Taking the family of four plus the dog on a trip...renting a Souris River 18.5 with three seats. We did this last year, but without the dog. Where will the dog ride? He's 55 pounds.

How many packs do you carry?

I am trying to remember our open space in the three seat Souris 18.5... We had 3 bags stacked in the spot behind the bow passenger, two kids on the middle seat, and a rucksack behind me in the stern.

I am thinking that the only real spot open was in the bow in front of my son... maybe a small blanket folded over at your feet there would work for a smallish dog?

I was thinking Booker might fit in front of me in the bow, but I don't know how comfy he'd be.

Packs: I think four plus Linnea's tiny pack. There are two big ones, one medium sized, and one that is the size of a school backpack, which Bronwen carries. She can't have a heavy pack because of the rods in her back, so she carries the day food/snacks and rain gear.

Oh wait...we had five freaking packs. OMG. Two big, two medium, and the smaller backpack, which we probably could get by without but I felt like Bronwen should carry something, and the medium packs were too big for her. Maybe not this year...

Canoearoo, you trip with three kids and a dog, correct? How do you do it? What size is your dog? Booker is almost big enough for me to rest my hand on his head when he's sitting. I have to lean over ever so slightly. At 55 lbs he's right on the border between medium sized and large.

I think L would fit better in the bow than Booker :-) How would she like that? she could possibly sit on the floor and face you, or kneel and face out over the bow...

OR Booker could learn to sit on a pack...

Hmmm, too bad we didn't bring ours this past weekend so you could try it out. Who else has one in your area?

quote nojobro: "


Canoearoo, you trip with three kids and a dog, correct? How do you do it? What size is your dog? Booker is almost big enough for me to rest my hand on his head when he's sitting. I have to lean over ever so slightly. At 55 lbs he's right on the border between medium sized and large.


"

We have a mn3, 5 duluth packs, 2 small packs for the kids, and our dog and her pack. We have a mn3. We put 4 packs all standing up right 2 by 2. Then we lay one pack down under the yolk. The 2 kid packs go under the kids 3rd sead. The fishing packs go under my seat. The dog pack goes under hubbys seat. The 2 girls share the 3rd seat and our son rides in front of me in the bow on the floor. I set in the front, hubby in the back. The dog rides behind my husbands seat. Our dog is a 60 pound lab. Sometimes the dog rides between my husbands legs but it does make it hard to paddle.

This year our oldest may sit on the pack laying down and the 3rd seat will be shared by our 2 youngest. In this case the dog will ride up front with me.

There should be a pic of all this on my blog

yup just checked my blog.. both ways I discribed are posted on there. It all depends on where the kids want to sit that day

I don't know that I could stand canoeing with Linnea in front of me. She is just so busy. Giving her a paddle really helps, and what would that be like in the bow? I think it would be very hard for me to paddle.

Canoearoo, I looked at your pics...thanks. Do you have trouble in the wind with packs sticking up like that? Or does the weight of everything help out in that regard?

Not this year...but maybe next...we'll go to me in a solo and phantom paddling a 3-man canoe with Bronwen in the bow and Linnea in the middle. Or maybe a tandem with Linnea sitting on a pack. Yeah, that is what we'll do, because we can borrow my uncle's MN-II and rent a solo. Heck, we could even do that this year if we're at Voyageur North and it's just not going to fit into the SR 18.5. :)

The weight of all the stuff make the canoe not tippy at all and strait as an arrow. However the mn3 when not loaded is pushed around by the wind like a sale boat because it is 20 feet long. Definitely a canoe you want loaded up

Wow canoearoo, you've got some awesomely gorgeous kiddos!

quote BWPaddler: "Wow canoearoo, you've got some awesomely gorgeous kiddos!"

Thankyou! We are truely blessed. I love homeschooling them

We are going to make this work...somehow. :)

I think the dog will ride way up front in the bow.

I can measure each section if you need me to :)

LOL. No measuring (we will check the load at VNO and can rent different packs from them if the packs just don't fit) but what do you think about Booker in front of me in the bow? :)

our dog rides up front with no problems

Canoearoo, your dog looks to be the same size as ours, just about. I know your canoe is longer and more narrow than the SR 18.5, but I do think there will be enough room for him in there if yours fits in a MNIII. Thanks.

It would just stink to get up there and realize there's no way we can all ride. LOL.

quote nojobro: "
It would just stink to get up there and realize there's no way we can all ride. LOL."

I always tell the kids... there is always a way to make it fit! And we have figured it all out; sometimes it takes a little longer but no one has ever been left behind

Here it is...all our gear, the dog, the little one (missing: me, husband, and 13-year old...we each took a seat).



Turns out the little one fit better in the front than the dog. The dog just sat in one spot, which was nice, but I really could not move my feet around and it was uncomfortable. I had more wiggle room with the four year old up there.

Too too funny to see her up there! I cannot imagine where you fit up there, but glad it worked out. Funny funny.

wow. you were tight, but clearly it worked. nice packing job.

Heck, there was still room in the stern. LOL

excellent!