[Linked Image]
Here is some proof positive that a canoe can haul more than half a calf moose....
It was very stupid, and the result of inexperience, but when my buddy David and I shot two bull moose one fine morning we were surprised by the capacity of our Coleman 16' Scanoe to handle the huge loads of meat we were loading into it. We customarily cut moose into 8 pieces, bone in, and place into cotton bags, then lash to a packframe for transport. We packed all 16 pieces to the floating canoe and were amazed when it seemed to handle them without sinking too deep in the water. This was great! it would save us a 10 mile round trip to camp to ferry the meat to where it could be hung. So we just kept packing, and the canoe still had 4" or so of freeboard when we were done, so we pushed off for camp. Unknown to us, the canoe was actually resting on the bottom. When we pushed off into the river, we started sinking until we had only a scant 1" of freeboard remaining - just under the aluminum gunwales. To say we were alarmed is to put it mildly. However, given the nature of the swamp were were in, it seemed like just as big a problem to find a suitable place to unload and cache some meat, so we just proceeded, VERY cautiously, all the way past camp to the main portage across to the Carrot River. Our wake was breaking up and away from the canoe on the gunwales, I'm sure we were actually underwater on the back end as we chugged along on the perfectly calm channel with the little 2HP Evinrude pushing us slowly along at a trolling speed. We made it to the portage without sinking. God looks after fools I guess. This picture is of David with the meat and canoe at the landing at the end of the portage between the Beehive channel and the Carrot River. I gained a whole new respect for the capacity of a canoe to carry freight, and learned to check the canoe for proper loading after that!