: since the side mounted footpegs were such an issue here, what if nicks foot
: peg was used, pull back put bags in front of it(w/ a line or buckle to the
: footrest and jam everything down the yak with your feet. the large
: footrest wont let anything back. just like a larg moveable bulkhead to
: your own foot lenght. pull the footrest back to the cockpit and all the
: baggage comes too.

This might fall into the category of easier said than done...or no worse than paying attention to not knocking side-mounted footpegs out of alignment. I'm envisioning the bags getting hung up on the center rail for the footpeg/bulkhead... not to mention increased difficulty caused by the inevitable sand or mud in the cockpit and on the bags... gumming up the sliding rail. When would you enter the boat and do the "jam it down with your feet" maneuver? While still on land? or when you launch? I've launched in spots where I wouldn't want to sit in the boat while it is still on land (too many pointy rocks) and I've launched in spots where it wouldn't be safe to have to be trying to push bags with my feet while trying to enter the cockpit and get underway. (or if not a matter of safety, it would at least be entertaining for one's trip mates!)

I had three large dry bags (the one in front was a tapered one), a thermarest, a sleeping bag (in a dry sack) and a quart water bottle in the bow of the Coho-- and I know there was wasted space in the bow compartment that I couldn't use because I couldn't reach it to tuck things in. By contrast, we had the bow of the Tern, with a hatch, loaded with more stuff. Using one really large dry bag isn't the answer, unless you could "custom tailor" it to match the shape of the hull. (The really big ones don't taper enough to fit the bow, and the tapered ones are narrower than the hull, and besides, if the bags were as wide as the hull, it would be tough to clear the footpegs.)

Overall, I would rank the side-mounted footpegs as #3 or 4 down the list of "frustrations encountered in loading the bow without a hatch." .. behind distance (my arm can reach to the front of the footpegs, but that doesn't help much when trying to straighten out a bag that's lying crooked so its neighbor won't fit right and the thermarest won't go into the spot on top!) and friction (bags against hull, bags against bags)...and possibly behind the joy of trying to do all this when the interior of the boat is hot and too dark to see what I'm doing. I got everything loaded in every day, and by the third day had myself trained to check the footpegs to see if they'd been knocked out of position so I wasn't surprised when I launched.... but, comparatively, loading the Arctic Tern with it's hatches was faster and easier... and I was able to tuck more stuff into the equavalent space. It was enough to convince me to cut a hatch on the front of the Coho.

Of course, none of this is an issue if you're not planning long trips...even with a couple luxury items (folding couch & table), and the standard complement of camping gear, most of the storage space on this 9 day trip was occupied by water and food....18 gallons of water and 18 quarts of gatorade take up a lot of space....

Julie Kanarr