Shooting from a Canoe

[daverami]

Hi all,

I like taking my DSLR with me when my wife and I are paddling. I was wondering what type of storage/carrying case(s) people use to keep their gear together. I usually just take the body, a couple of lenses and misc. with me in my photo backpack. It's kind of cumbersome to get stuff in and out of and I am thinking there must be a better way. I have a hard Pelican case which may work, but it needs to be secured so it doesn't slide around all over.

What do you guys do?

Thanks

 

[Nullifier]

Well there are alot of options. I have set up several canoes for pro photographers over the years and do alot of shooting myself. Personally if I am just out for the day I use either my perlican case or my watershed ocoee bag. The ocoee bag has a padded liner. Some of the canoes I have done over the years have incorperated custom thwarts and tie down points. One was even set up for deploying a custom ladder with stabilizing legs right off the bow in deeper water. Really slick set up. One of the canoes I replaced the stern thwart with a piece of douglas fir that was cut to the right width so I could bore some holes in it that the slr lens would drop into. I glued a small piece of 1mm neoprene to it to pad the body of the camera. you could go as far to put a bungie or adjustble velcro strap over the body as well. Of course you could add this infront of the bow paddler as well toward the front carry handle. you can glue in some anchor points to the bilges of the cane to strap down pelican cases but I like the ones Bell canoe sells. They do not have the traditional steel ring but rather a thick nylon strap. One version is actually a long daisy chain which is really nice.

 

[kerry]

X2 on tie downs on the bottom of the canoe. Depending on the canoe material you can use vinyl tie downs or in my glass canoes, I've simply epoxied a loop of polyester webbing directly to the hull. For easy accessibility, I like gamma lids on 5 gallon plastic buckets (http://www.amazon.com/Leaktite-5GAM...ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1250188049&sr=8-2)

I put three nylon cord loops on the bucket by drilling holes in the plastic lip a few inches down from the top. I then put three webbing straps in the nylon cord loops with a male fastex buckle on the end of the webbing. I put a female plastic fastex on each tie down affixed to the bottom of the canoe. The bucket can then be quickly and easily attached/removed from the canoe and the contents of the bucket can be quickly accessed with the spin on lid.

I typically put one of these bucket systems in front of each paddler in a tandem boat, giving each paddler easy quick access to things like cameras, rain jackets, binoculars, etc.

I've tested the gamma lids by holding them about 3 feet under water in a swimming pool. ( By the way, it takes a lot of effort from a couple of people achieve that feat. ) They have not leaked if the lid is tight. They have a rubber gasket under the lid.

I also don't like steel D rings on tie-downs. They're too heavy. I make my own vinyl tie downs. Don't know if I can describe the process in a meaningful way. I buy a piece of PVC raft material. I cut out two circles of the size I want. I then put HH-66 vinyl cement over half of each circle and glue them together on top of one another. (half of the circle is now glued together). When the glue sets, you can pull the unglued half out into a circle with a glued semi-circle arising out of the unglued circle. I then put a single brass grommet into the glued section. Cost about $1.50 each.
That description may not make much sense, but once you see one, you'll realize how easy it is. They are great tie-downs for Royalex boats and can be glued to very smooth surface glass boats also. They require no sewing.

 

[off.track]

on flat water, i don't worry about it at all. most of the time the camera is out and ready to shoot. in white water.. it hardly ever comes out.

 

[shadow images]

Dry bag or just out still water. Underwater camera enclosure for white water.

 

[daverami]

Thank you all for your input. I think I will try some of the setups. I especially like the idea of adding some type of D-ring.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Check out the Aquapac Bag

I did a full review of the one I got and have used it a bunch on swifter moving water.

I know it's a bit more cumbersome than just shooting the camera by itself, but you'll only dunk it once and know the bulk is well worth it.

I agree with the others that if on calmer water, just keeping it in a drybag or a Pelican case at your feet would be a good option

 

[Overland Hadley]

For your DSLR I would vote for a Pelican case. You could cut a RidgeRest for it to sit on to keep it from sliding around inside your kevlar canoe.

My 4x5 gear rides in a drybag, I designed the system for multi day/multi week trips.