Every year for memorial weekend we go to chippewa national forest for a canoe trip. This year we have been camping 4 days and did a day trip. On the way back to camp after the portage we are paddling across the lake when our middle child (age 11) says, mom is their suppose to be water coming into the canoe? I look down and sure enough there is a crack and water is coming in like a drinking fountain. I tell our daughter to plug it with her finger and she held it until we got back to camp (she said her finger was getting cold). We looked over the leak and decided to call the trip. We needed to get the canoe fixed before our July BWCA trip. So I called a friend who fixes canoes and they said to come on over. That next morning we packed up (having to use the 12 foot kid canoe instead of our 20 foot canoe) and headed 2 hours to Ely. Our friend found the repair needed major work (not a quick patch) and he also found other problem areas that he wanted to fix before they became a problem (he said it isn't our fault, it's just a well used, well loved canoe). So our Mn3 is at his house for the month and we have to use our spirit 2 (3 kids and a dog) for the next month for our weekend trips. We are thinking we need to take 2 canoes for a while. It was sure an adventure.

Disappointing, for sure. Glad it wasn't an even worse outcome. All sorts of possible endings flashed through my mind as I read your title and first couple of sentences...

I know! We had to keep an eye on the amount of water coming in because it is really cold right now. The last thing we wanted to do was sink in that ice water.

quote Canoearoo: "I know! We had to keep an eye on the amount of water coming in because it is really cold right now. The last thing we wanted to do was sink in that ice water."

Glad you all made it back safe and sound!

quote schweady: "Disappointing, for sure. Glad it wasn't an even worse outcome. All sorts of possible endings flashed through my mind as I read your title and first couple of sentences...
"

Me too. Kids and camping my thoughts went straight to injury. Glad everything turned out okay.

We had to forego the canoeing part of our last camp out due to an injury within the first 3 hours of the trip. Still got to tent sleep for a couple nights though.

Sorry to scare everyone with the title. Thankfully we haven't had any injuries while camping in a long time, and usually it is my hubby who gets hurt. The only injury the kids ever have gotten is when our middle daughter swam in a lake where I told her not to and she was covered in 100's of leaches.. what a nightmare. That was 6 years ago now.

Bummer... glad it wasn't something serious like a kiddo getting hurt.... good luck with the repair.
My daddy/daughter trip to Swan was also cut a night short. Little duckling had horrible/horrible nightmares the first two nights for some reason and wanted to go home when we woke up on day 3 so we packed up and headed home. We still had a great time and it was a nice consolation prize driving home Sunday night vs Memorial Day and I had a day to sleep in and clean up/unpack vs going straight back to work.

quote Canoearoo: "So I called a friend who fixes canoes and they said to come on over. That next morning we packed up (having to use the 12 foot kid canoe instead of our 20 foot canoe) and headed 2 hours to Ely. Our friend found the repair needed major work (not a quick patch) and he also found other problem areas that he wanted to fix before they became a problem. "

Where is the wad of chewing gum when you need it!

It seems to me your "favorite canoe fixer" had one of your boats when I visited with them a few years back! They are such good people.

It will be good to have everything shored up on the family boat before the next trip.

He had it all repaired so we picked it up yesterday before their big trip. They are the best