Photo EugeniaSoares, CC BY-SA 3.0

Loading a canoe

Where the weight goes, how to tie it in, and how to get off the beach without swamping.

What you need

Load in the water, or at the waterline. A loaded boat on gravel grinds a hole in itself.
Heaviest gear low and just behind the middle. The bottom of the boat is the shelf, never the seats.
Keep the ends light. A boat loaded heavy at bow and stern hobby horses in waves and steers badly.
Trim it level side to side, and a touch down at the stern for going into wind. Step back and look at the waterline before you leave.
Tie everything in so it stays with the boat if you roll, but nothing that can loop a leg or an arm.
Push off with the boat floating free, one hand on the gunwale, and stay low until you are sitting.
Paddle out and feel it. If it wants to turn on its own in flat water, the load is off centre. Land and shift it now, not in the chop.

Put the first aid kit, the food and the fire kit in separate bags so one loss is not everything.
Leave a hand free at the launch by clipping the painter to your wrist or to shore.
Keep the heavy load under the waterline where it steadies you.

Don't

Do not pile gear above the gunwales. A high load turns a gust into a capsize.
Do not tie yourself, a rope loop or a long tail to the boat.
Do not load so deep that you have less than a hand's width of freeboard at the lowest point.

Danger

A pond that is flat at the landing can be running a metre of chop at the far end. Load for the worst water on the route, not the water you can see.
Wind on the beam with a light bow will spin you. If you cannot hold a line, land and put weight forward.
Cold water and a loaded boat are a bad pair. If the water would kill you in twenty minutes, dress for swimming in it.

The rule that matters is low and centred. Everything else is comfort.

A loaded canoe handles slower than an empty one. Give yourself twice the room at the landing, at the portage and around every point.

Updated 2026-09-20