Pirogue Re-entry?

[Paddletrucker]

On all of the other kayak fishing boards I keep up with, a pretty big deal is made about your ability to re-enter your kayak. Since I am too fat, I practice this frequently so that I know I can do it if I need to. I have even gotten to where I will jump off the boat, a Sit-On-Top, and go for a swim almost every time I go out.

A sit on top is easy easy to re-enter, and since there are scupper holes, filling the boat with water is not an issue. What I would like to build, a Pirogue with a more kayak like bottom and sealed decks with hatches bow and stern, would probably not be too difficult to re-enter in deep water. BUT, I am guessing that it will fill with water and the sealed portions at the end will keep it afloat long enough to get it bilged out.

Do any of you practice re-entry in a pirogue-type craft? If so, what has been your experience with dealing with the water in the boat?

 

[hairymick]

Mate,

It is not as easy as it sounds and the best and safest practise is not to fall out in the first place. LOL

 

[john the pom]

Can't for the life of me imagine it would be possible to get back in a pirogue with a side entry, not that I've ever tried. Can only imagine this would result in the opposite gunwhale coming to meet your nose at a rate of knots. Perhaps you could think about an uneven amount of floatation in the ends: you choose which. This ought to leave one end partly... ok more submerged than the other. Then you could try crawling/shuffling in from that end. Some kind of paddle float affair would probly help. Then you get to relax, and bail for an hour or so. I won't mention my big lead keel idea. :roll:
Regards John.

 

[seedtick]

three or four inches of water in the bottom of somewhat waterloged wooden pirogue (read that as heavy) and a hundred pound quick and flexible kid can do it with no problem

us old geezers better stay inside the boat or pull it to shallow water

 

[beemer]

Seedtick,
You got me to thinking (since have yet to build / use first p-roe)-All those pixs here on the this board with those old guys hefting / holding dem boats over their heads must be when the boat is bone dry then. Makes me say hmmm.

Second, re "reentry" went canoeing w/ a red cross instructed paddler one time and he demonstrated the flipping the swamped canoe back over / evacuating the water and a reentry from the end of the boat (as was said).

My goal is to keep the dry side up-it never hurts to be prepared, that is why we wear pfd's and hope to keep em dry!!

 

[Oyster]

There is a time and place for all mankind and boats. Boat wise and boat accordingly in small craft. This is the first rule upon venturing out into the real world of wet water. The old saying goes something like " Thy sea is so great and thy ship is so small"

Of course there are old and young people too that should not be going where no man has gone before, including in airplanes in the water too. So plan ahead, which was also done no matter what you build your boat out of. Most cases even a wooden boattorow, they are not exposed long term in the elements to get too awefull heavy. Thats my words of lack of wisdooooom today.

 

[JEM]

Since a pirogue is meant for calmer waters, I'd think pushing the gunwale down to fill the boat with more water and then rolling in and bailing the water out would be the way to go.

Paddle float wouldn't be bad idea if you had a thwart.

 

[oldsparkey]

Don't know about the rest of you but the water I use my pirogues in , if it was to tip over all I would have to do is stand up. Any deeper water I would be over , shallow water is close by. So a short swim and then stand up.

Paddling in the Okefenokee ( plus a lot of the streams in Florida) we like to say that if you tip over , splash around , holler at your buddy and then stand up. Most of the ( back in ) water trails in there you could just sit on the bottom and do all the splashing. :lol: :lol: :lol:

As a kid (back in the dark ages ) a buddy and I would take Dad's Old Town canoe out in the lake , dive out of it and then slip over the side to get back in. Then repeat the process. I don't know if I could do that today ( Not as flexible ) but old training does stay with you.

If the ends of the boat are sealed with a short deck then you have a flotation chamber at each end , just use the boat as a life preserver ( Hang onto the boat ) till you get to shallower water.

When giving talks to paddlers about water safety I always suggested that if you capsize to hold onto the boat , a boat is easier to see then a person in the water. Besides the fact that it will keep you floating , all your stuff is in it , it is your transportation out of where you are , the better visibility when looking for someone missing or in trouble , and can be shelter when on land.

Best thing is to keep the dry side up and don't switch the dry for wet. :roll:

Chuck.

 

[Paddletrucker]

Can only imagine this would result in the opposite gunwhale coming to meet your nose at a rate of knots.

I was thinking that if you employed the same method as re-entering a sit on top, that you could get back in while only filling the boat with some water. I have done this on a Mad River Synergy 14 and a Native Ultimate 12, both of which are more hybrid canoe than kayak. THey don't have scupper holes. This is the way I do it.

1. Swim up to the boat so that you are perpendicular to it.

2. Grab the gunwale on the OPPOSITE side of the boat.

3. Let your body float onto the top of the water. The only way I can do this on any boat is to float on top of the water. I have seen guys look like they jump up out of the water onto the boat. I can't do it that way. Too fat, I guess, I have to float.

4. Pull the boat back under you as you are floating on top of the water while kicking your feet. It's like you are trying to swim across the top of the water over the top of the boat. Do not try to pull yourself onto the boat, but htink of pulling the boat under you. Don't ask me why, but this seems to work.

5 Once you have pulled the boat about half way under you, turn over so that you are sitting. You'll be balanced across the boat as you turn over. Then, you will be sitting with your legs on one side of the boat.

6. Simply pull your legs into the boat and back in front of you.

I do it this way almost every outing that it is nice enough to swim. I don't live so far south that I have to worry about gators and sharks!!

I am hoping this will work on a boat I make because I like to paddle in deeper water as we have more larger rivers and lakes close by than shallow rivers.

 

[bearridge]

Since a pirogue is meant for calmer waters, I'd think pushing the gunwale down to fill the boat with more water and then rolling in and bailing the water out would be the way to go.

Az I sat watchin' Van in the water 'n with Joe helpin' me git hiz boat 'n gear ta the bank (the water wuz movin' toward the big tree that had us backed up), I kinda wish Van had give that plan a try. I figger if he had been by hizownself 'er everbody else had gone thru first ('er if he had been out in a lake 'er wide, deep river), this woulda been hiz best plan. It iz kinda what paddletrucker does.

Two thoughts if ya try that. Ya better keep yer bailer handy 'n tied ta yer boat, but if ya tie all yer gear inta yer boat, it will be hard ta bail out the water. Anybody who never tried ta paddle a boat even half fulla water oughta give it a try someday in a empty boat. It iz danged hard ta do 'n danged eazy ta turn bottom upwards. It iz really eazy ta turn bottom upwards when ya never tried ta paddle a boat fulla water. Seen it, done it, wont fergit it. Ya gotta do the most careful, slow paddlin' ever ta keep the water under the boat.

regards
bearridge

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.  P. J. O'Rourke

 

[Paddletrucker]

Guess I should have mentioned that I'll be keeping a manual bulge pump with me to expel any water that is in the boat after re-entry. I like them better than simply bailing the water out.

 

[TarDevil]

I might get castigated for this, but last fall on a calm morning I took my pirogue out in the Atlantic (within sight of shore). As a precaution, I tie-wrapped fun noodles to the inwales so if I did tip or swamp, I could climb in and just paddle my swamped but floating boat back to shore.

Other than that one occasion all my pirogueing excursions, as oldsparkey said, are in wadeable waters within a short distance of shore.