building UTCour F
or 15 years and all of my canoe tripping life I’ve been rent- ing, borrowing and using the canoes supplied by the vari- ous companies whose summer jobs managed to get me an
education. With driver’s licence, degree, real job and wife all checked off my list, buying my own canoe seemed the last rite of passage left for this skinny Canadian man. Seasons spent kneeling on blue foamy sleep pads in boats whose only modifications were Kevlar patches inspired fantasies of one day building my Ultimate Tripping Canoe (UTC). I pitched the idea to wilderness river tripper and meticulous boat outfit- ter Brian Shields and late last fall the project began.
T
he basis of the ultimate tripping canoe is a good boat. I chose the Esquif Canyon for its generous rocker and depth, which
make it both a big-water tripping boat and also one that likes to play the river. The Canyon will be slower and not track as well in flatwa- ter but we were building our ultimate whitewater tripping canoe and were willing to make some sacrifices for river paddling performance. We began at the yoke, replacing the Esquif stock version with a lami- nated ash and cherry yoke by Madawaska Valley yoke builder SlipStream— an aesthetic touch with the highest benefit-to-cost ratio when it comes to slugging our fully outfitted 77-pound tripping boat. Tanya and I have fallen into the pleasant agreement that I’ll spend my time in the stern and she will enjoy the freedom and view from the bow. Locating our seats and thwart position to accommodate our typical trip- ping gear was the next and most important step, and one that affects the rest of the outfitting process. Having legs better for walking in deep snow than sitting comfortably on public transit, I made legroom my top priority. The Canyon comes set in a more aggressive and centred playboat-like seating position so we had to move the stern seat rearward to gain my stretching room and leave space ahead of the seat for camera gear. We know we will have to shift gear forward to weight the bow to compensate and trim the boat.
Adjusting seat height and angle are the easiest and cheapest modifica- tions you can do to improve your paddling comfort. Moving my stern seat naturally raised the seat and increased the tilt due to the rise in the gun- wales toward the stern. This was perfect for my larger feet and longer legs. The bow seat we lowered and tilted forward slightly so Tanya could reach a comfortable kneeling position without the nagging ache of a level seat bar eating into her legs. Add too much tilt without thigh straps, how-
Ultimate Tripping Canoe by Scott MacGregor & Brian Shields
photo 1
Yoke & Stern Seat Photo 1
Installing the SlipStream yoke, we used the existing yoke as a guide for cut- ting to length, centring, marking and drilling the bolt holes. To allow two 60- litre barrels to fit snugly side by side yet still load and unload easily, we redrilled the gunwales and moved the rear thwart back to 24.5 inches from the yoke. Don’t inadvertently add flare or tumblehome to
your canoe when moving thwarts—trim them to fit or replace them with longer ones.
Photo 2
Think carefully about the compromises involved in moving the seats from the bal- anced standard positions. Balance, dry- ness, manoeuvrability and gear carrying capacity will be affected. White grease pencils, found at office supply and craft stores, are ideal for marking—measure twice, drill once.
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in photo: Mike Lamarche
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