How to Move a Canoe

Short Distances

• 1

  Carry a short, lightweight solo cruiser or racing canoe on one shoulder. Rest the left gunnel on top of your left shoulder, hold your left hand under the keel and tilt the right gunnel over your head, resting in your right hand. This method works well for short portages. To toss your canoe on your car, get behind the car and just slide your left hand under the left gunnel and simultaneously tilt the canoe until horizontal, then slide it forward onto your canoe rack.

• 2

  Use two people to carry a tandem. Start with the canoe seats facing up. Both people stand to the right of the canoe, one at each end. Grab on to whatever is most convenient---a painter, end thwart, deck---with your left hands, lift the canoe and start walking. To place a canoe on a car, lift the canoe straight over your heads while turning it upside down. Stand to one side of the car and lift the canoe sideways onto the car rack.

• 3

  Use a portage yoke to solo-carry any canoe weighing over 35 pounds. A portage yoke is a curved ash bar with shoulder pads installed near the center of your canoe with bolts. It enables you to balance the canoe comfortably on your shoulders.

• 4

  Use a portage cart or canoe wheels to carry canoes over long relatively unobstructed portages. Weighing from 2 to 50 pounds and costing from $50 to $300, these can save time--- and your back---on trips with numerous or long portages.

Car Transport

• 5

  Carry your canoe on top of your car using an inexpensive block or pad system if you have an older model car with rain gutters. Many outdoor retailers sell relatively inexpensive systems which you can clip on to the rain gutters of your car.

• 6

  Buy and install a roof rack for cars without rain gutters. These racks are permanently attached to the roof of your car. Many car manufacturers sell rack systems designed for specific car models. Outdoor retailers sell generic systems. Professional installation is highly recommended for roof racks.

• 7

  Center the canoe to minimize the distance its ends hang beyond the ends of the car. Use two tie-down straps to attach the canoe tightly to the two crossbars of your car-top system. Next, use lengths of rope or extra-strength bungee cords to firmly anchor the bow of the canoe. One piece of rope or bungee should run from the bow to your front left tow ring and another to the front right tow ring. Next tie down the stern. Make sure all of the attachments are very secure to prevent the canoe from moving as you drive.

• 8

  Drive very cautiously when carrying a canoe; it acts like a sail. Lightweight cars are especially vulnerable to crosswinds when carrying large canoes, and can be blown sideways a few feet when passed by 18-wheelers at highway speeds. In severe weather, consider pulling off the road, finding a sheltered area or facing your car into the wind and waiting out a storm rather than risking a roll-over.

Hiring Canoe Transport

• 9

  Contact a shuttle company to transport you and your canoe for recreational trips if you do not wish to do it yourself. There are many outfitters and shuttle companies based near popular canoeing destinations.

• 10

  Ship your canoe cross country using a specialized service. Quite often, canoe retailers and manufacturers have spare room they will make available for a modest fee if you can afford to wait for available space on their canoe transports.

• 11

  Use rail companies if you are able to drive to the nearest train station to pick up your canoe.

  They can be very affordable means of canoe transport.

• 12

  Negotiate in advance that the canoe be carried rails down on top of the truck, or empty, rails down, with nothing on top of it inside the truck if you must use a moving company. Do not include your canoe with your other household goods and expect it to be handled correctly. Movers not familiar with canoes may not realize that transporting a high performance canoe on its hull, or putting anything inside or on top of a canoe during transport can weaken or crack the hull. Moving companies often impose substantial surcharges on canoes.