Isle Royale Forums

We have seen a few kayak portage yoke rigs, some home-made, some adapted from the usual wood canoe yoke, and even a more involved aluminum yoke which also raises the kayak for increased visibility. Has anyone had any experience with these, good or bad? That 2 mile portage from Richie to Moskey might be tough, carrying a boat on one shoulder.

JohnH here has made one, and has pics posted somewhere in this forum. A search should find them, or look thru his posts. Or wait til he pipes up .

I have a store bought one from Midwest Mountaineering. It looks similar to what John made. It's much easier and more comfortable than not having one.

Last year I observed a 125 lb, 5'6 man carry an enormous canoe using a yoke. He made it look easy.

Eddy, here's a link to to an older thread with some discussion, a pic of JohnH's homemade yoke, and a link to one you can buy:
http://www.isleroyaleforums.com/viewtop ... f=5&t=1170
I think John's on the island now

Thanks for the feedback and link. I thought there had to have been a previous discussion of this topic, but my search turned up nothing. Perhaps I'm not using the search function correctly (still new here!).

My 2 paddling buddies will probably use some type of portage yoke as shown in the link. I'm going to experiment with simpler pads added to my keyhole cockpit (carry kayak with stern pointed forward), possibly attached with velcro like my hip pads. I portage the kayak short distances that way now, but it slides around a little on my shoulders.

Thanks again.

I've got the aluminum one that raises the boat. It works well as you can adjust it on your shoulder for going up and down hills. The biggest problem with it is that it does not collapse and has to be strapped upside down to the boat. On the other hand, it also makes a nice camp chair. I'm told (and I've never tried this) that it also makes a pretty good outdoor privy if you position a cheek on each shoulder pad!

Because of the problem with carrying it on the boat, I will only take it along if I plan on base camping. It worked pretty well when I was dropped off at Malone and stayed there. Easy carry over to Siskiwit Lake.