Canoe Outfitting

Basic Outfitting Whitewater Outfitting

Outfitting is the process of customizing your canoe to fit comfortably and perform as needed. The most popular outfitting is basic outfitting for lakes and easy rivers. This involves adding seat and knee pads, footbraces and supplemental floatation. Basic outfitting takes a general boat, and makes it more comfortable and safer to paddle.

Whitewater Outfitting goes further, turning the canoe into an extension of your body. Whitewater outfitting includes replacing seats with pedestals, adding very secure floatation, installing thigh and knee straps that transfer every movement to the boat. Whitewater canoe outfitting is overkill for lakes and easy rivers, but is essential for class III and higher water.

Two Royalex Rendezvous, the top boat has been totally outfitted with Mike Yee Whitewater Outfitting.
The bottom boat has no outfitting, it is exactly how it came from the factory.

Basic Outfitting for lakes and easy rivers

Float Bags

Any canoe that goes on a river should have supplemental floatation. Typically this is in the form of float bags installed in the ends of solo canoes, and in the center of tandem canoes. The coast guard requires that all canoes float, not sink, but that minimal floatation is not enough for river paddling. Without supplemental floatation, your canoe will fill with water and barely rise above the surface of the water. A canoe full of water can weigh over 1,000 lbs. Not only is a full canoe very difficult to recover just due to the weight, but its momentum can do incredible damage to the canoe if it impacts a rock, log or other obstruction.

To ease recovery and reduce the risk of damage to your canoe, it should have supplemental floatation. Float bags are nylon or vinyl bags that fill large voids with air. They displace the water making the boat ride higher, where it will hit fewer rocks. That displaced water also reduces the overall swamped weight of the canoe making it easier to recover.

On lakes, float bags can make deep water re-entry possible. They will prevent the boat from filling with water, allowing the paddler(s) to climb back into the canoe and bail it out without always having to swim for shore.

Supplemental floatation is required for all Canoe Colorado trips!

Float bags must be secured in the canoe. Just setting them in the boat won't do much good, they will come out, lift, or otherwise reduce their effectiveness. The bags should be held in place by lacing or a bag cage which will hold the bag in place. We offer bag cage kits from Mike Yee and Bell, and we have built a page showing different do it yourself options for simple lacing. Click Here for more information on float bags, cages and lacing options.

Knee Pads

Knee pads are one of the first things put on any canoe which can be paddled kneeling. They provide a cushion of support and reduce sliding around in the boat. We offer knee pads from Mike Yee and Bell, and we have built a page showing the different do it yourself options for simple padding.

Seat Pads

Sitting in a canoe for hours at a time can leave you with a numb butt. Gel and foam seat pads are available from We-no-nah, and our do it yourself padding page shows other options.

Footbraces

Footbraces provide additional contact with the boat. Flatwater and basic river footbraces are set forward of the paddling station for comfort while sitting. Whitewater footbraces are part of a pedestal system and are designed for kneeling. We offer footbraces from We-no-nah, Yakima, and Keepers.

Whitewater Outfitting

We-no-nah Rendezvous with Mike Yee Whitewater Outfitting

Whitewater canoe outfitting provides the maximum in performance, control and safety. Unlike the demands of basic outfitting, whitewater paddlers need to become one with their boat. The canoe and the paddler become interactive where a movement from one creates a response from the other.

Whitewater outfitting is a coordinated system, where all parts must work together to achieve performance. The pedestal, thigh straps, knee straps, and knee pads are all interconnected.

We offer whitewater outfitting from Mike Yee and Bell. Each system is slightly different with their own advantages. We do not encourage mixing the two systems, since they are each designed to work with their own components and are not always compatible without modification.

Outfitting by Mikey

Mike Yee outfitting is the original. It is lightweight, simple and incredibly effective. We have been using Mikey Outfitting on our personal boats for years.

Outfitting by Bell

When Bell first entered the whitewater playboat market, they used Mike Yee Outfitting. After a couple years, they created their own adaptation of Mikeys system. Bell offers two degrees of outfitting, one which is very similar to Mike Yee and is "Mike Yee Inspired", and another which is slightly more secure and designed for extreme whitewater.

For a comparison between the Mike Yee and Bell Outfitting, click here