I'm definitely giving it a try.  I have made a cordura head piece and i'm going to rig it up maybe this weekend and see how it feels.  My canoe is fairly light at 43 lb but I have to say that I'd rather carry an 85 lb pack than that canoe simply because of the weight distribution.  Getting a bit of weight off my shoulders and on to my back seems like a plan to me.  I guess I'll find out.  As for using adjustable cleats: given a choice between adjustable and non-adjustable why wouldn't I choose adjustable - there's no extra work involved.

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Well 88 lbs is a beast for sure
My thought was that sometimes while 2x with the canoe ( Kevlar Tandem) and a light pack ( or not so light), my shoulders start hurting way before my legs give out.

The idea of taking even 10-15 lbs of those shoulders kind of appeals to me. I guess I'll have to try it out and see if the pluses outweigh the negatives?

I liked it insofar as it helped relieve the pressure on my shoulders.  But I really didn't care for it.  If I missed it when hoisting the boat, it was very hard to position properly because the boat was so heavy it was hard to move.  My view is that no one should be carrying a boat so heavy it needs a tump.

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I think the idea of being able to adjust the pressure easily is so that as your neck muscles strengthen you could put more weight on your head/neck. You could also have a situation where different people might be portaging the canoe.

Other than that minor issue, I take it you liked that Bungee Tump set-up?

I once had a Mad River Explorer that weighed - I kid you not - 88 lbs.  It had a bungee tump in it like the one Cliff describes.  I saw no need to have a cleated adjuster for it, and neither should you.  You just try it, adjust it, try it again, etc., until it suits you.  This should work unless your head and/or neck are likely to change size.

Just an update on the Harmony yoke pad, I loved it! This picture is after a rather long portage, my Wenonah is in the foreground with the pad attached. Per a tip over on BWCA boards, I mounted the Harmony pad to a 5/8" piece of plywood with Gorilla mounting tape and then bolted it through my yolk.  This pad was so much more comfortable than the 2-padded system sitting next to it on my buddy's Old Town.

quote]Can you think of knot or a system that might work for that? [/quote]

I would do the same thing it appears Cliff did from what I could make out in those grainy pics?

You have 4 anchor points for that 2 bungee cord set-up. Let's say you use the same dimensions he does. The back bungee is going to be just behind your existing yoke and the front will be determined by the size of the canvas you decide on. At each anchor point you make a center mark half the width of your gunnel, similar to how the yoke is attached. From that center mark, you go 1” each way and mark that with so you can easily see it.

I’d use 550 Para cord or maybe some of that non-stretch yellow cord that we mentioned for food pack hanging. Drill 2 holes the size of cord and use some rolled emery cloth you get from auto parts store to make sure the holes don’t have any sharp edges. Take a piece of cord, maybe 12”, you can trim later and make a loop with a double overhand knot in one end. You want to have a visible knot big enough to put the tag end of line thru later. You feed the tag end from underneath the gunnel and then feedback down thru the other hole. When you get done you’ll have a V shaped anchor. Take the tag end and feed thru that loop on the standing end.

Do the same on the same side for the front bungee. Then do the opposite sides. When you’re done you’ll have 4 V shaped bungee anchors.
You’ll have to experiment with the length of the 2 bungees cords? You want those heavy black rubber ones like the truckers use. I’d measure the width and allow for the bungees to be under constant tension.

The two V shaped anchors with the loops is where you adjust the tension on the bungee.

You can make some simple overhand knots or whatever you can adjust easily on the fly.I don't know about using gadgets, I think simple knots would work and you have nothing to lose, but if you them, then by all means try them out.

This is going to take some trial and error with the bungees, because if they’re too long, you won’t have enough tension, too short not enough.
I’d adjust the tension so when the canoe is on your shoulders WITHOUT a pack, the yoke pads are barely touching your shoulders. That will seem heavy on your neck because you haven’t built up your neck muscles yet.

Then put your empty pack on and see how it feels on your neck with that added padding?
Still too much pressure, back off the tension.
He says he has about 60% of the canoes weight on his neck. I think that’s way too much to start with.

Depending on your canoes empty weight, plus whatever you have added in gear weight, that could be easily be 25-30 lbs which if you’re not used to it would be way too much even with the tension reduced as allowed by the length of bungee you need.

Rather than having too much weight for a short time and then having to unhook the tumpline, I think you’d be better off say putting 10# on your neck/head and being able to do the whole portage in relative comfort.  As you get stronger, you work up to more and more. You mind find you have to get 2 shorter bungees down the road?

There are plenty of seasoned paddlers that carry the WHOLE weight of canoe with a tumpline so it can be done and even greater loads than a canoe are routinely carried this way around the world.
Not for everyone, especially people that are not born into it or used to that kind of physical effort.

That’s why I think his idea is so interesting. You have the ability to adjust and if you drop the canoe, it wont’ strangle you.  I think getting even 10-20 lbs off your shoulders on a long portage would be worth the learning curve?

I just finished rigging a tumpline for my heavy food pack out of 2” seatbelt material and a spare slip-on shoulder strap pad I have for luggage. I made it so I can pull/loosen the tension as I portage.

Will do a report on how it works when I get back from trip in May. I rigged it too go around side grab loops of food pack and then UNDER my shoulder straps where they attach to pack. I tried it out with a full load and it seems workable?

This should get you going. I’m sure others will chime in as well. I think if you get the materials together with your canoe, you’ll get some of your own ideas as well.

If you’re a little leery of drilling holes for a system you might not like, you could get 4 small C-Clamps and clamp them on the 4 center lines, make some cord loops and jury rig the set-up to see if you think it’s for you before committing to drilling the holes?

ST

solotripper wrote on Apr 25^th, 2015 at 2:31pm:

Cliff's tumpline really interests me.  I have wanted to try a tump on my canoe but never went ahead because of the same concerns that Cliff mentions - I'll lose my balance or fall and strangle myself!  But the design that his friend came up with seems rather brilliant - brilliant because it is so obvious.  The only thing I'd want to do would be to devise a way to more easily shorten or lengthen the parachute cord so that the tension on the tump could be easily adjusted.  Can you think of knot or a system that might work for that?  Maybe either one of those small Nite Ize Figure 9s or one of their small Cam Jams?
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I'm definitely going to give it a try for my big trip this summer.  Thanks for posting this, ST.

Gavia wrote on Apr 24^th, 2015 at 11:59pm:


Same for me. I have these Bourquins and they're fantastic:

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I also prefer the adjustable model, which are easy to adjust to whomever is going to be carrying the canoe. That's especially important if you're a skinny guy, but someday may have a friend along that's not as thin.

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IF your going to do that, I'd buy some AIRCRAFT grade aluminum tubing on-line ( not that expensive). I'd get some heavy copper tubing something you could bend with a hand tubing bender.
Make yourself a template that your happy with and then have the exhaust shop match it.

Leave the total length longer than the distance between where your going to bolt on.

Take some pieces of hardwood and use a shop vise to flatten the tubing so you can make and bolt into existing yolk holes.

Lot's of good and different yoke ideas on-line. Not all are for everybody, but if you own your own canoe, then you have ALL winter to tinker and find what works best for you?

Some people make tubing yokes and use a tumpline. Not for everyone obviously. Yoke rides across his shoulders on his pack straps.

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Cliff Jacobson uses this combo-method. I think this idea has much merit.

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