So, you’re thinking about another kayak adventure, are you? And this time you’re hoping to enjoy the great outdoors for several days. An expedition! How exciting. Planning for an expedition is a pretty big deal and much of the challenge is in determining how to pack an expedition-amount of gear in that tiny little kayak of yours.
You see, packing for a kayak trip is part art, part science. We’ve been doing it for a while now, so it has become more science than art.
Learning how to effectively pack for a kayak expedition is key to a great trip. It is best accomplished by following three principles: 1. Preparing and packing the right gear, 2. Packing your gear so it remains dry, and 3. Stowing it in a way that keeps your gear safe and your kayak stable.
Here’s how we go about packing for our adventures….
Table of Contents
Gear you need while paddling
Most of us around here cut our teeth paddling the lakes and rivers in and around Algonquin Park, Canada. Because of this, we are always thinking about ways to stay warm – likely because Algonquin Park was always thinking of ways to keep us cold. So, when packing for an expedition, planning for warmth is a top-of-list item for us.
Warm synthetic underlayers. Better to be too warm than too cold when out on the water. It is best to dress in layers simply because you can always remove a layer if you get too warm. Synthetic fabrics tend to have better wicking qualities when compared to natural fabrics.
Whatever you do, avoid cotton. It absorbs water quickly and takes forever to dry. While wool takes a little longer than synthetic materials to dry, it does insulate well, so can be appropriate in various conditions.
Drysuit. If you are planning on hitting the water in early-mid April or late October, pack a drysuit. It will give you a little insulation and keep much of your body dry. It can be a little bit of warm heaven in a sea of cold and wet.
Hat and gloves. If you are indeed planning to brave the elements, then waterproof, insulated hats and gloves will feel blissful.
If remaining as dry as possible is important to you, check out the article I wrote on keeping dry in a kayak here.
Rashguards. If you expect to find yourself adventuring in milder conditions, still dress in synthetic layers, just lighter ones and fewer of them. Bring along a rashguard or watershirt. This will help keep the chafing down, keep the sun off much of your torso and reduce the veritable buffet of flesh being made available to the local mosquito population.
Footwear. Shoes with a rigid sole and waterproof socks. We are not fans of booties. They are a little warmer in the boat, but are border-line useless when it comes time to lift your kayak and belongings above your head and portage to the next river access. Remember: No cotton on your feet. Wal-Mart pack-of-10 gym socks will cause hours of heartache. Trust us!
Personal floatation device (PFD). All self-respecting kayakers wear them. These days, there are some great ones made by Kokatat, Stohlquist, Astral, or NRS that are comfortable and insulating while providing plenty of mobility for your big beastly arms. Also, they have pockets for those energy bars that you will be desperately craving after a couple of hours on the water.
Helmet. This isn’t for every kayaker on every trip, but if you are expecting some white-ish water in your future, then bring it along.
Spray Skirt. That little piece of fabric that keeps water out of your kayak while keeping you comfortably in. We love our skirts simply because less water in the boat means more joy in the paddler.
Paddle. Clearly your adventure will be disappointing if you forget your paddle. Find one that fits and bring it with you. Some of us use a paddle leash, others don’t. Your call.
Sunglasses and a nerd strap. The glare off a body of water can be blinding. We like big lenses that keep all of the sun out of our eyes and a nerd strap that keeps the glasses from falling off your face and sinking to the bottom of the lake.
Kayak. Obviously you will need one. Not everyone has the luxury of selecting the perfect boat from their collection of 20+ kayaks that will be perfect for the contemplated adventure. Still, there are some fairly important items to consider.
You will be sitting on your posterior for a great many hours. Make sure you are sitting in something comfortable. If you will be traversing a significant distance over a lengthy period of time, choose a boat with the capacity to fit all of your necessary gear.
Also, match the kayak to your route. A sea kayak won’t get very far down a chute of white water (in one piece.) The longer the stretch of uninterrupted time that you will sit in the kayak, the more access you will want to food, water, cameras, etc. Simply be thoughtful and match the boat to the trip.
How to pack your paddling gear
Most of your paddling gear will be directly connected to you while you are paddling so the problem of packing and stowing it really isn’t much of a problem at all.
Sleeping gear you need to pack for a kayak expedition
To perform at your best in a Kayak you need to be well-rested and nourished. Around here, all of us have had a few miserable nights during our adventures. Miserable nights lead to miserable days. Miserable days become unsafe days. If you want to be safe on your kayak, you must be well-rested. Here is what we pack in order to get the best rest that we can:
Dry underlayers. Bring the weight that matches the climate. The key is to make sure that they are dry. This means underlayers that you did not wear all day. This means underlayers that were protected from the water sloshing around the bottom of your boat. Dry underlayers are designed to wick the moisture away from your body, allowing you to remain warm. If you do not have dry underlayers you will be cold and will not sleep. You need sleep.
Dry midlayers. We like to pack some light pants as well as a fleece or down-insulated layer to provide warmth as necessary. We are conditioned to keep these layers as dry as possible also.
GoreTex shell. Here is the thing with GoreTex. It keeps outside water on the outside. At the same time, it allows the moisture that has been wicked off your body by your perfectly dry undergarments and fleece to pass through its membrane to the outside. This is a great fabric to keep you comfortable, regardless of your activity. I love the stuff.
Footwear. Bring Crocs or flip flops unless the adventure includes a significant trek requiring more robust footwear. Crocs are ugly. I know. My grandfather wears them with dress socks and dress pants. But they don’t absorb water, so they can conveniently sit at the bottom of the kayak until needed. In this case, I think it best to choose function over fashion.
Tent. I prefer a small, lightweight single-person tent. Others of us enjoy the bivy experience. I am not one of them. I find that bivys get a little too moist for my taste. Also, I like the extra living space of a tent. A tent can still be compressed into a small space, so the real estate required to pack it isn’t too constraining. Your choice.
Tarp. Typically, we pack a larger tarp to string from trees for shelter from the elements and a smaller tarp to go under our tents (or bivys). Pro-tip: Remember, to keep the footprint of your ground tarp smaller than the footprint of your tent. When it rains, the water won’t be able to collect on the tarp and run under your tent if the edges are already under your tent.
Mattress. If you want to sleep well, you will need something soft to lie on. Nature can lend a hand with pine boughs. But you’ll need a mattress. Personally, I avoid pure air mattresses because they don’t provide insulation. Foam is better. However, mattress technology has come a long way. The development of aerogel technology has allowed for comfortable, insulated mattresses that compress into very small sacks. These are worth the price (which is often significant).
Sleeping bag. I have a couple of sleeping bags. In my neck of the woods, summer camping and fall camping happen at drastically different temperatures so, remember to match your bag to the season.
Now, the party line with respect to sleeping bag fabric has always been that synthetic is necessary when engaging in water-based activities. Times have changed. Down technology has improved. Many down sleeping bags are now treated to better repel water. Because down compacts so well, and you pack it in a waterproof drybag anyway, down is my choice. All day, every day.
Headlamp. You’ll never lose your flashlight if it is attached to your head. Also, a headlamp frees up an extra hand to applaud all of your buddies that remember to bring a….
Bug net. It is more fun to spend your evening doing anything other than swatting at bugs.
Dirty clothes bag. What? We’re not neanderthals.
How to pack your sleeping gear for a kayak expedition
When packing for a kayak trip, dry bags are your best friends. Nay, your only friends. My basement storage room is littered with dry bags of all sizes. It is imperative that everything you pack related to sleep be packed in a dry bag. Over the years, we have figured out a few ways to use dry bags really effectively.
Pack your gear in dry bags based on similar use. In other words, pack all of your sleeping gear in one-to-three dry bags. If you are using more than one dry bag for your sleeping gear, use bags of the same color and then label them with waterproof tape.
It is easier to stow several smaller dry bags rather than one big one. The inside of your kayak has some nooks and crannies and it is easier to fit a bunch of smaller dry bags into those small spaces than it is to try and jam a big bag in.
Use your newest dry bags to house your sleeping gear. Pack your sleeping gear in a light, waterproof bag, like a garbage bag, before then packing it in your newest dry bags. Remember, your sleeping gear must stay dry!
How to stow your sleeping gear in your kayak
I have learned that there are two principles to consider when stowing any gear in your kayak: 1. Will your boat be more stable or less stable after stowing it? 2. How readily do you need to access it?
Pack your sleeping gear at the bow and stern of your kayak. Your boat should be loaded with its weight low and centered. Lighter items, such as sleeping gear can be stowed towards the extremes of your kayak without throwing off its stability. Heavier items should be packed closer to the cockpit to maintain proper kayak stability. Again, your sleeping gear isn’t heavy.
Do not pack sleeping gear, or anything else for that matter (except perhaps a bilge pump), on the outside of your kayak. Your sleeping gear must stay dry. It has the best chance of doing so inside a bunch of same-colored dry bags jammed deep bowels of your kayak.
Gear you need for eating and drinking while on a kayak expedition
Kayak adventurers come in many different varieties. Some simply put up with the paddling requirement because it allows them to get to their campsite where they then proceed to put on a five-course feast. Other kayakers eat a bunch of food because it helps them do more kayaking. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I call my nourishment strategy ‘Sustenance+’, aiming to be well-nourished with an occasional treat. I am not trying to earn any Michelin stars in the process.
Food. Plenty of food. Kayaking is a lot of work and requires significant calories. Make sure you pack enough food. It is a dangerous game to rely on natural food resources on your trip. The berries you were expecting might not be there. The fish might not be biting. The wild turkeys might not be… warbling. Perhaps this is the paranoia in me creeping out, but I always assume that the worst is going to happen and pack accordingly.
Dried food actually tastes ok. More importantly, it is packed full of the calories that you will need to keep your arms motoring on day 4 of your adventure. Just add hot water and you’ve got a meal that’s not half bad. Oatmeal and freeze dried eggs work well also. Dried food is light, packs easily and serves the purpose of pumping your body full of calories. There are lots of flavors so do some investigation to find something you like.
Eat your lunches on the water. We typically eat our lunches while in our boats, on the water. Truthfully, lunch really takes the shape of all-day snacking. Personally, I’ll go through a couple of energy bars (Clif Bars work), some jerky sticks, dried fruits and nuts (GORP), and… candy. Yep. My sweet tooth rears its ugly head while on the lakes and rivers of Northern Ontario.
Eat your carbs at dinner. Dinner is the time to relax your body and load it with carbs for the next day’s adventure. Again, be prepared with dried meals that only require hot water to prepare. If you have had any luck with a fishing rod, then by all means add your gilled spoils to the feast.
Small, lightweight grill. If you are fortunate enough to source dry firewood, then a small grill will provide you with the flexibility to do all of your heat-requiring tasks over the open flame. If you did catch some fish, go ahead and cook them directly on the grill.
Single pot. Two-to-three litres should suffice. This is particularly necessary if you are traveling in a group and you are boiling your water communally.
Burners and fuel. If you enjoy hot drinks and meals, even when it is raining, then you will require a couple of burners and some fuel to burn. Alternatively, if you are cooking a meal that has fickle heat requirements, the burners will provide you with a much more controllable, predictable source of heat.
Fire starter kit. Some matches. A lighter. Starter cube. Small amount of newspaper. This kit clearly has to be kept away from water. Double-pack this bad-boy in a dry bag.
Medium, foldable, handsaw. The packing footprint isn’t large and it doesn’t weigh much. But it’s value cannot be overstated. This is a very effective tool for preparing your firewood.
Knives. We all have our favorites. I have a rotation of seven and usually bring three on any given outing. They each excel at specific tasks. Together, they accomplish a lot.
Bowl, plate, cutlery – camping style. Again, we’re not savages. And it’s hard to eat soup with your fingers. Just be thoughtful and pack light.
Water. I always go through way more water than initially expected. As we all know, the first challenge of a multi-day kayaking trip is maintaining an ample supply of potable water.
Starting out the day, I usually take two-to-three water bottles that have been filled with water that was boiled over a campfire or stove. (In my neck of the woods, boiling is usually sufficient to cleanse water – particularly if the water was taken from a cleaner part of the lake or from a running portion of a river. Typically, at least one of my water bottles is equipped with a filter that is known to be effective for cleansing the surrounding water. As the day wears on, I may have to fill a bottle from the lake and run it through the filter. No fuss. No muss.
Hot and cold water. The other challenge with respect to water is the deep desire we all seem to have to drink something that is either really hot, or really cold. Lukewarm water is fine, but sometimes less satisfying. Heating up your water isn’t a problem. As long as you are on land, a campfire or burner can handle the job.
Cooling water off is a bigger challenge.
Here are a couple of tips: If your daily paddle is complete, set up camp in the vicinity of running water. The faster the better. Place your water bottle in the running water for a while (making sure it is secure so it can’t be swept away.) This will often buy you a few degrees of cool when you go to drink it.
When I am in my kayak, I sometimes attach a line to my bottle and drop it into the water for awhile. Usually I attach the other end of the line to my PFD. This is usually good for a few degrees cooler as well – particularly because I do most of my paddling in Canada where the water is usually cooler than the air. While this might temporarily mess up the balance of your boat, I’ve found that on particularly hot days, cooler water trumps perfect kayak balance.
How to pack your eating and drinking gear for a kayak expedition
Color code and label your storage bags. Think creatively about how to organize and stow your food and beverage gear. You might want to put all of your Monday food in a red bag, all of your Tuesday food in a blue bag, etc. etc. Alternatively, you might consider putting all of your breakfast gear in the red bag and all of your dinner gear in the blue bag. The principle is simple, if you pack food gear in groups, then you won’t have to keep every bag open all the time.
If food needs to be kept dry, then keep it dry. It is a real bummer to unpack your oatmeal, only to find that a pesky water leak has changed it into a cement block. If you have to bring bread on your adventure, it is much more enjoyable to eat it than drink it. Both of these insights are from sad experience. Just keep the dry food dry.
Packaged food can be kept loosely in nylon bags. While I have a preference to dry-bag everything I can, it is perfectly acceptable to pack a great deal of your food in nylon bags or some other modestly water-repellant bag that keeps everything together.
Pack fuel away from food. Fuel is a hazardous liquid that doesn’t mix well with freeze-dried Shepherd’s Pie. Pack fuel and food in different places.
How to stow your eating and drinking gear in your kayak
Food gear should be stowed closer to the cockpit. Remember, a key principle of packing a kayak is to stow the lighter items at the end of the bow and stern, while packing the heavier items closer to the middle of the boat. Food and kitchen gear tends to be heavier than sleeping gear, so it should be packed closer to the center of the boat. Be conscious of both the front-to-back balance as well as the side-to-side balance. I have learned that a well-packed kayak with good balance actually feels more stable than an empty one.
Share the burden of kitchen gear with your paddlemates. If you are traveling in a ‘kayak posse’, it is equitable to everyone to distribute the burden of toting the shared kitchen equipment. Don’t make Doug do it all because he lost a bet. Unless, of course, he deserves it.
Keep perishable food below the waterline and close to the hull. Fruits, vegetables and meats that benefit from cooler temperatures can be stowed below the waterline and close to the hull. Be aware that whatever food is jammed up against the hull will likely emerge slightly bruised and battered from the experience.
Stow water thoughtfully because it messes up the balance of the kayak. Water is heavy. You probably don’t want to carry much more than a litre or two. Whatever water you do carry is best stowed near the middle of the kayak to keep a comfortable balance.
Gear you need to keep you safe (and comfortable) while on a kayak expedition
Break-down / Backup paddle. We usually bring on break-down paddle per every two paddler in our group. Sometimes we make bad decisions with our paddles. They are such big, mighty, useful tools. Pushing through shallow rocks. Swinging at low-hanging foliage. We know we shouldn’t, but we do it anyway. This is why blades break and shafts snap. This is why we need backup paddles. Because we do dumb things. Store it inside the hull or secure it under the external bungee cords.
Duct tape. Find me a gear injury that duct tape can’t repair and I will literally build my next kayak out of duct tape. (That actually sounds like an amazing project.)
Whistle. Buy a loud one and keep it attached to your PFD.
Flare. Buy a small one and keep it attached to your PFD.
River knife. Carry a small one and keep it attached to your PFD.
Aquaseal. Buy a tube and use it to patch holes in anything that should be waterproof but isn’t.
First Aid Kit. Lots of band-aids. Triangular bandages. Gauze. Wraps. Tweezers. Disinfectant. After-bite. After-burn. Crazy glue. Speed stitches. Scissors. Pain killers. Muscle relaxants. Benadryl. General antibiotic. Pepto Bismal. Iodine. Bleach. Bring sufficient for the number of people on your trek. Think one kit for every three people. Store in bright, labeled dry bag so that it is easy to see and accessible.
Repair Kit. Goretex patches. Epoxy paste. Aquaseal. Duct tape. Utility tool. Screwdriver. Needle and thread.
Carabiners, pulleys and prusiks. There is always something to secure, stabilize or otherwise jimmy-rig. I’ve found that a small sack of these tools always gets significant use.
Communication device – SPOT. These devices use satellite networks to provide text messaging and GPS tracking. The price tag usually incorporates the cost of the device plus a subscription fee. If you like to go deep into the backwoods, then I would recommend it.
Topographical map. If your adventure has a detour imposed upon you, one of these can help you make your way.
Bear bangers. Bear spray. In my piece of the world, there are always, always bears. At first they are novel. After awhile, and for the safety of everyone, they just need to keep moving on. Keep handy when onshore.
Bilge pump. When your kayak has taken on too much water from a rogue wave or just from several hours of paddling, use a bilge pump to pump it back out again. Also, you can use the pump on land to empty compartments that have taken on water (without having to hold the kayak over your head and shake it). Store the bilge pump in an accessible spot, either just inside the hull or underneath the external bungee cords of your touring kayak.
Two-way radios. We use these all the time when traveling in a pack. Sometimes, we send someone up ahead to scout the upcoming terrain and report back. Usually, we just use them to needle each other about bad stock trades.
Multi-tool. Like the duct tape of screwdrivers. There are few tasks that a multi-tool doesn’t make easier.
Toiletry kit. Toothbrush. Biodegradable soap. WetOnes. We can still be a little civilized, can’t we?
Miscellaneous. Fishing pole. Flashlight. Book. Notebook and pen. Spare batteries. Solar chargers. Throw bags. Zip ties. Swim suit. Rain shell. Sunscreen. Itinerary. Bug spray. Soft cooler bag. Permits. Paddle float. Latrine amenities. Groover.
A couple of parting kayak-packing pro-tips.
Bring a large empty duffle bag for portages. During those over-land treks, an empty duffle can be filled with many smaller dry sacks, allowing everyone to carry everything more efficiently.
Keep your deck clear of heavy gear. If your kayak is top-heavy, it will find a way to capsize. I usually keep my bilge pump up top. That’s it. I keep anything else that I might need (during normal paddling) in my day hatch because, once my spray skirt is sealed, I won’t be accessing anything stowed anywhere in the hull.
Store larger bags behind footrests and bulkheads. If your kayak capsizes and you are required to make a wet exit, you don’t want to be encumbered by large, unwieldy sacks.
Know the maximum weight capacity of your kayak before jamming it full of gear.
Bring enough chocolate to satisfy your own cravings with enough left over to share with your crew. Most will thank you.
If you have a preference to watch an actual person pack and actual kayak for an expedition check out this YouTube video here.
In Summary
There is a lot to consider when planning an overnight kayak adventure. Like anything, a little thought and a lot of planning go far.
Make a checklist and use it to pack for your trip. Literally, print out the list and use it to check things off. Hopefully this article has helped in some small way.
Take extra care to keep dry the items that absolutely must stay dry. Double-pack them to make sure.
Remember to balance the weight of your kayak from front-to-back and side-to-side in order to make your kayak stable and your time on the water enjoyable.