Does no one use shoulder yokes?

[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

[Jim Cate]

Wow... she must be a bloody strong not very big lady... that's around 170 lbs she's lugging at arms length. Or were you exaggerating a bit?

Jim

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Wow... she must be a bloody strong not very big lady... that's around 170 lbs she's lugging at arms length. Or were you exaggerating a bit?

Jim

It's not like I could ask her, and I claim no great expertise in jerry can sizes, but they looked considerably larger than the five gallon cans I'm most familiar with.

But even with five gallon cans, I can't see anyone carrying them blocks if they have any kind of alternative, and anyone with a stick and some rope has an alternative.

[valhalla360]

I've done a couple 5 gal fuel jugs and even a couple blocks will kill your shoulders (I'm a big guy too). She must have been a body builder or something. No way I could do 3-4 blocks with 10gal jugs.

Our solution was a folding canvas wagon. We could actually do 3 - 5gal jugs or it's nice for grocery shopping and other situations where you need to cover up to about a 1/2 mile as long as the surface isn't really uneven.

[Jim Cate]

FWIW, five gallon jugs have caused more back issues for cruisers of our acquaintance than any other single item or activity. They can be lethal to carry, hoist or swing into a dink. Evil things IMO!

Jim

[El Pinguino]

I use 20 litre bidones for diesel... however they are never carried anywhere.... unless on wheels .... and a straight lift - using a whip - in or out of a dinghy or from wharf to deck is quite different to lumping the evil things around...

Water is always in 5 or 6 litre jugs......

[SV_Harbinger]

I second the idea of the collapsable canvas wagon, mine is about 4 years old now and has seen better days, but it still can take quite a load, folds up nicely and doesn't take up that much space, can be difficult in the sand though.. never thought about using a shoulder yoke,

[Jdege]

Truthfully, I'd use a wheeled cart, of the terrain suited. But there are places where wheels aren't an option.

[AKA-None]

You can’t just use a stick as a yoke or you will kill your shoulders. If you look at a real yoke you’ll see it is shaped to fit and distribute the load.

[thinwater]

A few years ago some bright fella invented the wheel. We use a cart.

[owly]

Shoulder yokes are available commercially from Lehmans, but they are solid wood and would require some padding to be tolerable. The spinal compression of carrying a load this way is not good for your body...... but of course the same is true or worse carrying two five gallon jugs in your hands.
As a backpacker, I can say that carrying a heavy pack from the shoulder straps is not good for your body either, and we long ago learned that a good hip strap should transfer the load to your hips, bypassing the spine completely, and using the shoulder straps only to balance the load.
It would be worth doing a bit of "development" in this area if you routinely carry cans of water or gas or diesel, and can't for some reason use a wheeled cart. I personally would start with a good quality frame pack with an excellent padded hip strap. Kelty is my personal preference with their welded aluminum frame. 'The pack frame could support the yoke, transferring the load to where your body can handle it. My big concern would however be designing the rig so I could get away from it quickly if for example I fell off a dock. A "ripcord" if you will........... If shoulder straps were not used... which would be better, and you simply hand held whatever suspended the load as with an ordinary yoke, the safety could be a simple break away... if the frame tipped away from your body so many degrees, the strap would release, like a break away stirrup on a saddle...... a real life saver by the way...



Just an off topic aside about break away stirrups:


I'm one of the very few people who have survived being dragged behind a horse, without anybody around to help. Thanks to snow, and being very fit, I managed to release myself by main force, actually climbing my leg (insulated coveralls), hand over hand until I could grab the stirrup strap, at which point I was completely off the ground under the horse, and hanging by one hand from the strap, flipped it off my lug sole boot. All while the horse was running, and I was being dragged through sagebrush, and bounced off rocks, etc. I was as good as dead, and I knew it! The strength of adrenalin and the knowledge that I was going to die if I didn't succeed, and my powerful survival instinct saved me. I've never heard of anybody else surviving this experience except in cowboy boots by turning over. I spent enough time afoot that I had to wear lug boots in those conditions.



As a result, I'm an huge advocate of break aways. Not just stirrups, but anything where you are in danger of getting hung up.

[sailorboy1]

Every cruiser needs a folding rolly cart

[a64pilot]

I do like many do in East Asia, let the bike carry the load.
Storage wise it’s either bikes or a cart, I went with bikes.
Although I don’t carry water, and haven’t had to carry fuel very far either yet.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Wow... she must be a bloody strong not very big lady... that's around 170 lbs she's lugging at arms length. Or were you exaggerating a bit?

Jim

I don't know. Mad Max in the Road Warrior carried four Jerry cans full of diesel out of the compound, snuck through the enemy camp, and then carried them across a desert to retrieve a tractor trailer!

But then again it was Mad Max!

[owly]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I do like many do in East Asia, let the bike carry the load.
Storage wise it’s either bikes or a cart, I went with bikes.
Although I don’t carry water, and haven’t had to carry fuel very far either yet.

I consider a bike a non-negotiable necessity.... It only makes sense to saddle two containers across and push the bike...........