Canoe tripping on a dime

I was living the poor student life when I first got into canoe tripping. With close to no budget, I had to creatively figure out how to do it without spending a lot of cash. It's not cool that money can be a considerable barrier to canoe tripping, so I want to share what I learned during that time to perhaps inspire others to take up the activity without taking out a second mortgage. 

I'm no longer a student and have now spent a considerable amount of money on canoe tripping gear, but I still look back fondly on those early days using a great deal of home-made gear. It gave me a good head start. If I waited until I had enough money to get into the sport, I would have missed out on so many great memories. 

Available funds may have nothing to do with wanting to trip on the cheap. You may only do one trip a year and don't want to spend a lot of money on it. That makes sense, so hopefully this article will help you get out there without a large financial commitment. 

Note: I just want to note that I will occasionally mention Temu as a place to get cheap gear. If you haven't heard of it, it's like a giant online dollar store. I've purchased several things from them and it's been fine but I advise only using the web version. I'm not certain, but I suspect they have unscrupulous web-tracking activities through the app. 

On the water gear

Canoes

If you're going on your own, it's best to learn canoe tripping on flatwater first for a variety of reasons, but this also makes it cheaper. You can flatwater canoe trip in some pretty cheap canoes. I started by borrowing my mom's fiberglass. She bought one just after I moved out. You can work your way up to tougher whitewater boats if that's your goal, but if you want to buy, Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. I bought more than 10 used canoes over 15 years until I finally broke the bank and bought a new boat. 

If you've put in your flatwater hours and want to get into whitewater but still on the cheap, canoes made of polyethylene will do just fine for beginners, but be aware that nearly all glues do not bond with "polies." So you won't be able to glue down knee pads, thigh straps, and anchors for flotation. I still learned whitewater without those things, and so did Bill Mason. Once your skills improve (and maybe your financial situation?) you'll want to get into those things later. 

Paddles

Similar to canoes, cheap paddles will do just fine to start. Whether it's plastic or wood, try to use shorter and wider paddle blades for rivers and whitewater and not the long thin blades known as Otter tails or Beaver tails. There are usually plenty of used ones available online. 

Canoe flotation

If you do have a canoe that can accommodate flotation but noticed that simple float bags are wildly and unnecessarily expensive, there are alternatives. If you have the cage set up in your bow and stern, you can actually ram any floatable in the cage and it will work fine. I once bought $15 dollar large Yoga balls on Temu for this purpose and they do the job! They were for a loaner boat and they haven't actually been used yet, but they are there on the ready!

Knee pads

Whenever in whitewater you should always be kneeling (if you want to throw a big flag that you're a complete amateur, run rapids with your knees way up in the air). If you're using a poly canoe, or just a canoe without knee pads, it'll start to hurt. There are three basic kinds of knee protection. There's the proper knee pads glued to the bottom of the canoe, which is the more costly option. You can also just wear knee pads, as long as they're flexible and rubbery. Or you can put down a mat right across the bottom of the boat. I used an old yoga mat when I started out, but for my kevlar canoe which doesn't have glued pads, I found a perfect elongated foam door mat from the dollar store that fits perfectly. 

Dry bags

You'll need something to keep critical things dry. Regular garbage bags are mostly useless. They can abraded in the canoe and are so easily ripped. Really strong garbage bags, like the ones contractors use to throw away construction debris could work if you can find a way to keep them sealed tightly and inserted inside of a backpack so they can't abraded. 

I've done many attempts at home made dry bags, and its not easy. With the rise of cheap Chinese gear available on the internet, you can now get a reasonable dry bag for under $20 bucks. There are rubbery ones that can be on their own in a boat, and others that are made of a kind of tent-like material. You never want those loose in the boat as they aren't very strong. But again, they work great inside of another bag, or even a plastic tote. There's no shame in that. 

Barrels and alternatives

Never buy a brand new canoe barrel. It's a standard shipping container but for some reason they tack-on an extra couple hundred dollars if you buy ones marketed to paddlers. There are several people on Kijiji that sell used ones regularly. Look for blue ones with ring snap lids and in 30L or 60L sizes. There are plenty of unusual barrels out there that may work fine, but I've been burned on a few different kinds of odd-barrels before. 

If you don't have a budget for a used barrel, a thin and cheap dry bag, mentioned above, inside a tote works fine. It's best if the tote has some kind of a locking clamp to keep everything inside if your canoe dumps. You could also wrap straps or ropes around the whole thing to make sure the lid does not come off. The internal dry bag will keep the contents dry while the tote provides the protection. 

PFDs

This is one area where it's harder to cheap out on. Fortunately, some companies have started to make cheaper paddling-shaped PFDs which make a sort of rounded triangle shape on the front and back and have no flotation on the shoulders. The cheap blue and yellow cottage PFD is not ideal since they can't be tightened properly around the waist so as soon as you're in the water, it rises up over your shoulders making swimming and seeing around you more difficult. That's fine if you're waiting for the motorboat to come back to pick you up after you fell off the tube, but not ideal for swimming. Flexible neoprene PDFs could work fine and they aren't too expensive. 

Body gear

Clothing

Clothing made for outdoor activities can be absurdly expensive, but you can be fine by just choosing clothing based on the fabric. When you're in the canoe (unless it's a super-hot time of year) you'll want to avoid cotton which dries so slowly and actually sucks heat out of your body when it's even slightly damp. There are plenty of synthetic fabrics that will all dry faster and not drain your heat when damp. For a good rain jacket, consider a cheap poncho. When it's pouring, I still wear a cheap poncho from Temu. For cold weather around the site, having a wool sweater of any kind is great. 

Footwear

Similar to clothing, you want to avoid shoes that absorb and hold water, or at least have an option that doesn't absorb water. While you're in the canoe, and depending on the weather, you'll want some form of sandal . If it's whitewater you're running, closed toe sandals are important. Knock off crocs are great for around the site and it's no shame to wear socks in them. Crocs aren't great in whitewater since a strong current could wash them right off your feet. 

Helmets

Yes, there are expensive whitewater helmets made explicitly for whitewater paddling, but truthfully, head injuries in whitewater are rarely prevented by the unique features of whitewater helmets. You just need a helmet that fits your head properly. This means your biking helmet will likely do fine, or if you have a bit of money, there are cheap "multi-sport" helmets that you can buy. 

Camp cooking gear

Stoves

You actually don't need expensive MSR or Primus camp stoves to canoe camp. We have some of those but to this day we still cook mostly on the fire. Work on fire-cooking skills and you won't miss fancy stoves. You may, however, want the comfort of a stove on the ready for times you can't get a cooking fire started, like in the rain. Small stoves that run on mythylhydrate, which you can pick up cheaply in the paint section of any hardware store work great. The only difference is they don't burn as hot, so cooking will take a bit longer and you have to be more creative with adjusting the heat. You can make your own stove out of a pop can and a fluff of insulation as I used to do all the time. You can learn about how to make these here. It's a fun little craft actually. 

Pots

This is another item that you don't need to break the bank over. We still don't use fancy titanium pots. We're canoe trippers, not ultralight backpackers. My favourite pot that I still take on every trip is a cheap stainless stockpot I picked up for under $20 bucks over 20 years ago and it works great. Cheap pots don't have the extra heavy bottom so they're lighter. And you'll also want ones with no plastic anywhere on them and metal lids (rather than glass). Temu is especially great for smaller pots. 

Utensils and all the things

The expensive camp cookware products aren't necessary. You can outfit yourself fairly well at Ikea or a dollar store. Just keep weight and size in mind as you build up your kitchen kit. 

Kitchen and food organizing bags

Keeping small kitchen gear and food organized within a larger bag or barrel is done with simple mesh bags with zippers. These can also be oddly expensive. For years I used dryer bags for delicates from the dollar store which work great, but don't necessarily last as long. Now mesh bags designed for suitcase organization are reasonably priced on Amazon or Temu. 

Gear for the campsite

Knife

There are plenty of reasonable cheap camp knives out there. When you pay more you're likely paying for the strength of the metal and its ability to hold a sharp edge over time. If you're just out camping a few times a year, a cheaper one will do fine. I will, however, caution against really cheap folding knives since the folding and locking mechanism are potential points of failure that a simple fixed blade does not have. It may be ugly, but this Morakniv knife is a great reasonably priced camping knife.

Tarps

A good tarp for rain or sometimes shade is part of your essential gear kit. Polyethylene tarps should be avoided if you can, but if you have it, it will still work. They are heavier and they don't pack down well. For some reason, just a big rectangle of quality tarp material (which is basically tent material) is wildly expensive at outdoor stores. Again, cheap Chinese products can come to the rescue. We have several far less expensive tarps from Amazon that do the same job as the expensive ones. Just search for camping tarp, and find ones that are over 3 metres wide and not poly. 

Tents

Unlike other things mentioned here, it doesn't work well to cheap out on a tent. The waterproofing of cheap tents is often terrible, and the fly (for unknown reasons) like won't cover the whole tent. However, they work fine otherwise for keeping out bugs and having a place to sleep, they're just a bit heavier. One easy solution is to use your large cheap tarp from the above paragraph and put it over your tent. If your tent doesn't have a ground sheet, you can make one from poly plastic sheeting from the hardware store. Go with one with a higher "mil" rating than 5.

Camp ropes

Good camping ropes are another thing that can be unnecessarily expensive. You'll need some strong ropes for setting up your tarp, clothes line, hanging food bags, etc. Cheap rope is often also made of polyethylene and is just awful to work with. It doesn't hold knots well, it doesn't wrap well and it's not very strong. The solution to a lot of rope needs is paracord, which is very strong and also cheap rope. I suggest picking up a spool of the brightest paracord you can find and cut it to whatever lengths you need. Melt the ends with a lighter. This is the one I use. 

Camp chairs

The early days when I camped without any kind of chair were pretty brutal. After a long day's paddle, you just need to sit down and have something else hold up your back. There are various ground chairs that kind of hold you up but Helinox revolutionized camp chair design with their collapsible aluminum frame chair. Unfortunately, they also want a lot of money for it. However, there are so many copies out there that are just as good, perhaps only slightly heavier. I'm still too cheap to buy a Helinox so I have four different kinds of knock offs and they're all great! Just search for "camp chair" and you'll see the Helinox style. Just pick one with decent reviews and there's no need to spend over $50. 

Transportation

Canoe foam blocks

I have no idea why the foam blocks used to put a canoe on a roof are so expensive. One alternative is to buy an extra thick pool noodle and cut it up to make four block. Cut out a thin slice for the gunwale to fit into. Cut it too thin and the noodle will break open with the width of the gunwale in the slit. Cut it too wide and it won't stick on to the gunwale when loading. 

Tie down ropes

If you picked up the paracord that I mentioned earlier, you can use that for tying down a canoe too. Master the trucker's hitch and you'll be able to make any load super tight. 

It can be a real challenge sometimes, but don't let all the expensive gear turn you off from such a fantastic activity. Like I wrote about over here, no other activity comes close (in my humble opinion). I hope this has gotten your mind thinking about ways you can still get out there without selling a limb.