How do you guys portage your solo canoes?
I have a Wenonah Vagabond and I moved the seat back so I could put a yoke on it. Is this the typical method? My BIL, Whatsit, bought a Vagabond from Dan at Sawbill and he had it set up the same way.
The canoe rides bow high when empty, I don't like that much in a wind, but it is okay loaded. How are you guys getting around this? (After we have camp set up, we like to take the canoes out and explore)

Tim

Set up the way you have it you can use a dry bag filled w/water placed up in the bow to keep it trimmed.

Most solos are set up with the seat in the middle and then you use a clamp on/removable yoke for portaging. Clamp it on in the middle of the canoe to portage and then move it out of the way before you get in and paddle down the lake.

This is a picture of a clamp on yoke pushed forward and out of my way after portaging.

The balance achieved in both carrying a load or paddling can make a major difference. A pack should be snug with weight distributed so that it does not drag you back when you stand upright. A canoe paddles and carries best when the center of balance is achieved.
Hence your bow light when paddling and using some form of ballast becomes critical.
In portaging I use the removable yoke. The other gear that is left in the canoe for portage is balanced in all four directions and then the yoke placement adjusted with a couple lifts and realignment. When I find the spot I put tape to both protect my gunnels but also to mark the spot. Once adjusted I can often hands free while portaging. On the water a similar practice of finding balance and adjusting the load fore or aft to adapt to current and wind makes tripping much more enjoyable. It is a science, but also an art paddlers pick up with experience. Enjoy the learning curve.

Lots of good ideas in this thread. My post with pics is 6th from bottom.

set up thread

Thanks for the tip, ducks. I have a dry bag to use.
Initially, I set up my canoe with the seat just a little aft, and attached the yoke with wingnuts, but it was still a pain to attach and remove. I couldn't paddle with the yoke in place, so this winter I moved the seat further aft. Whatsit was able to paddle his without removing the yoke.
Thanks for the picture, I really like that yoke. That might be a future project for my boat.

A clamp on removeable yoke is a necessary evil when soloing. There is a thread of modifications to the yoke clamps to make it very simple. I believe the thread is in the Gear section of the website.

At camp when I go out fishing I first look for decent large rocks to weight down the bow. I usually put my food pack (ursack and bear vault) in the rear. I'll add rocks back there too if I think I need it. I rarely have an issue finding good rocks down by the landing.

I have always used the clamp-on yoke like ducks pictured that comes with the rentals. I think the reason there's not a permanent one on solos is because it needs to go right in front of the seat, which is the balance point - which is why the seat is there to begin with I believe. The clamp-on yoke doesn't really take long to put on; you might want to consider just moving the seat back to its original location and using one. That would also simplify the trimming of the canoe when you are in it vs. having to add a lot of weight to the bow because it's stern-heavy with the seat (and you) moved back.

I have always taken the yoke on/off, but may have to try ducks' approach. I keep it attached to the back of the seat with a short section of paracord - a trick I learned from Mike at Rockwood Outfitters, who probably learned it from too many lost rental yokes :).

Sawbill moves the seat aft and installs a fixed yoke center. However I believe most solo trippers use a removeable, clamp-in yolk. That way the seat stays closer to center (perhaps 4" aft of center but still not near!y enough room for permanent yoke center).
It takes less than a minute to art ACH a yoke and maybe 10 seconds to remove it.

The removable yoke on my Wenonah Argosy.

Thanks for all of the good information. This is great.

See the add a weight and removable yokes covered the questions, just want to comment on portaging a Vagabond. They are a delight to carry! After longer canoes. My buddy has a Kevlar UL skin coat weighs 28 pounds and at 14 1/2 ft pivots with ease.

butthead

The removable yokes are OK but kind of a pain. I purchased a SRQ16 tandem and love it for other reasons but the yoke being fixed is an added bonus.

You get used to the clamp on yoke. I mark where mine goes so it goes on the same every time. That makes setting up so much easier.

i too bought a prism from sawbill with seat back and permanent yoke. i moved the seat back to center and made a removable yoke from the one that was on the canoe. a couple of clip pins did the trick. could not have been easier. i usually do not put anything in the canoe when i am fishing, except me, it's stable.

butthead: "See the add a weight and removable yokes covered the questions, just want to comment on portaging a Vagabond. They are a delight to carry! After longer canoes. My buddy has a Kevlar UL skin coat weighs 28 pounds and at 14 1/2 ft pivots with ease.


butthead"

Yeah, I love that. Mine's Royalex, but still about half the weight of my previous canoe. I always carried it on one shoulder, but that was just from the car to the water.

At first I found it a pain like AmarilloJim, but now I'm used to it like yellowcanoe said and it goes on/off pretty quickly.

Hey! Alright! Another Wenonah Vagabond owner! I have one too, also in Royalex. Mine is the slower green color.

Much like others have said, I also have a removable yoke. I have some clamps on the ends, a straight grained yoke from Midwest Mountaineering, and some Bourquin Pads for the comfort. The set up works very well.

yellowcanoe: "You get used to the clamp on yoke. I mark where mine goes so it goes on the same every time. That makes setting up so much easier."

This is what I do. It's really no big deal. You get into a routine during your trip and taking 1 minute to attach or unattached the yoke is easy. You don't need to add any ballast, just use 2 packs.

Minnesotian: "
Hey! Alright! Another Wenonah Vagabond owner! I have one too, also in Royalex. Mine is the slower green color.


Much like others have said, I also have a removable yoke. I have some clamps on the ends, a straight grained yoke from Midwest Mountaineering, and some Bourquin Pads for the comfort. The set up works very well.



"

Thanks Minnesota!
My brother in law also has the green Vagabond. Mine is "Alaskan Ivory".

I also own a Green Royalex Vagabond (43 lbs). I made my own removable yoke. Just because you are a fellow Vagabond owner, I will make you a yoke if you would like. I will cut all the wood parts and send it to you for sanding and finishing. Mine is custom made to fit the thicker vinyl gunnels as you can see below. You will also need to find a couple of T-nuts. I get mine off of old lawn mowers that have folding handles. Pads not included.

I have oak or cherry. Let me know if you would like one and what type of wood.

Here are three photos:

IceColdGold: "I also own a Green Royalex Vagabond (43 lbs). I made my own removable yoke. Just because you are a fellow Vagabond owner, I will make you a yoke if you would like. I will cut all the wood parts and send it to you for sanding and finishing. Mine is custom made to fit the thicker vinyl gunnels as you can see below. You will also need to find a couple of T-nuts. I get mine off of old lawn mowers that have folding handles. Pads not included.

I have oak or cherry. Let me know if you would like one and what type of wood.

Here are three photos:





"

Seriously? Wow, that would be great. I like oak. Thanks a lot!

NP.

Email me your address.

Thanks IceColdGold,

I just sent the email.

Tim

You made me smile icecoldgold.

Wow IceColdGold
See fellow vagabond owners stick together :0)
I really like my set up with the seat in the aft. But Tim noticed my bow was really lifted up while doing our day trips and when the wind hit from the side I could hardly go anywhere. I really like the dry bag idea. That seems like the perfect idea. What I’d do Tim is still leave your seat where it currently is and still use ICG removal yoke but also use the dry bag idea at least for the first trip to see how that works. When soloing (my personal opinion of course) I can get more things in my vagabond where the seat is now. Right now I have a big space and a small space. But if the seat is moved forward I have two semi small spots for gear. Again just my personal opinion.
Mike

NoisyWetHermit: "

Minnesotian: "
Hey! Alright! Another Wenonah Vagabond owner! I have one too, also in Royalex. Mine is the slower green color.



Much like others have said, I also have a removable yoke. I have some clamps on the ends, a straight grained yoke from Midwest Mountaineering, and some Bourquin Pads for the comfort. The set up works very well.



"

Thanks Minnesota!
My brother in law also has the green Vagabond. Mine is "Alaskan Ivory".
"

I love this picture Tim. This was taken at sawbill when you were driving your suv back to the parking lot. The BWCA is calling. Can you all hear it?

Ah heck, here's a picture of my Vagabond on a Quetico solo trip back in 2015.
Not the fastest boat out there, but sure is stable.

Whatsit: "

NoisyWetHermit: "

Minnesotian: "
Hey! Alright! Another Wenonah Vagabond owner! I have one too, also in Royalex. Mine is the slower green color.



Much like others have said, I also have a removable yoke. I have some clamps on the ends, a straight grained yoke from Midwest Mountaineering, and some Bourquin Pads for the comfort. The set up works very well.




"

Thanks Minnesota!
My brother in law also has the green Vagabond. Mine is "Alaskan Ivory".
"

I love this picture Tim. This was taken at sawbill when you were driving your suv back to the parking lot. The BWCA is calling. Can you all hear it?"

Oh, I hear it.

Minnesotian: "
Ah heck, here's a picture of my Vagabond on a Quetico solo trip back in 2015.
Not the fastest boat out there, but sure is stable.



"

Very Nice.

Here’s Tim and I with our Vagabonds this last July about to leave for the BWCA.

Here’s my set up

Minnesotian: "
Ah heck, here's a picture of my Vagabond on a Quetico solo trip back in 2015.
Not the fastest boat out there, but sure is stable.



"

Very nice.

Whatsit: "
Here’s Tim and I with our Vagabonds this last July about to leave for the BWCA.
"

That was fun, I can't wait to go back.

TomT: "A clamp on removeable yoke is a necessary evil when soloing. ...
I rarely have an issue finding good rocks down by the landing.
"

Yeah, a removable yoke is the best solution.
I rarely have an issue finding rocks down just under the water while paddling. <:-o

jcavenagh: "
I rarely have an issue finding rocks down just under the water while paddling. <:-o"

I was in the Quetico last year around Fred and Nan lakes. I forget which lake but out in the open water right where most paddlers would cross are flat rocks a couple inches under the surface. Scared the you know what outta me! Luckily it was fairly calm. I would hate to hit that in a big wind and be stuck in the middle of the lake grounded.

My homemade solo yoke. I bungie it in at every portage and then stick it in the bow when I paddle away. Works well enough for me and it was relatively easy to make.

TomT: "

jcavenagh: "
I rarely have an issue finding rocks down just under the water while paddling. <:-o"

I was in the Quetico last year around Fred and Nan lakes. I forget which lake but out in the open water right where most paddlers would cross are flat rocks a couple inches under the surface. Scared the you know what outta me! Luckily it was fairly calm. I would hate to hit that in a big wind and be stuck in the middle of the lake grounded.


"

I was also in Fred and Nan last September and I think I know what rocks you are talking about. Same this also happened to me on Homer Lake in the BWCA a couple years ago.

Minnesotian: "

TomT: "

jcavenagh: "
I rarely have an issue finding rocks down just under the water while paddling. <:-o"

I was in the Quetico last year around Fred and Nan lakes. I forget which lake but out in the open water right where most paddlers would cross are flat rocks a couple inches under the surface. Scared the you know what outta me! Luckily it was fairly calm. I would hate to hit that in a big wind and be stuck in the middle of the lake grounded.



"

I was also in Fred and Nan last September and I think I know what rocks you are talking about. Same this also happened to me on Homer Lake in the BWCA a couple years ago. "

Where in homer if you don’t mind me asking?

Hermit, heading out to the garage to select the wood for your yoke now. ;-)

All cut out:

IceColdGold: "Hermit, heading out to the garage to select the wood for your yoke now.

Wow, its already looking good. Thanks!

What's the wood species? Looks like oak from the photos. I had to use popular (not ideal)
for mine. It wasn't ideal but I made it work because there wasn't any ash in stock due the emerald ash bore ( I think).

It's oak.

how do you make the clamp slots, is that just drilled out at the ends and joined with a jig saw?

This message has had HTML content edited out of it.

Whatsit: "

Minnesotian: "

TomT: "

jcavenagh: "
I rarely have an issue finding rocks down just under the water while paddling.

Most solos are set up with the seat in the middle and then you use a clamp on/removable yoke for portaging. Clamp it on in the middle of the canoe to portage and then move it out of the way before you get in and paddle down the lake.


This is a picture of a clamp on yoke pushed forward and out of my way after portaging. "

I just learned something. Thanks!

Dave

campnfish: "how do you make the clamp slots, is that just drilled out at the ends and joined with a jig saw?"

Yes

I have a yoke that doubles as a backrest. It's too heavy.
But here's a few pics just as food for thought ! I'm still looking to improve the system. !!




Jim

IceColdGold: "I also own a Green Royalex Vagabond (43 lbs). I made my own removable yoke. Just because you are a fellow Vagabond owner, I will make you a yoke if you would like. I will cut all the wood parts and send it to you for sanding and finishing.

IceColdGold, the yoke came in the mail today, Thanks! It's excellent. I have oil finish for it, and I took the screw handles off my lawn mower and put them on the yoke. Perfect fit. I have some pads and vinyl left over from recovering the dining room chairs, so I'll make some nice yoke pads from that. I see you even put the BWCA.com emblem on it! Nice touch.
Now I also need to re-oil my gunwales and reposition my seat. I'm planning on waiting a bit before I do the seat though. I want to experiment with position and height for a while.
I'll post a picture when I have the pads done.
Thanks!

Another example of the good people here!!! :)

pswith5: "Another example of the good people here!!! :)"

Agreed, stand up ICG stand up job.

Note: screen name change ICG to HayRiverDrifter. The Hay river is my home water. pswith5 spent a bit of time last spring at my place and on the Hay.

Hermit, you will need to do a bit of work to make it yours. I did the initial sanding, but you will want to round off all the edges, smooth everything out nicely, then give it a finish.

Enjoy, and please pay it forward.

I would love to come paddle the Black River sometime. Maybe a Vagabond rendezvous.

Like the idea of the dry bag for ballast better than the rocks... If you have an issue the rocks might pull you down where the water in the dry bag won't.

HayRiverDrifter: "Note: screen name change ICG to HayRiverDrifter. The Hay river is my home water. pswith5 spent a bit of time last spring at my place and on the Hay.


Hermit, you will need to do a bit of work to make it yours. I did the initial sanding, but you will want to round off all the edges, smooth everything out nicely, then give it a finish.


Enjoy, and please pay it forward.


I would love to come paddle the Black River sometime. Maybe a Vagabond rendezvous. "

Cool, come on down when it warms up. I've paddled the Black River from the power plant in Hatfield to Highway 35 near Holmen. It's all good. I see you are up north, I'd like to get up there too. I think I saw the Red Cedar River in Mike Svob's book, Paddling Northern Wisconsin.

Just finished a custom portage yoke. The cam handles work well.

I'm cool with clamping and removing my yoke. What I have gotten into the habit of doing however, is storing my yoke in the bow. That way it is always plainly visible. Should I neglect to grab while breaking camp it its absence will stick out like a sore thumb.

The Yoke turned out great, Icecoldgold, now HayRiverDrifter did a fantastic job on it.

Here's a picture of it on my canoe. (I put the pads on it and put the oil finish on it)

HayRiverDrifter does nice finishing work. Well made custom yoke.

very nice!

NoisyWetHermit: "The Yoke turned out great, Icecoldgold, now HayRiverDrifter did a fantastic job on it.

Here's a picture of it on my canoe. (I put the pads on it and put the oil finish on it) "

Well done. Enjoy.