Hand-made raft

**hunter63** · 02-03-2012, 01:54 PM

So what happened????//

**Rick** · 02-03-2012, 02:01 PM

Somewhere there is an insurance agent with heart palpitations.

**payne** · 10-20-2012, 05:48 PM

Some news from your beloved young-fool adventurer!

Met my friends in the Okanagan Valley for some cherry picking in order to make some money before leaving for the trip. We then left for Vancouver and started a hitch-hiking race to Whitehorse. I made it in 4 days. They ended up taking their time and making it in 8 (which got me worried: the highway 16 is known for the disappearance of hitch-hikers and is even now called Highway Of Tears because of that... but that's just stories from about a decade ago).

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Leaving Lillooet. I've traveled pretty much all around BC, and Lillooet is the most beautiful town I've seen so far. I have heard that the drive to Prince Rupert is spectacular as well, so I'll give it a shot next year and see for myself.

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Waiting for the rain to pass before restarting to hitch-hike. That's a bit further north from Prince George.

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We were on tight budget, so we decided to stealthily take pictures of the maps instead of buying them (around 50$!).

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The construction spot. About 20 km from Whitehorse's downtown. It's a small affluent of the Yukon River, and it had no current, so it was perfect.

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Starting the construction! We had only a small 1ft blade from a pruning folding-saw to cut all the material.

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Hitch-hiking back to the raft after having done the grocery for until the first city we will reach, Carmacks, 400 km further on the river.

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Completed! We added two longitudinal logs to then add 2 transversal logs for benches. For paddles, we used small straight trees, and salvaged plywood, attached with pieces of cordage. The raft cost 45$ to build (we could have made it cheaper, but we went for safety), and took 1 week to finalize.

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On the raft! Entering Lake Laberge. All our stock was right in the middle, on a salvaged waterproof sign, surrounded with a tarp. Guitar and maps on the top. The white bucket is in fact a cherry picking "american bucket", and acted as our fridge (fresh cold water).

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Drying the magic mushrooms we found as we traveled on the river.

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Hiking up a windy mountain.

This was the trip of my life! Experienced a lot of things I wanted to experience, among which the social pressure of being with a group of people for a long period of time in a very small space. Definitely got some tensions going. Learned a lot from it.

The scenery was breath-taking:
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We unfortunately decided to stop at Carmacks because my friends were not very prepared for the cold. Still a good 400km on water! We have plans of coming back and possibly rafting all the way to the ocean.
After the raft trip, I hitch-hiked up to Dawson City (way up north!). Stayed there for 2 weeks. A good 50% of my time was about all-nighters pulled alone, beside a fire, on a beach, to watch the northern lights:
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So...
To those of you who encouraged and instructed me, thank you!

To the ones who tried to deter me from doing the trip, I know you were probably only trying to prevent a catastrophe, so... thank you?

**Rick** · 10-20-2012, 06:47 PM

What a great trip and you have some fantastic pictures and I'm sure some memories just as fine.

Robert Service knew of Lake Labarge...

"Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

From The Cremation of Sam McGee

**Rick** · 10-20-2012, 06:47 PM

What a great trip and you have some fantastic pictures and I'm sure some memories just as fine.

Robert Service knew of Lake Labarge...

"Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

From The Cremation of Sam McGee

**hunter63** · 10-20-2012, 07:59 PM

Hey Bud, glad y'all made it....sounds like a great trip.

Did it come close to your expetations?

Great pic's.....thanks for the up-date.

**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 10-20-2012, 08:06 PM

I was surprised to see this post, I have to say I admire that you saw it through! Awesome pics!

**payne** · 10-20-2012, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by hunter63

Did it come close to your expetations?

I wasn't too sure about what kind of expectation I was to have. Now that I have experienced it, I can definitely say that this trip is something that will be extremely hard to beat in terms of expectations. But I do know I can still do even better (I still haven't done my extended survival trip yet)! ;D

**Sarge47** · 10-21-2012, 07:16 PM

Never thought I'd say this, but I nominate Payne for the "Boots in the field" award...seriously

Now where's that plate of Crow I've got to eat?

I like the fact that you didn't do a "Chris McCandlass," and go alone!! Good man!

"The Northern lights have seen queer sights,
but the queerest they ever did see...
Was the night on the Marge, of Lake Lebarge,
I cremated Sam McGee!

**BENESSE** · 10-21-2012, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

Never thought I'd say this, but I nominate Payne for the "Boots in the field" award...seriously

I'll second that. He deserves it in spades!

**payne** · 10-21-2012, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

Never thought I'd say this, but I nominate Payne for the "Boots in the field" award...seriously

Now where's that plate of Crow I've got to eat?

I like the fact that you didn't do a "Chris McCandlass," and go alone!! Good man!

Once we arrived on Lake Laberge, my friends went pretty close to abandoning. I had in mind to keep going alone (though wasn't sure about it). Fortunately, everyone followed!

I have a few plans for this winter: I am hitch-hiking back home and plan on passing a few weeks up at my dad's chalet. I will practice a few bushcraft skills, and will definitely try to improve my trapping skills as well. A bit of spiritual introspection (gotta love them mushrooms!), and some writing to clear my mind on my life's goals. I plan on cutting by hand all my wood for warming up, just to see how it feels, and much effort it requires.

If anyone is interested in joining me, the chalet is just an hour north from Montreal. I will be glad to host you, and we could share stories, and I will try to steal a few skills from you.

**kyratshooter** · 10-21-2012, 09:28 PM

You have really grown up on us in the past year Payne.

I would not have done it, but I am glad you succeeded.

Actually, I am glad you got to the west coast alive.

**payne** · 11-09-2012, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by kyratshooter

You have really grown up on us in the past year Payne.

I would not have done it, but I am glad you succeeded.

Actually, I am glad you got to the west coast alive.

And now I am (finally) back on the East Coast alive.

**intothenew** · 11-09-2012, 06:05 PM

Congrats! I look forward to more commentary.

**ElevenBravo** · 11-10-2012, 03:41 AM

Holy cow, you pulled it off, with flying colors! You should write a story about your adventure for us to read! I bet that would be awesome! Make sure you compile it to .MOBI format so I can read it on my Kindle!!

Thanks for the share...
Andrew

**Adventure Wolf** · 11-22-2012, 12:33 PM

To build something for that kind of journey on that kind of river, I wouldn't stake my life on buildings something at site. If I was going to go down the river I would not go down on something I hashed together with logs and rope. I would take the time to build something that I could stake my life on.

The first thing you're going to need is a design. Look for one on the internet. I would go with something that is flat bottomed and has sides no less than one and a half feet high.

The second thing you're going to need is material. I wouldn't go anything less than marine grade plywood, but personally I would go with seasoned oak, maple or another hard wood that has been sealed. You're also going to need something to seal your joints. I would go with marine adhesive, pine tar or beeswax w/ linen. This is only because I've personally seen those three sealants used. Someone else might tell you something else.

Third thing you need is tools. For this kind of project, you’d need nothing less than your average school woodworking shop. You could do it with all hand tools (I could at least) however that would take considerably more time.

My advice is rent the canoe.

**crashdive123** · 11-22-2012, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by Adventure Wolf

To build something for that kind of journey on that kind of river, I wouldn't stake my life on buildings something at site. If I was going to go down the river I would not go down on something I hashed together with logs and rope. I would take the time to build something that I could stake my life on.

The first thing you're going to need is a design. Look for one on the internet. I would go with something that is flat bottomed and has sides no less than one and a half feet high.

The second thing you're going to need is material. I wouldn't go anything less than marine grade plywood, but personally I would go with seasoned oak, maple or another hard wood that has been sealed. You're also going to need something to seal your joints. I would go with marine adhesive, pine tar or beeswax w/ linen. This is only because I've personally seen those three sealants used. Someone else might tell you something else.

Third thing you need is tools. For this kind of project, you’d need nothing less than your average school woodworking shop. You could do it with all hand tools (I could at least) however that would take considerably more time.

My advice is rent the canoe.

You read the OP and then skipped to the end didn't you? You missed the pictures of him actually doing what he set out to do.