Extra pair
The last trip i did i took a extra pair of water socks.and a pair of bomber gear fleece lined paddling pants. it worked pretty good. one thing that i think is good to have is the hot hands packs. they are great for keeping yopu worm in the sleeping bag.
Ramblings about using heaters
– Last Updated: Dec-19-04 2:55 PM EST –
First, as Evans points out, there may be some risk of CO production with propane catalytic heaters, so it's probably best to turn it off when you sleep (like Linda suggested). BTW, Coleman says that these things are safe to use in a tent or other enclosed space as long as you have a bare minimum of ventilation (6 sq in), so the CO risk must be pretty minimal.
I just got a small propane-fueled catalytic heater today and have already done some experimenting with it. I have never used propane-fueled gear for camping before, so I was a bit surprised to find out that this heater can't even be started in weather as cold as what we have right now, even with a full fuel canister. To get it lit, you first have to warm up the canister a bit to give the propane enough vapor pressure to deliver fuel to the burner (keeping it inside your coat for a while does the trick!). I suspect that the overall burn time is greatly reduced in cold weather for the same reason, so I plan to make a ventilated, lightweight metal container for the thing which will keep the whole unit quite a bit warmer than it would otherwise be, making a greater percentage of the propane in the canister available as fuel (for non-portable propane heaters, the solution to this problem is to use oversize tanks, but that's not an option for camping gear!).
If you have space in your boat and want to bring along some *serious* heat, get an older model Coleman liquid-fueled catalytic heater from e-bay (you can't buy them brand-new anymore). Unlike propane heaters, they can be lit no matter how cold it gets, and they burn a really long time at a much higher heat output than the new propane heaters. These are not safe to use in well-sealed enclosures, but they are great for nearly-closed shelters (my old liquid-fueled heater was the *only* thing that allowed me to take the pictures of the eagles I posted on webshots -- that day was the coldest day I've ever been in the woods, but inside a slightly drafty photo blind, the heater kept me very warm).