Never done it but thought about it a few times…how about a nap while tied up in some familiar waters as a test? Can’t wait for a trip report John!
Well, I have read about this canoe/kayak and people sleeping inside it, might be an option for you:
What I paddle and Why. The Kruger Sea WInd Canoe – Go with the Flow (wordpress.com)
Merlin II might be snug. I’ve napped in solos…really nice with the cool breeze blowing over the boat but not getting inside. Sliding seat makes more room. I remember waking up one time and my Osprey’s gunwales were completely covered with hundreds of blue damselflies.
Mark Przedwojewski purchased Kruger Canoes from Verlen Kruger in 2002 and continued building them. Sadly, Mark died of lymphoma in August of this year.
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Thanks, I think I may have read that.
Get a bigger boat Pag and it might work, I had forgotten about the Merlin II but had visions of you sleeping in your Aria.
I have mulled over the same possibility of having to sleep in the Nomad in the Everglades which is why I prefer the Gulf side of that area over the Wilderness Waterway.
I can introduce some heresy… a tandem paddled from the bow seat facing astern propelled by a double blade. Have a great Thanksgiving!
I have napped in my kayak in Florida, only to be startled awake by a curious gator a couple feet away! I’m a field biologist who worked with gators, crocs, and snakes - I’m a firm believer that if you leave them alone, they’ll generally leave you alone. The common exception to that rule is in places where gators have been fed and start associating humans with food. However, this isn’t a concern in the backcountry, but I also would not want to roll out of my boat while I slept and land on a gator or cottonmouth in the middle of the night - I wouldn’t blame them for biting if I did. I think the much more real “danger”, however, would be the mosquitoes, though I haven’t paddling in LA so don’t know how bad they are there. Sleeping in an open boat in many places, from Florida to the Northwoods at many times of year, you’d get eaten alive.
I would have gone with either the hammock suggestion, or lying in the bottom of the boat, but it seems like neither option is appealing in your particular situation. What about using a push-pole or two to anchor the boat in the muck, and then lash a thwart tightly to the push-poles, making the boat much more stable? Lashed between two push-poles, you might have stability enough to stand and rig a hammock. An outrigger would also accomplish this - you could rig the outrigger just while setting up a hammock and not use it while paddling. Or, if a hammock really isn’t your thing, could you add some supports across the gunnels to make a deck to sleep on (again, once the boat is secured to push-poles or outriggers)? Not sure it would be feasible, and I personally would be worried about rolling off in my sleep, but it’s a thought, assuming you can solve the stability issue.
As noted by kayamedic, I’ve also had success paddling a tandem backwards from the bow seat, and have done wilderness trips that way. A double-bladed paddle really makes it much more efficient, and my tandem is both wide enough to sleep in and stable enough to stand and walk around in (but I assume you don’t want to buy another boat).
I slept in a BMW 320i once. That was sufficiently uncomfortable. 
I don’t think Recaro ever made cots, or hammocks, or platform beds, or sofas, or Murphy beds…
I fell asleep in my original Toyota pu after a New Year’s Eve party in 1978. It was 50 and drizzling rain. I had consumed far more alcohol than anyone ever should.
My wife drove us home and went next door to collect the kids. She didn’t come back.
I had gotten my legs out before I passed out. Woke up a couple of hours later, soaked and freezing.
The message was she wasn’t taking care of the kids and my drunk a##.
And never slept in a canoe either.
One of the biggest problems is that you have crawl under two thwarts. Then you are asleep in a boat that can easily turn over. Imagine waking up from a sound sleep in the water, trapped under the thwarts with a boat on top of you.
yep. That’s a daunting proposition. If I could manage to wedge myself under the thwarts of a Merlin II, I wouldn’t be able to turn over, so pretty much be on my back the whole time. Still, your point is too chilling and I won’t be doing that.
One way would be to bring some inflatables, that when inflated are as thick as the canoe. Tie them on either side outside the canoe to the center (kneeling) thwart. carry some 1/4"x6"x 6’ planks in the bottom of the canoe. Lash those across the canoe and inflatables. You’d have a pretty stable bed. You could even clip some edging along the sides of the bed. Add a self inflating air mattress and voila. Or bring a couple of 1/4" x 2’ x 2’ lexan ply. Clip one horizontal from gunwale to gunwale in front of the front thwart. Clip the other vertically to the center thwart like a chair back. Sit on the bottom of the hull with your legs up, calves resting on the hor. piece and back resting on the vert. one. Just like a recliner. I actually slept that way in a recliner for 3 months one time.
It would be interesting to see if it’s possible to flip a canoe while laying in the bottom. In my experience it’s extremely stable with all your weight on the floor but I suppose if the canoe leans and you keep trying to roll up the side (or hang you leg out) it might be possible to flip. An extra inch or two of depth makes a lot of difference in how confined you may feel by the front thwart…my Osprey has quite a bit of room (about a foot) under the front thwart but the Merlin II is significantly more shallow and the seat doesn’t slide in the Merlin to let you center your weight and sleep with a skinnier part of your body (your legs) under the thwart. I think a Swift Keewaydin 15 with the easily removable two-position seat would be a great napping/sleeping solo.
Just slept in a Holiday Inn
I have never seen a Holiday Inn near a place I wanted to paddle.
I too don’t think flipping is likely, especially in a cypress swamp.
I’ve never seen the Atchafalaya, closest I’ve been is magazine articles and airboating near New Orleans once. Seems to me there should be plenty of, ahem, land (OK, muddy areas above water level). I suppose you’ve google earthed your trip, any nearby canals or river courses? The bayous I’ve seen are crisscrossed by canals, each of which is lined with spoils that almost form a dike, and the river courses have natural levees where the floods drop the bigger silt granules. In which case you’d be better off with a good pair of muck boots and a hammock tent with bomb proof netting.
You are correct about a lot of these things. I live close to the Basin (as we call it). I have relatives that live all around it. I’ve been in it most of my life hunting and fishing (I no longer hunt). A misleading thing about aerial photos is the large treed areas that look like land are actually cypress and tupelo gum groves that have water. There is some land and put-ins. For most put-ins, a paddler can only go so far before having to come back before dark. It is the far reaches that I want to get at. The put-ins are for motor boats but some areas of the Basin are too shallow and could be explored in a paddled hull. Those are the areas I want to go. I can go 16 to 18 miles in a day but the areas I want can be 20, 30, 40 miles round trip. I’m not interested in the canals as they are all the same. After a few hours in a canal, one has seen all there is to see.
The time to worry most about flipping is when you’re trying to get yourself under, or out from under, the thwarts. Once your butt is on the bottom the greatest tipping threat is over. The worry about entrapment, at least when I did it in a Grumman, occurred to me when I did it, but in reality in the event of a tip there was only one thwart over my belly and slipping out from under that would be like slipping out of a kayak in a wet exit situation, only easier - though back then and as a canoeist, kayaks also seemed confining and like a set up for entrapment too. But a Merlin might be more problematic, especially when getting into and out of position on the floor. (Which would need to be sopped up with a sponge beforehand, of course.)
I can recall a couple times when I’ve spread out on the floor of my Blackhawk Starship ( a fairly tippy solo with a removable adjustable seat) and drifted, once in a calm bay and once on a pond, admired the Milky Way. Magical. I could have easily fallen asleep doing that, though I had no intention of staying out all night and an hour or so of that was enough.
But in your proposed situation, alone, far from a back-up escape possibility, without any solid ground at hand… this is just unwise. Suppose you do take a spill trying to get into position - what happens to all your stuff, stuff that presumably you will need or you wouldn’t have it along. Food, dry clothes, etc. Imagine wallowing around in muck trying to round up everything in the dark, no solid footing… how do you drain and reenter the canoe in the muck? Its not a pretty picture.
Surely there is some high spot, some dike, something with a few trees rooted in something solid that you could identify beforehand, plan on attaining, and set some sort of camp on… even sleeping in a folding camp chair, like a low end LazyBoy, perhaps with a rain poncho over all, would be preferable - though that would be for someone who is more at ease camping with snakes and gators than I am. I presume you are or you wouldn’t even be thinking abut this. Even sleeping under the canoe, as Jedi mentioned, would be a preferable alternative, though I’ve done that a few times also and can assure you mosquitoes will find you there too, unless its after a few hard frosts. Does that even happen in the Atchafalaya?
The notion of an inflatable might not be so out of line, though… but how to inflate and deflate it alone from a canoe? That might take some practice. And do you feel confident that you could get between the two boats without dumping?
This is what jungle hammocks are made for. In your place before departure I’d be studying maps for some spot where I could use one, or even a tent, and plan my route around that.
Do you know anyone who has done this area before you who you could seek advice from? There’s no substitute for experienced advice in the environment you’re considering. Before trying it solo, doing it once or twice with someone who knows the “ins and outs” of the area would be ideal.
But it does sound like adventure… I admire the spirit that drives it all.
PS: Here’s a shot of boyscout (who used to post here) sleeping in a canoe. See, it can be done if you’re tired enough. This is what an 18 mile day, followed by a 14 mile day with a windstorm that blew down his tent, followed by 9 miles with another 7 to go looks like. 
I’ve driven over The Basin many times. I was never interested in seeing it up close. Spooky looking place. We have similar swamps in SC but none of that size.
I hear banjos over The Basin with a distinct Cajun rythym.
If you can manage to flip a canoe while laying in the bottom, you have done something special, or you are in the open ocean during a hurricane.
It’s not as bad as it looks. As far as banjos, you might have to squeal like a nutria, but never a pig.
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