We have paddled canoes in BWCA for 15 years. I would like to try a kayak this next year. I have a 17 foot composite sea type kayak with front and rear water tight hatches and drop skeg. My idea was to keep my gear in small dry bags, and clip them to a gorilla strap and slide them in the hatches front and back. At the portages, pull out the gorrilla strap and the drybags, and put them in the backpack I have behind the seat. I carry the kayak on one shoulder using a "noodle". The kayak weighs about 38 lbs so not much heavier then a solo canoe. Nothing on the deck but the compass and a water bottle.

For those who have tripped in kayaks, what has worked? What didn't work? Thanks!

(I would have posted this in the kayak section, but that has all but gone defunct.)

I haven’t tripped with a kayak other than unintentionally. But I have carried one enough on my shoulder to know that you will be cursing the woody-stemmed foliage and larger rocks by the time you complete your first long portage.

A canoe goes where you go on a portage. A kayak on your shoulder occasionally goes where it wants to go at inconvenient and unpredictable times. Personally, I would stick to the big water in the BWCA that doesn’t require portaging to have an enjoyable and challenging trip - Saganaga, Seagull, Brule, etc.

I have several kayak trips with three separate boats. Your plan will work and is basically what I did.
You will find the longer boat on your shoulder will make some turns in portages an issue and over longer portages the noodle gets rubbed in, I have had abrasions that hurt. I finally chose routes with less challenging portages and then got a canoe.
Ditto the big lake trips with a 17 foot boat.

Good point. Will look at base camping off Seagull or taking the shuttle into Red Rock portage (11 rods) and paddling that lake.

Haven't personally used a kayak, but this reminds of about 5 years ago when my wife and I were heading up to Crooked and overtook three guys in a canoe and kayak (looked like the type you would take through rapids, but I'm not kayak expert).

We caught them on the portage between Sandpit and TCM lakes, the kayaker was struggling with some weird harness he had rigged up and was pretty miserable. His two buddies were less than happy with the situation (I think I am being generous) as they had to carry everything else.

My wife and I like to double portage, take our time, and enjoy the trip. We passed them, split a sub sandwich at the end, got in our canoe and paddled away. They still weren't in the water.

Your kayak seems more appropriate than theirs, but I think I would agree with the advice already given regarding portages.

I did this once and that was enough - never again. We did a week long loop with a lot of portaging and no matter how we tried to carry, it sucked.

The only way I would ever do this again was if I were able to directly put in on the lake I was going to stay at and base camp.

I'll echo the rest of the responses. If you got a tow to LLC or stuck to other big lakes it would be great. But doing more than one or two easy portages and you'll likely be hating your choices.

I wouldn't be afraid of the red rock portage or other easy ones. I just wouldn't do many or longer ones. We passed a group that was all kayaks going from Polly towards Koma. They gave up on carrying by that point and were dragging them behind them w/ a rope tied to each person's waist while they carried gear. I guess that fixes the carrying issues....but not great for the kayak or the portage

I have a sit-on-top that is 32"w x 14'L and almost impossible to flip due to scupper holes and design. Of course, it's a wet affair as it sits only 5" above waterline. The front hatch opens to store plenty of gear. Behind the seat is a platform depression for 2 scuba tanks.
I have considered a Fall Lake entry>>>Newton>>>Basswood as a route. Wheeled cart allowed on first two 84r portages all the way into Basswood. My cart disassembles to lay flat for storage.
Consider as a possible route.
Check trip reports for kayakers' input.

I have tripped with my kayak a few times. If you have a canoe I would suggest that, if not a kayak will work. It's all I had at the time and I made it work. I bought a solo yoke that clamps on to the coaming that works well. My kayak is a 12'6" rec boat that has a dry hatch in the back. Clothes, hammock, and quilts go in there. The rest of my gear goes in a dry bag in front of my feet. I left everything in my kayak for portaging so I could single portage. The longest portage I have taken is 240 rods, and that's about the limit for me. My first trip was through Wood lake, and I was happy to have my kayak when I got into back bay on Basswood. The waves were big enough I would have been nervous in a canoe.

I have made two trips with my kayak. I was similar to what you plan. Everything was good except portages. I found no good way to carry.

On the the second trip, I got a portage yoke made for kayaks. By the end of the second portage, I took it off.

The the reason I am looking at the kayak for a trial this next year is: It will force me to stay very light weight in my gear, clothing and food. The kayak has pretty good size hatches front and back so there would be no need for anything on top if gear if carefully planned.

I have tripped in canoes for 25 years. I have taken kayaks to the BWCA only once and that was a plastic 17 foot tank of a kayak. I realize that the canoes will carry more gear, and it is easier to just pull the packs out and go. The mistake I think kayakers make is that they try to carry or portage the kayaks with the gear still in the kayak, rather then unloading into a pack. With two hatch sea style kayaks, the kayak itself is your waterproof pack for gear. You just need a solution for the portages, and as others have mentioned, the fastest way is small drybags in the hatches transferred to an ultra lightweight pack for the portages, then portaging the kayak with no gear.

I will look at the yoke options for the kayak. However I have tried two different yokes before and found it easier to just carry it on one shoulder.

ockycamper: "The the reason I am looking at the kayak for a trial this next year is: It will force me to stay very light weight in my gear, clothing and food...."

Plan and pack for the kayak. On the day you leave, put the canoe on your rack.

ockycamper: "The the reason I am looking at the kayak for a trial this next year is: It will force me to stay very light weight in my gear, clothing and food…."

I think this is a great idea. I have a Carolina 14.5 footer that I have always thought would be fun to try up there, provided there were either no or only a couple short and easy portages. Would not expect to try it more than once or so. I would have even less room for gear than you. Just think it would be fun to try real minimalism once, instead of my normal maximalism.

If you can tolerate packing and repacking and have a backpack ( I have a dive bag) and a solo detachable yoke a yak could work.
This would get your head mostly out of the cockpit

yoke that might fit kayak cockpit

It can be done. But it will be hard and it will take preparation and patience. But it will absolutely be worth it if done right. Went up this summer with two yaks, and had a blast. (Granted our route got turned into a basecamp trip with minimal portaging (that was probably a blessing in disguise)).

Highly recommend the multiple small dry bags that get thrown into one larger bag. Take as much weight out as possible, it's better to have it on your back then pivoting on your shoulder. The thing I will reiterate is unpacking/packing will be more annoying than you anticipate, trust me on that one :) It is essential that you do a trial run with 100% of the gear to see exactly how it will fit / pack into larger bag and back into kayak. You will quickly learn to pack very light.

Home-made portage yokes can be made pretty easily (and extremely cheap, free - if you have some spare materials laying around). I can find the links I used for reference if you're interested in this at all. I have also heard good things about some of the mass produced ones. I totally understand the desire to shoulder carry, I prefer it for kayaks too. With the heavier yaks it's really just worth it to use a yoke, but with your lightweight you just might be good to go. Pool noodle or black pipe insulation on shoulder and hip is extremely helpful.

Now why is it all worth it? 1.) Because their is no better feeling than slicing through the water in a fast single kayak 2.) The wind and waves. The most underrated part of kayaks, they eat up whitecaps. We had 40-50mph gusts on our last day in the BWCA grounding the canoe and tandem... But with that single kayak you can bet I was out there with a smile as I sailed the whitecaps. The wind created stomach dropping rollercoaster swells, and the second a gust would surge the top foot of the next incoming wave would just be atomized and you're met with the refreshing water in your face. You look toward the coast and the same waves that just pushed you toward the heavens and dropped you back down to earth are now smashing against the rocky coast splashing the trees a dozen feet up. Just incredible.

With that said, I would recommend big water too, it's really where they excel. It's an exhilarating time. Constantly exiting and re-entering kayaks on a "creek" that was drier than the Sahara - not so much.

Have some fun planning and an even better trip!
MarrowOfLife

I made a trip this August from Snowbank to Adams Lake (and back) in my 10.5 foot kayak, which was my first experience kayaking the BWCA. Before my trip, reading comments such as those here had me wondering what I was getting myself into, but honestly it couldn't have gone better. Compared to my previous canoeing experience, I found portaging the kayak to be far easier. Coming in at half the weight (35 lb kayak vs ~70 lb cedar strip canoe) and being far shorter, I was able to tackle long portages with my kayak that I would have avoided otherwise. No doubt, that my homemade yoke made all the difference; I can't imagine trying to carry a kayak single shoulder over any portage longer than about 15 rods.

Certainly one key to portaging a kayak is to choose one that allows you to pack entire backpacks rather than loose drybags. I traveled with one large backpack that rode in the cargo bay behind the cockpit and a small one in front of my feet. My Perception Hook 10.5 is ideally designed for such travel and allows one to treat it nearly the same as a canoe while packing/portaging. A kayak with hatches won't likely be as amenable to portaging as one like mine. And to be fair, the carrying capacity is still considerably smaller than in a canoe, but plenty for a solo paddler traveling fairly light.

As far as paddling goes, I found it pure joy to slice through the water in a kayak which sits closer to the water than a canoe. At this point, I'm convinced that a double blade paddle is the only practical way for solo paddling; the efficiency of correcting with every stroke makes J-stroking seem outright humorous.

For my future BWCA paddling, my choice of boat will entirely depend on the group size. For even numbers of paddlers, canoes are the obvious choice. But for solo tripping or odd number groups, kayaking is a fantastic solution and I will undoubtedly be doing it again.

Maybe this is your year to go to Voyageurs National Park? The big lakes there are great for kayaking trips!

I have done two solo trips in a kayak:

Kayak: 12’ recreational weighing in @ 50lbs.

Packing:

Left to right:
10 liter dry bag (food for 5 days), goes behind my seat.
20 liter dry bag with sleeping bag, clothes and sleeping pad/pillow. Goes between my legs (plenty of room).
Backpack with tent and camp gear. Goes in the dry hatch behind me.

Double portaging; gear first, kayak second and over the shoulder. I am 5’8” and 150 lbs.

My trips were hybrid basecamping with day trips in-between. Portage lengths were a concern for me when planning where to go. It can be a restriction. If you want a challenge with minimal gear and space, this is the ticket. Overall I do not regret the choice I made and had a awesome time….