On a camping trip with friends last fall, my friend Robert was planning on bringing his young son Jacob. We would be self sustaining with the kayaks for a couple days and I wasn’t sure if Jacob could make the paddle to where we were going. He paddles his Coosa just fine for the most part but I wasn’t sure he could make the distance with the gear we needed to haul.

Robert did great by getting him out on the water and seeing just what kind of limits he had. One trip in particular they paddled a little over 5 miles but this was without gear. Robert came up with a great plan using a Big Tuna that really showed the versatility of this boat.

He paddled it solo with all of their gear loaded on it until Jacob had enough of paddling his Coosa. Then he transitioned to tandem and loaded the gear on the Coosa and used it like a pack mule. By rigging a stick from the stern with a bungee cord to the Coosa’s bow, it allowed him to run the 2 boats through some very tight passes without worrying about losing control.

It was great watching the 2 of them work both in tandem and in their respective solo boats throughout the trip. Jacob got to catch several new species and see some critters that lots of people have never seen. The Big Tuna allowed Robert to fine tune to suit whatever the situation required and I have no doubt we could have extended the trip for many days hauling gear that easily. I know we have another trip planned this fall and you can bet the Jackson Kayak Big Tuna will be the heavy hauler for it too.