So, bon apetit, let me know if this works for you.  I am stoked to try it out on my next adventure.

Ultra-Light Kayaking - One Large Ikea Bag

So my trip to Grand Manan provided me with a format for testing out my theories on going 'Ultra-Light'.  I had been thinking of this for a while and was really pleased at my performance with such a light boat.  It made the hole process of paddling easier, plus take down, set up, and boat un-loading was incredibly easy and efficient.  The key to this type of kayaking is definitely to have a multi-use philosophy on the clothing side and a minimalist approach on the gear side.  My kit included:

Camping:

• Bivvy Sack
• Stakes
• Tarp
• Rope Bag
• Mountain Hardwear Ultralamina sleeping bag
• Thermarest Neo-Air
• Headlamp

Cooking:

• Titanium Spoon
• Coffee mug
• MSR Reactor Stove w/1 fuel cannister
• Spice Kit with lighter

Clothing:

• Light weight wool underwear
• Light weight wool top
• Heavy weight wool top
• Fleece pants
• Storm Cag
• 2 pair wool socks
• Dry Suit
• Arc'teryx quick dry shorts
• Croc sandles

Food:

• Coffee
• Oats/Brown Sugar/Raisins
• Quinoa
• Pasta
• Spice Kit
• Peanut Butter
• Cliff Bars/Snacks
• Tortillas
• Small container of Olive Oil (I like to use a .5L Platypus bag for this)

Paddling Kit

• Emergency Kit (Parachute Flairs, Smoke Flares, Medical Kit, Survival Kit, Water Purifcation Drops)
• Small Repair Kit (Gore-Tex Patch Kit, Fiberglass, Resin, misc other items)
• Normal paddling gear (PFD/Spot/Knife/etc.)

Water was readily available, so I only carried 6 liters at a time which in conjunction with my PFD bladder was more than enough water. Certainly not having to carry much water helped with space management in the boat.  Still, I had so much room left in the boat that I was often asking others if they needed me to carry anything extra.  Unloading the boat, all my kit went into a single Ikea bag, which for me was the goal.

One challenge with this is definitely boat loading and weather conditions.  For one leg of the trip, we had some good front quartering winds and I had the boat loaded as I normally do.  However, with this bit of kit, the front was a little to light and it was more prone to being pushed around by the wind as the boat drove up and through waves.  After lunch, I reorganized and shifted some weight to the front.  This helped dramatically and all was well.  Anytime you are paddling in changing conditions, it really pays to think through your loading and how the boat tracking will be affected by said conditions.

I am a convert, as this was jus a really joyous way to travel. You do give up some of the comforts, but if you are out for the paddle and looking to minimize your effort both on water and on land, you might think about giving a light weight trip a try.  It is amazing how much we can do without if we just give it a try.

Heavy duty dry bags - moving your boat

For the longest time I have carried one of those heavy duty dry bags as a spare bag.  I am constantly questioning myself on why I continue to carry this beast of a bag.  It does not fold down small when empty and when full it is difficult to stow.  However, the other day, contemplating how to get my boat up the shear ledge rocks of an Island, I thought, wow, I can use the bag as a roller.  It was like one of those great epiphanies that just reaches up and hits us on the head.

Well, low and behold, it worked spectacularly.  I had some clothes in the bag and added a little air, and it made a perfect roller for the boat.  I simply placed it under the bow, and pushed the boat a bit and then switched to the stern and pulled a bit.  It kept the boat off the rocks and I was able to work the boat up a very steep rock ledge without causing any wear and tear to the bottom.

Needless to say, I will now keep that obnoxious bag with me for the foreseeable future to help in moving the boat up the rocky shores of Maine and Canada.