Does no one use shoulder yokes?

[Mike OReilly]

As a former wilderness canoeist, I walked many 100s kilometres (not at one time) carrying the boat and gear using a yolk. The key to ensuring you don’t hurt yourself is to maintain the weight vertically on your frame, and to keep the load balanced for/aft and side to side.

The reason backpacks have shifted more, and more, to placing weight on the hips is b/c the load is inherently unbalanced. In a backpack, the load is weighted one way. This is bad for your back. But a balanced load carried vertically is fine. It’s the same principle with folks who carry heavy loads on their head.

So, the trick to making a yolk work in this case would be to keep the load even and balanced. I think this would be hard to do with sloshing jerry cans, but with a little practice it should work fine.

So a yolk would be better than carrying them by hand. But a large-wheeled, sturdy wagon is by far the best approach.

[mvmojo]

A water maker solved this problem for us! But, when we can't or choose not to use the water maker, we have a 60 gal bladder that fits in the bottom of the dink. Dinghy up to a dock, fill the bladder with a hose then back to the boat where we have a pump to empty the bladder into our tanks. Works great, takes about 5 min to fill the bladder and about 10 min. to empty it. We always ask at docks if we can fill the bladder and have never been turned down. Here's what the bladder looks like. When folded up, it occupies less than 1 sq ft, maybe 2" thick. https://www.bayteccontainers.com/60galwaterbag.html

[ferrailleur]

I have learned to lift straight up as close to the body as possible with the bent knees pushing up and not using your back muscles

[toddster8]

Hmm. I have a gadget called a “manta ray bar support” for the gym. Never before occurred to me that it might have utility applications.


One day last summer, I passed on the dock an athletic young lady, carrying a large load in each hand. With each step, her bikini was *ahem* disappearing more and more. But she kept her eyes on the horizon and carried on. Shortly thereafter, we got our first public dock cart! Coincidence, I’m sure...

[danielamartindm]

It's usually best to just have the women make two trips

[HopCar]

I think the invention of the wheel greatly reduced the use of shoulder yolks.

[model 10]

Somehow we manage without a cart or a watermaker. I try not to use fuel docks anymore either, so we jug it instead. This thread has me thinking about a set of dinghy wheels we carry around. Piece of plywood and some handles maybe?

[deblen]

https://www.handtrucksrus.com/newtemp.aspx#top

[AiniA]

We used a folding cart (all aluminum and plastic) whenever possible but sometimes terrain made it possible. I came to prefer carrying two jugs rather than one since the load was balanced. A proper yoke might work well too but a bar or 2 x 4 kind of thing would be horrible.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Here you go. It's also useful when your pet oxen is not feeling well!

https://www.lehmans.com/product/shoulder-yoke

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by AiniA

We used a folding cart (all aluminum and plastic) whenever possible but sometimes terrain made it possible. I came to prefer carrying two jugs rather than one since the load was balanced. A proper yoke might work well too but a bar or 2 x 4 kind of thing would be horrible.

More horrible than this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvuPCMQmyaY

[Simi 60]

$79 well spent

https://www.bunnings.com.au/saxon-st...-cart_p3360969

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

$79 well spent

https://www.bunnings.com.au/saxon-st...-cart_p3360969

Yep, but not so many of our collective boats can reasonably store such a cart on board... the folding dolly is harder to use but much easier to live with.

Jim

[rmlarson1098]

Originally Posted by Jdege

I was watching a youtube video in which a not-very-large young woman was toting two full 10-gallon water cans back to the boat, staggering along, one in each hand.

My initial thought was why didn't she rig up an impromptu shoulder yoke?

Then I went googling around and found almost no reference to them.

Have people forgotten them?

They were the standard way of carrying water for thousands of years.

https://youtu.be/zDjj5h9oJ0Y

Hard to find maybe, but not forgotten. We used a portaging yoke from an old canoe for some years - but now just tote smaller bottles. Means making more trips, true, but what else do I have to do?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Yep, but not so many of our collective boats can reasonably store such a cart on board... the folding dolly is harder to use but much easier to live with.



Jim

That and getting it to shore in the dinghy, and what it weighs.
I have seen a couple of plastic folding ones that were interesting, but I think for now we will stick with the bikes.

This one for instance
https://www.amazon.com/Sports-Collap...=Folding+wagon