rig in case any of us got the call from a friend with an open spot on a permit. Then I realized, if I’m this intrigued and excited about multi-day canyon trips and dream of the Grand Canyon, most of you probably do too. I enlisted the help of Rapid columnist and long-time southwestern river guide, Jeff
A
Jackson. After weeks of mail ordering from Rapid’s partners AIRE, NRS, Sawyer, Wa- tershed and Yeti, we finally found ourselves at the put-in of our local river on a cool, cloudy spring day building our ultimate canyon rig. In Part I of this two-part feature, we share why we chose what we did, how we put it all together and what we learned along the way. Next spring, in Part II, we’ll set up the ultimate canyon kitchen and campsite—think surf ‘n’ turf and horseshoes.
THE RAFT The base of our ultimate canyon rig is the raft itself. We chose the AIRE 15.6R ($4,353). At just under 16 feet long, it’s large enough for multi-day trips, but still reasonable on smaller rivers. We won’t be racing or running big drops so a traditional shape and full-sized, round (that’s what the R stands for) tubes will provide a stable and dry ride. For us, this is a family raft and gear boat for raft-supported kayak trips. We ordered three thwarts for seats ($228 each), so we can also paddle-guide
it.AIRE boats are light, beautifully finished and come with the best warranty in the business— if we wreck in the next 10 years,AIRE fixes it. We picked orange because it’s bright and it’s the only color not used by the rafting companies around home. Dan, Rapid Media TV’s cameraman, already calls it Punkin. I prefer Jack.
THE FRAME When it came to the raft frame, we first considered a boutique-built custom job, but settled on something more modular. Being 2,000 miles from the Colorado, Green and Salmon, we needed the option to break the frame down for travel. We may stern rig this boat with thwarts at the front for the neighborhood kids, and
on longer trips we may add another dry box or cooler. The modular NRS frames allow for incredible versatility. You buy the frame in pieces, starting with the outer rails, and then add crossbars (88” side rails with six 66” crossbars, $517) to hang
gear.AIRE provides blueprints of their rafts with dimensions that determine length and width of the frame and sizing of the dry box and cooler. Generally, it is best to go as big as the raft will allow.
THE OARS Most people buy one nice set of oars and one set of cheap spares to be lashed to the boat and hopefully never used. After ordering our nice set of 9.5-foot Cataract SGG oar shafts ($277.90/pair) and Cataract Magnum seven-inch blades ($143.90/pair), we received a call from the new owner of Sawyer Paddles and Oars. Peter Newport was keen to send us a set of 9.5-foot Sawyer SquareTop Dynelite oars ($729.96/pair), the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. The SquareTop name comes from the oversized section of Douglas fir above the rope wrap that acts like a built-in counter balance. Despite the added strength of a sexy car- bon fiber braid wrap, we’ll be saving these babies for deepwater rivers and hanging on the wall in the office.
www.rapidmag.com 33
FTER MY FIRST CANYON TRIP on the Green River’s Gates of Lodore last summer, I was hooked. This feature story began quite shame- lessly self-serving. I wanted to set up the Rapid team with a killer raft
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48