Hey all! My girlfriend and I are getting some Remix’s after our holiday travel. We have some 3 and 4 night trips in the spring on class II to III water. Unfortunately there isn’t a shop around here that has the boats for us to check out. I was hoping somebody could give us an idea of the capacity of the bow and hatch? What size dry bags do you use in yours and how many? We have some pretty nice camping/backpacking equipment but we are trying to get an idea as to whether it’ll work with these boats. Thanks in advance!
lots of small dry bags
– Last Updated: Dec-18-15 8:35 AM EST –
seems to work better for me. My hatch is really leaky and the tab where you lift up the hatch cover has broken off. When the hatch cover gets wet from ww a tremendous amount of suction occurs, making the lid very difficult to get off by hand. So I carry a wide flathead screwdriver in a plastic peanut butter behind my seat. My screwdriver doesn't suffer from nut allergies so it works fine for me.
In the hatch I keep dry clothes, all food except lunch. stove, toiletries, dry shoes, I try not to open it until I am making camp.
You'll also want to put some gear in the bow between the pegs to balance it out. How much you can fit depends on how long your legs are. The bow is actually where I kept my tent (I let it get wet) and a small down sleeping bag. I just wedge the stuff sacks in. I use a heavy duty trash compactor bag inside of the stuffsack to keep the sleeping bag dry. I gooseneck the trash compactor bag and I trust that system more than my dry bags. When I get thin spots on the trash compactor bag I patch them with duct tape (which is also kept in the peanut butter jar. A wide mouth nalgene bottle also works well for keys, screw driver, extra drain plug, duct tape etc. The advantage of using the nalgene bottle is the plastic loop on the lid can be beenered in easily behind the seat.
Also don't forget you have a bit of additional room directly behind the seat.
The boat fills up pretty quick and I usually end up with gear strapped to the deck bungies as well. By day two my sleeping pad ends up there' I get more lax in my packing each day.
Hardest thing to fit in the boat is my drybox for a 35 mm camera. You want to have access but its just hard to find a place it fits and is secure. Let me know if you get that figured out.
I seriously doubt I can roll my xp when it is loaded. The huge deep wide cockpit makes it harder to roll (I seem to have trouble getting good contact with the hips and thighs- and the additional weight would make it tough for me. Fortunately I haven't had that issue.
The boat will become even more sluggish on the flats when it is loaded but your butt will like the comfy seat at the end of the day. Sometimes I wedge a jacket behind my back and the seatback to keep me more upright in whiewater. I find lifting up on the seatback/backband helps prior to entering the boat as well.
You'll enjoy the big bow on the xp for surfing- something you don't hear about a lot but its a surf machine. Big and stable as well- forgiving-boating for dummies- which can be nice.
Thanks!
I’m hoping to be able to put my sleeping bag, pad, inflatable pillow, and bag liner in the bow; tent, clothes, and tools in the hatch. Think three 13L bags will go in the hatch, or is that a bit ambitious?
sounds like a bit much
that sounds like a little much. I don’t know how big my dry bags are but I’m thinking smaller than 13l. I’m assuming L stands for liters. There is a little space taken by the rudder tube and it’s kind of inconvenient to pack around. Overall I think you got about the same amount of space as a backpacking trip- maybe a wee bit more. I used to carry a big pack- Kelty’s biggest external frame. so keep that in mind when making a comparison. I readily admit I haven’t taken the xp out for more than two nights. Shouldn’t make much of a difference- as only the food increases as trips get longer.
Salmon Stowfloat
This bow dry bag was designed for the XP10 – should give you some idea of dimension. Also, there are a bunch of videos LiquidLogic made that show them preparing for a Grand Canyon trip. That might help with load out.
http://drybags.com/product/FGW-SALMON.html
Thank you…again
– Last Updated: Dec-19-15 11:28 PM EST –
Thanks for all the replies! That stowfloat definitely gives me some perspective.
I realize that I won't know until the boats get delivered, but I'm trying to get some idea as to what's possible for the trips we have planned. We have some relatively decent backpacking equipment and in warmer weather space definitely won't be as much of an issue (smaller sleeping bags). I think the worst case scenario would be splitting the tent/fly/footprint up into two 13L bags and strapping them to the decks...at least in colder weather.
Our maiden trip will be through the PA Grand Canyon for 3 days of floating, hiking, and camping.
Packing Post
– Last Updated: Dec-20-15 12:26 AM EST –
Need another kayaker for that trip?
Here is the blog post and video where they talk about packing and gear.
http://kayakcamping.amongstit.com/page/2/
There’s always room
for another kayaker! This past year we spent a lot of time kayak camping on the Clarion and some time on the Yough. We live in Pittsburgh so the Clarion is an easy weekend 1-2 night trip. We started kayak camping earlier this year, but we missed the decent water levels of the Spring. Will definitely continue to explore the Clarion this Spring but would like to extend my time in nature. We are going to try a 3-nighter.
This coming year I really want to explore different rivers: we’re doing the PA Grand Canyon in early April, but it will be another 2-night trip since it’s not very long stretch.
I definitely want to check out the West Branch Susquehanna- there’s 20-some miles that are really secluded. Again, it wouldn’t be a long paddle, but it sounds like a great place to do some short paddles with good camping and hiking.
In the summer when water levels in smaller rivers drop I would like to do a longer trip on the Allegheny starting at the Kinzua Dam. Warm weather means smaller sleeping bags and hammocks, so more room in the kayak for food.
Watershed Stowfloat
Thanks again for suggesting the Salmon Stowfloat. I ordered one for each of us and they are great. Our other dry bags are Sea to Summit Big River dry bags and with their roll-top designs I lost a good bit of their capacity when rolling them down.
Our cold(er) weather sleeping bags are Big Agnes 15* bags and each sleeping bag would fill a 25L roll-top dry bag. Since the Salmon Stowfloats are zip top I don’t lose capacity when closing them. This morning I was able to put a sleeping bag, liner, inflatable sleeping pad, and inflatable pillow in each 24L stowfloat.
Being able to keep all of our sleeping gear in the new bags not only makes our kits more organized, but it frees up a good deal of space in the hatch and behind the seat. In the warmer months when gear is smaller, and when I do solo hammock camping trips, this makes a huge difference.
We live in the city but we try to go kayak camping about 6 nights a month. As much as we like to “get away from it all” we also like to do it with a certain level of comfort. Like I said before, a lot of our gear is lightweight and compact…that being said, a lot of it is unnecessary: Therm-a-Rest Treo chairs, REI Flex Lite table, etc… Being able to fit the sleeping pads, liners, and pillows in the bow, in one dry bag with our sleeping bags goes a long way in keeping us comfortable while at camp. Thanks again!