You are coming to grips with the mental aspects of a challenging solo trip. Try to think more positively about your chances for success and doing the trip safely.
The only other comment I have is about your 30 day water supply. That means at least 30 gallons, probably more. At 7 pounds per gallon that means a minimum of 210 pounds of water. Your boat is not that big. I would bring maybe 5 gallons and a water pump to purify lake water.
Do you have a cockpit cover? Have you done some wet exits? Have you tried self rescue in that boat?
Sorry, I have a problem with clarification. I assume that what I know is my head is what I’m communicating, which is a problem I need to work on. I’m bringing 4 liters of water, a 1 liter squeeze bag and my Sawyer Squeeze, and I have a 30 days supply of Aqua Tabs to go with that. My plan is to have 2 fresh bottles and the tabs in a dry bag in a backpack that I’m going to be wearing, with the thought behind that being that if I lose the boat for some reason but can make it anywhere off the lake, I’ll have 2 1 liter bottles and a 30 day supply of water purifying tabs so I can draw from the lake for water. I know 4 liters sounds like “that’s waaayyyyy too little”, but in my prep trip I stayed on an island for 3 nights/4 days and didn’t take any water. I drew and filtered it all so that I would have that experience. And with my experience backpacking in the southern AZ desert, I have a good handle on how my body responds to too much and too little water. As you rightly pointed out, I didn’t consider it an option to carry enough fresh water for the whole trip, so then it became “there’s really no point in carrying enough for HALF the trip. If I’m gonna have to filter, I may as well save weight and bulk and filter almost all of it”.
As for wet escapes, I have not. That is probably the thing I’m lacking the most. I don’t leave for Page until Thursday, so I’m considering very heavily going down to the little town lake and doing that.
What you are showing in the picture is a Recreational Kayak designed for day paddles in calm water. I see a hatch cover at the stern but none at the bow. I don’t see deck lines that will help you stay in contact with it and also help with a re-entry. I also don’t know if there is a bulkhead that seals at the stern. Unless you lock yourself in with your gear it is unlikely that you will have any trouble falling out of it however, self rescue will be difficult if not unlikely. Have you tried filling it up with water in the shallows close to shore and then attempting to re-enter and empty it? Also, have you tried packing it with the gear & supplies that you will need for the trip?
I just re-read your last comment and I wonder if I understand you when you say that you will have a 30 day supply of clean water. If I remember correctly, it’s recommended to have at least a gallon of fresh water per day in the desert. I can’t imagine that you would be trying to carry 30 gallons (or even 15 gallons) of water along.
I agree with rival, the picture of your proposed boat is frightening to more experienced paddlers.
If I were you, I would consider going on a shorter trip on a smaller body of water.
Copied from the Old Town website: “The Vapor series is an entry-level recreational kayak that was made for paddling flat water lakes, ponds, and slow moving rivers and streams.”
Definitely not a kayak for the conditions described. Nor does it have two sealed bulkheads.
I have to concur with rival51, ppine and Rookie – you don’t have the proper kind of kayak for that sort of trip. It does not even have the most basic safety features and is far too short for an extended expedition such as you are contemplating. Does not have sufficient gear and supplies volume nor the performance characteristics for traversing big open water. Without bulkheads you will be unable to keep your baggage dry and if the boat swamps (and it will with that gaping cockpit) it will sink and you will be unable to right it and re-enter it without swimming it to shore, which could be impossible in a canyon.)
What you are contemplating is equivalent to taking a golf cart on an interstate highway.
Unless you can rent or borrow an actual touring or sea kayak (either a 15’ to 17’ long sit-inside kayak with a cockpit that can support a functional sprayskirt, a skeg or rudder to offset the crosswinds you will encoutnter and two sealed bulkheads OR a large sit-on-top kayak that you can equip with well-lashed dry bags for your gear and food) it would be better to postpone this adventure until you can obtain the minimally right boat for it.
Before you get pissed off at this reply, grab a dozen or so empty gallon or 2-liter water bottles and head with your boat for a windy arm of some nearby lake or canyon reservoir for a day test trip. Fill those bottles and stash them in the stern and bow compartments to replicate your gear loading. Then paddle out into water over your head and deliberately capsize it. Report back to us on what happens.
It’s one thing to be bold, quite another to plan so poorly you just about guarantee failure.
Wind of 20 mph isn’t the howling banshees I’m referring to. Try 30-40 steady, with gusts 50 mph or more.
Being rescued by other parties is not a plan, B or C or anything else. It is a last resort action, not a plan. Neither is rolling up (if you have this skill) a plan. It is simply a recovery method so you can continue with whatever plan you do,
Alternative plans would incorporate where YOU would land or camp unassisted, if it looks dangerous to pursue Plan A’s stops, That is the gist of it: route or schedule changes, including the ability to judge when to make them. This means not only should you carry and know how to use a weather radio but understand weather itself. Although NPS posts forecasts at some stations, it’d be foolish to rely on these alone.
You won’t need 30 days of water (240 pounds for water alone—really?) if you have a filter and are doing the length of LP. It doesn’t take that long anyway, filter or not.
You really, really should talk to a ranger before your trip. In addition to the AIS inspection regs, you have to abide by backcountry regs such as using approved human waste storage containers. No pooping in a hole or on the ground. The rule is to pack it all out.
No, I’m not upset about that advice. My question then becomes this. In a longer ocean or touring kayak, would I not be sacrificing some stability in exchange for the other features mentioned that I won’t have? As in “way safer to roll in, and way better at self rescue and saving my gear, but more likely to roll in the first place?”. I know that’s not a question anyone wants to hear, but I feel (possibly incorrectly, I can admit), that I’m in a situation where rolling is pretty much game over for the trip, but with the stability I have the odds are also reasonably less. I know the answer might be “technically correct, still a terrible idea”, but if I’m not thinking about everything based on a foundation of truth, then the considerations are flawed from the get go, if that makes sense. Getting the correct type of kayak suited for this trip is a non-starter, so I guess even if it’s the dumbest thing anyone has ever heard, it would be helpful to be able to make a decision about scrapping it based on truthful insight, like whether or not the kayak I have is inherently more stable, even if way less conducive to rescue and/or saving the yak itself.
A fully loaded sea kayak is incredibly stable. And if you should flip, it practically WANTS to roll back up. My first extended trip I was very uneasy about how my boat would handle; when I tried a loaded roll, I was back up and heading over for a second time before I realized it. Should your boat take on water for any reason, it will become just another piece of flotsam to wash up on the shore at some later date.
Stability on dynamic water where the waves & wind may knock you over is a different thing than stability while sitting quietly on calm water. A well designed hull may feel a bit nervous at first while sitting still but comes into its own when the wind & waves start up.
Rolling is a form of recovering from a capsize without exiting the boat. Most of us start with learning and practicing various forms of assisted and self rescue techniques. Usually starting with calm waters and then moving on to more dynamic conditions that are closer to when those rescue skills might be required. It is also a good plan to learn and practice the skills that can help prevent the capsize. Oh, yes, also be sure to practice staying in contact with your kayak when knocked over in conditions. You don’t want to be knocked over by 40 kt winds, come up and find that the kayak is now 10 yards away and rapidly heading for California far faster than you can swim.
Regarding your question about exiting the cockpit in your Vapor 12, you won’t even need to think about it – the cockpit is so large and the boat is so wide (almost 28") you will simply fall out, probably before the boat is even fully inverted. Gravity works in water too, by the way. In fact, you would have to fight to stay inside a kayak like that to roll it because the cockpit is so huge. You would have to brace your knees under the coaming like crazy to fight gravity and the flow of water from flushing you out of it. A 47" long cockpit won’t easily support a sprayskirt without imploding. Even an expert in rolling would have difficulty doing so in such a craft. You would have to self-rescue (climb aboard after righting the boat in the water and pumping out most of the water with your bilge pump – you do have a bilge pump, right?) You will need dry bags for any gear and supplies – they will not stay dry in that boat and you would need to tether them under the deck so they would not pop out and float away in a capsize. Boat has no decklines either, for securing your paddle to assist with self rescue and to hang onto for getting back in. Like most “recreational style” kayaks It’s really only a step above a pool toy.
Flatwater primary stability isn’t everything by the way, nor is it inherently “safe”. In rough water a short wide boat is LESS stable and can be hard to control. Sea kayaks with their vee hulls float up and over waves, even being hit broadside, instead of being thrown off course or flipped. And flatwater stability (flat wide hull) usually means a kayak that is difficult to paddle with any speed over distance.
The reflected shore waves you mention are called clapotis, and even if it is not caused by wind, the clapotis from a lot of big powerboats cruising past in a hard-shored canyon can be really scary in a smaller boat. My 15’ to 18’ by 22" wide sea kayaks just shrug it off.
The Vapor is for day trips and suited for those – bird watching and fishing on mild waters, not for multi-day expeditions. I even question it having enough room to stash all of the equipment and supplies you will need – not knowing your body size, can’t predict how stable it would be loaded up. At the very least, if you don’t want to take any of our advice, plan one overnight camping trip on a local river or small lake with your gear as a “shake down”. Unwise to take any extended trip without testing your set-up.
thanks to willowleaf.
Looks like another case of a rookie paddler getting confused about flat bottomed entry level boats. The same thing happens with canoes. It is important for people to understand the difference between primary stability and secondary stability. Many beamy flat bottomed boats feel stable in calm water. The old aluminum canoes would be a case in point. They have little secondary stability which is what is required in wind driven waves, multiple power boat wakes and clapotis (good one willowleaf). Boats with more v shaped hulls, rounder hulls and arched bottoms firm up when they are heeled over, in contrast to flat bottomed boats which readily capsize.
When the waves are washing over the deck, then you need a capable cockpit cover to keep the water out and some technique, namely bracing skills to stay upright and some ability with your hips.
Anyone that proposes a long kayak trip solo in a day tripping boat, that does not have wet exit experience and self rescue skills, is just asking for some serious trouble. No wonder the OP has anxiety about the trip. Way too many unknowns and lack of experience. Cancel this trip and thank the people that are trying to talk you out of it.
One option to consider is a self-bailing inflatable kayak, such as a Sea Eagle 380x or 420x explorer. these boats have great carrying capacity. You would most likely want to get a dry suit, or at the minimum a 3 mil Farmer John wetsuit. You would also need numerous dry bags that would be lashed to the “D” rings in the kayak.
The boat you show is not appropriate for the potential high winds and boat wakes encountered on Lake Powell. Good luck with your adventure!
SahuaritaDan,
Kudos to you for drive and attitude. Plan B/C need work as in shorter days and alternate camp spots. As for your boat in that lake and your concerns about not getting back in, you are crossing the line from nice adventure to freaking miracle if you survive. He is my two cents, keep the goal but delay a year, get a real boat and practice real skills, rough water and self rescue being paramount. LP is a fantastic place, you want to come back with good memories. In that boat you showed, you’ll likely not come back.