Planning a multi-day trip, what do I need to know?

[millonario]

the water problem is not so much solved with this but it is an excellent backup.

http://www.lifestraw.com.au/page/lifest ... efault.asp

[eric]

If there are rapids involved, even minor ones, I'm not sure solo is a good idea. Even getting caught under a low branch can be deadly without a mate to help you out.

We did a run down a river in baby yaks here for giggles, perhaps 10km. I swung past a tree in the river and had some drama getting stuck in a branch, which I snapped off and yelled out for TOG to follow my track. I drifted around the bend and held in an eddy there for a few minutes without his cheerful happy face popping around the corner. To say I was concerned is an understatement - I nearly went back.

He finally paddled around and told me he'd decided on a different line and had smacked against the main trunk, gotten dumped and been sucked under, all in about a second. There was no gear on this trip, just paddle, PFD, small drybag of clothes and phones and thermos.

[missingdna]

Do some research, prepare some gear, take reasonable safety precautions, but most importantly GET OUT AND DO IT!!!
Don't over prepare, buy expensive gear" just in case" or carry everything but the kitchen sink. Every trip you do will carry its own lessons, the point is that you have to do more than one trip to learn them.

[Ado]

He finally paddled around and told me he'd decided on a different line and had smacked against the main trunk, gotten dumped and been sucked under, all in about a second.

That's a classic way of killing yourself. He was lucky there was enough room under the log. I saw one at the bottom of a race once, pulled the tabs on the skirt and bailed immediately. The kayak sailed off and eskimo rolled itelf under the log in 50cm of water. I would have been dead. So there's another piece of advice. Never EVER go anywhere near a half submerged log across the river. They are death.

[Barrabundy]

So don't hit THOSE snags for fish?

[Feral2]

Being fresh water, and if your going to plan some camp spots / talk with the cockies about permission to camp, make a trip and put in some food and water dumps. Easiest way is to hang a few cans of tucker, gas and water from a tree. Maybe add something thats a nice treat, like a can of caramel, that you wouldn't otherwise bother with.

Canned flavoured fish (I prefer salmon, Tuna is cat food) makes good rich protein sources for lunches you can eat in small hits as your peckish. Easy to store handy in your tackle bag for the days trip.

[eric]

That's a classic way of killing yourself. He was lucky there was enough room under the log. I saw one at the bottom of a race once, pulled the tabs on the skirt and bailed immediately. The kayak sailed off and eskimo rolled itelf under the log in 50cm of water.

There's an advantage of a sit on, when it's time to go, just go. That and you don't have to deal with a kayak that suddenly weighs over a ton or more and needs bailing out.

[Occy]

If there are rapids involved, even minor ones, I'm not sure solo is a good idea. Even getting caught under a low branch can be deadly without a mate to help you out.

I can vouch for that. During my recent Macleay River trip I took a dip at a couple of the twelve we negotiated, and was thankful the guys were waiting to pay out, erh I mean help me out. I used my smaller 2.7m Calypso SOT, which has good internal capacity and access, so had plenty of room for storage of nearly all our camping gear. Only problem was that garbage bags don't keep water out (since remedied with some large dry bags) so the tent and sleeping bag got a tad damp. Which wasn't all that pleasant. Water (4 litres for three days per head) was stored in expandable flexible plastic bottles which were squeezed inside.

[Barrabundy]

Speaking of water storage, I saw a promotional a few months ago about a new chemical container which is a bladder contained in a cardboard box. The cardboard outer will hold together after 24 hours immersion and, get this, they threw a full one off a scaffold about 5m high and the bladder didn't burst. They also had the bladder laid out on the ground, partially filled, and ran over it will a land cruiser...it didn't spring a leak!

.......those bladders would be great if food grade and available new.

[Ado]

I saw a promotional a few months ago about a new chemical container which is a bladder contained in a cardboard box.

What, a cask?

[eric]

Speaking of water storage, I saw a promotional a few months ago about a new chemical container which is a bladder contained in a cardboard box. The cardboard outer will hold together after 24 hours immersion and, get this, they threw a full one off a scaffold about 5m high and the bladder didn't burst. They also had the bladder laid out on the ground, partially filled, and ran over it will a land cruiser...it didn't spring a leak!

Was this chemical called 'Coolabah'?

[Barrabundy]

Yep, a glorified big arse goon bag!

My mistake, they are 15l containers and you can empty 2 of those in less the time you can empty 1 "normal"plastic 20l.

http://www.nufarm.com/AU/QuikPour

These companies don't do themsleves any favours with their videos do they? The one I saw was a different company and they were pouring the water into a drum at least. I know it's only water but it's not a good look pouring chemical coloured liquid onto the ground, makes us farmers look like total dills!

[shabby]

toilet paper!!!!!! my GOD dont forget the toilet paper!!!!

Forget toilet paper it only takes up space you always have the option of an aqua turd just watch which way the tide is flowing.

[Levi]

I've done plenty of solo O/N and 3 dayers, no worries at all. BUT if things went wrong it could have been bad, and i admit on my first trips i never worried about risks. We take a bit more care now days and give accurate ETA's and even had an EPIRB last time in a remote area.

Recently a mate and I explored a 3 day trip, in new territory with known waterfalls and portage to be expected. IT WAS AWESOME!!! we took way too much gear (as the following photos show), but even so we easily stowed it into the 2 SOT yaks. Our next trip later this year i think we can ditch 30% of the gear, as it was unneeded. 2 people doesn't require 200% of the gear as per one person, so it helps. Solo is possible, but you still need many of the basics that you can divide between 2 people (e.g tent, frying pan, billy esky etc).

Some great comments so far, and i will just add a little to it-->
Esky and frozen water bottles, def the way to go, My evakool gives 3 days of frozen bottles easily. Frozen vacuum wrapped bacon is a great idea too, TAKE IT!. Frozen steak or sausage also. Pack the esky tight, and only store in it what you need. my little IceKool 25l easily did it for us, and we ate VERY well Target catching fish, it helps cut down weight, and its normally not hard to do. Dried fruit, nuts, apricots, Prunes etc help to ummmmm... balance you diet! High carb food help with energy.
Water was pretty easy too, even though the river we were in was drinkable, we simply took enough for 3 days no worries. When ever we cooke we boiled the river water, though thats not always a tasty option, so think about that. If you do start to extend your trips, water and perhaps filtering/sterilisation should be a big consideration.
Store inside your hull of a SOT yak easily, but make sure you balance the load well, as it will impact your tracking and balance. We found out canned food rolling around through rapid runs is not a good idea.....

Gear wise, we took one 3 man tent, compact roll up camp mattresses (high quality, very light, they roll up to nothing and insulate you well off the ground too- worth spending money here), compact sleeping bag and thats about it. Extras include a travel towel, wool thermals (work even when wet) and of course your preferred choice of fire starting equipment. I take the same solo.

We survived a few capsizes/rolls and the only gear we lost was due to complacency and stupidity on small rapids where we didn't expect to have to baton the hatches.... won't make that mistake again.

One i strongly suggest is TAKE A SPARE PADDLE. I didn't and i lost mine in a capsize event, it took an hour or so to find it, luckily it came up out of the whitewash eventually, damaged but usable to get me home. Don't take it for granted, we were in a bit of trouble for a little while, and i was about to go Bear Grills with plastic and the fork of a tree....
We had an EPIRB too, just incase.

Some pics to show you our set up-->

Unloading the car.... Definitely don't need all of this!

Packed and ready to roll.... about 30% too much gear here i estimate

Bacon Stop after a long portage section... mmm bacon... nothing better!

Re-packed and ready to roll again. Bacon fuelled missiles ;-)

Easily handles these sorts of conditions, fully loaded

[Levi]

Oh, and take at least one spare rod and reel... we had failures, and losses here that you don't want to ruin your trip.
Remember, it can go wrong, so have a couple of back up plans.. we saw plenty of evidence of this (See attached).

Deliverance..... "hey rob... did you just hear a banjo??" :)