I use water bladders (MSR), but I don't mess with drinking tubes. After all, it's only a canoe and I'm not racing, so I don't mind picking the thing up to drink from it. In my guide-boat I put water bladders right under the seat, which is a really the ideal place for heavy items, and nothing else in my gear list that's heavy could possibly fit there (yet for such a tight space, just a few inches high, it's amazing that I can actually put 12 liters of water under there, and I'd never approach even one-quarter that amount under the seat with typical bottles). In a canoe, I keep one on the floor between my knees, and if I have extras, they are behind the seat alongside my main gear pack. Water bladders neither role nor slide around, but I usually tie them to anchors on the floor.
I myself don't find reaching behind me for stuff to be much of a problem, but it's not my first choice when it comes to stuff I'm likely to need on the water, and there's certainly no need for your drinking-water container to be behind you.
Oh, I forgot about the other items. In my guide-boat, I usually put cameras, binoculars, etc. behind me, since I don't want stuff within the area where my legs are. In a canoe, those items are on the floor, just in front of my knees. Also, in a canoe, my rain gear and perhaps a few other clothing items that might be needed quickly are in a pack that's within a short reach in front of me (being a kneeler, I keep that pack quite close in front of me, as there's no space needed for outstretched legs). When in the guide-boat, that stuff is in the top of my main pack, behind me. I get up on my knees and turn all the way around when needing to get into that pack, and I sometimes do that in a canoe too.
I wear a pfd with pockets. The waterproof camera sits in an open pocket with a lanyard to a tie down ring on the jacket. The cell phone goes in the other pocket in a cell phone drybag.
Because of long standing back issues I need a seat with a back. I use a sit-backer with a pocket on the back, slip my bladder in the pocket and clip the bite valve on the seat strap. Camera/cell phone go in a dry pouch w/neck strap then tucked inside PFD. The PFD pocket getsziplocked munchies.
I paddle an OT Pack-12 with the original wood/cane seats.
On either side of the seat is a square space where the seat rods meet the gunwale. I screwed a bag to these to hold my bottle, snacks, etc. As I am not a white-water paddler, I never really worry about being overturned (never happened yet) so they remain in the bag.
Later I replaced the bag shown with a heavier one I sewed and stuck to the opening via bungie-cords. when I am feeling paranoid, I clip the bottle to a line I ran from bow-to-stern.
Another option is to get a simple bottle holder and screw that to the thwart before you.
In flat or slowly moving water, my day gear is generally in a dry bag which is either clipped directly around the forward thwart (solo canoe) or tethered to it on a short length of parachute cord with a biner on the end. My water bottle of choice is a standard Nalgene bottle with a plastic loop, connecting the top. A small biner on the loop keeps the bottle clipped to the D ring on the dry bag.
Day pack same as kayak hung from thwart. Camera in pocket of pfd. Cell phone / case in the other pocket. Water bottle, in use bottle, in the net mesh outside pack. Spare inside. Knife in smaller pocket of pfd. Fishing lure stuck to lining of fourth pocket. (ouch)
@clydehedlund said:
Instead Of Round Bottles
Use flat ones instead, like Hershey syrup containers. They may slide a little, but not roll around, out of reach all the time, like the round ones.
In the “old” days we used to drink right out of the lake, practiced this technique of plunging the paddle deep into the cooler therms, catch the paddle springing back to the surface, quickly put our lips to blade and drink the cool run off. I don’t even drink the water in the wilderness anymore without filtering it. Do they make a reliable filter paddle?
