#5 Expedition Planning: Jeff and Seans’ Gear.

Hello, and Welcome!

This post is to inform everyone of what gear we feel will be needed to make our journey successful and fun, as well as keep us safe and happy at the same time. A quick review of the Mandatory Survival Needs, followed by our gear and why we chose what we are taking. Also a demo explanation of how it will be packed in the kayaks. So that being said lets see what we need to survive as human paddlers!!

First and foremost paddlers must have WATER to drink, not just H2O from any little mud hole! NO, honest to goodness Fresh, Clean, Parasite FREE drinkable water. Second, humans must have a shelter to hide in so when the outside elements get to harsh we can get outta the cold, heat, rain, wind, sun, snow, ice, or BUGS! Third, we must have food to fuel our bodies or the HUMAN ENGINE as I like to call it; and to sustain energy or Life itself. Last but not least important, is clothing to keep us comfortable, warm, and our spirits not to mention our overall well being- Riding HIGH! Now that we know what we must have it will be obvious to spot these items. Everything else in our gear will either be connected with survival or will be a luxury item. All will have a purpose and some will have 2 -3 different uses.                LETS GET TO THE GEAR>>>>  (J)= Jeff         (S)=Sean

Shelter:

• (J) 1 Mountain Hardwear 2 man Skylight Tent >10 years old
• (S) 1 Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad
• (J) 1 Big Agnes sleeping pad
• (J) 1 Marmot Helium EQ 15 degr. sleeping bag w/ liner.
• (S) 1 Mountain Hardwear 20 degr. sleeping bag w/ liner.- Courtesy of KayakKev
• (J) 1 Integral Designs Siltarp
• (S) 1 plastic Tarpaulin/ extra rope & MSR stakes(back-up)

Hydration or H20:

• (J) 1 liter Hydration bladder
• (J) 1 MSR Sweetwater water microfilter
• (S) 1 UN-Bottle 2 liter hydration bladder
• (S) 1 MSR 4 liter hydration bladder

Food:   In our previous post, # 4 Expedition Planning : The Menu; we covered all the food we will be bringing and dividing between the 2 kayaks. We will be stuffing this into dry bags and into the hull cargo areas.

Jeffs’ Clothing:

• long Smartwool underwear(long johns)
• 1 pr. Smartwool socks
• Kokatat Tempest pants w/ socks attached & relief zipper.
• Mountain Hardwear short sleeve shirt- fast drying/quick wicking.
• Immersion Research short sleeve thick skin(insulated rashguard)
• Mountain Hardwear Zip-t fleece long sleeve shirt
• Mountain Hardwear windstopper vest
• paddling gloves
• Kokatat storm cag jacket
• 1 Mountain Hardwear wide brim hat
• 1 Mountain Hardwear windstopper cold weather skullcap
• 1 High U-V Buff (neck/face wrap)
• 1 pr. Columbia water shoes

Seans’ clothing:

• long Smartwool underwear
• 1 pr. Smartwool socks
• Columbia Titanium splash pants
• 2 lycra rashguards
• 1 Columbia long sleeve shirt
• 1 Necky fleece torso vest
• 1 pr. Pogies(paddling)- Courtesy of KayakKev  & 1 pr. gloves(camp)
• 1 Extrasport Paddling jacket
• 1 Columbia Rainstopper Titanium jacket
• 1 Columbia wide brim hat
• 1 “Sailors” polypropelene cold weather skullcap
• 2-3 Bandanas(to use as U-V buff)
• 1 pr.  Columbia water shoes
• More items may be added depending on temps. IE:  Sweatshirts, shorts, wetsuits, SNOW Gear(HA HA HA)

Mess Kits:

• 1 (J) MSR Dragonfly stove
• 1 (J) MSR fuel canister
• 1 (J) GSI Hae tea kettle
• 1 (J) Snow Peak Trek 900 titanium cookset
• 1 (J) Snow Peak chopsticks
• 1 (J) MSR spork
• 1 (S) MSR Whisperlite stove
• 1 (S) MSR Fuel canister
• 1 (S) aluminum cook set(cup-pan-pot)
• 1 (S) Ultra Light plastic fork/knife/spoon set
• 1 (S) bandana-pot holder

As for the rest of the list it will involve either safety items or luxury items and may include 1 or more of the following items:

• Kayaks
• Paddles – and spares from these companies- Lendal, Tuktu (Jeff’s Greenland), Swift, & Bending Branches
• Skirts- (J) prefers neoprene (S) prefers vinyl
• Paddle floats
• Bilge pumps
• Duct tape
• whistles
• waterproof matches/lighters
• Weather Radio
• Cameras
• Princeton Tec headlamps & hand held flashlights
• H2Outfitters Rescue towline/Lotus Design towline
• Pac Towels
• chemical light sticks
• space blankets
• (J) Kokatat Bahia Tour PFD plus stuff
• (S) Extrasport Riptide coldweather Tour PFD plus stuff
• Sunglasses
• Strobelights
• knifes
• rescue mirrors
• First Aid kits
• Personal hygiene products-IE: toothbrush/toothpaste, camp soap, medicines.
• lip balm
• Blue Lizard sunscreen
• insect repellant
• spare batteries
• compasses
• trowel & axe
• book/notebook
• Biodegradeable TOILET PAPER- A MUST!
• deck of playing cards

All of these items will either be stored inside the kayaks in small drybags that will be color coded so we know what each small bag holds; then put into larger bags to contain smaller bags. Or will be stored on or in our PFDs. Also we have some deck space as well under the bungie chords(although we try to keep everything stored under the decks when possible). All items on this list are subject to either addition or subtraction of items at a further time depending on redundancy or weight/safety concerns. When packing the items into the boats once bagged we will try to pack the front and back hatches of the kayaks with equalized weighting, although sometimes you might want the back or front a little heavier depending on water/wind/weather conditions to make the kayak move more efficiently!

Well Jeff and I sure hope you have learned, enjoyed, agreed, and hopefully not laughed at our choice in gear! If anyone has any suggestions of items that they would take instead or feel we have missed anything please feel free to send us a comment or e-mail. We can’t guarantee we’ ll listen but hey its worth a shot. Afterall it is our site and we KNOW IT ALL!! Just KIDDING!! Thats a joke.

-Packing the GEAR, if only in my Dreams! Sea Turtle Sean

Next Post in the Expedition Planning Series #6 Last Minute Updates! due out the first week in December!