Kayak Camping
I have found that the secret to a good camping trip is drybags. Everything goes into it's own drybag. When the holidays are approaching and family and friends inquire about what I would like to receive for Christmas I tell them drybags. "I got you a drybag last year, surely you need something else." I respond by telling them to get me nothing but drybags. "I want a fat, skinny, short, long, clear, solid, circular, rectangular, square, zippered, rolldown, rainbowcolored, padded, backpack, duffle, inflatable, plastic, vinyl, nylon assortment."
I have seen a lot of people over the years who don't bother using dry bags after they have purchased a fiberglass boat. The bulkheads on a fiberglass boat are usually watertight as compared to a plastic boat. To each his or her own. All I know is the only thing worse than sleeping in a soggy sleeping bag is knowing that the next night you get to do it all over again. I like to keep certain bags reserved for their own contents. I have a yellow bag that gets my sleeping bag after it has been placed in a cinch down sack. A long red bag holds my tent and nothing else. A green bag contains all my kitchen gear, and so on. Work out a system for yourself. You will be glad you did at the end of a long day's paddle especialy if the weather has turned bad and you want to set up camp in a hurry.
In addition to dry bags if you intend to carry any non-waterproof photographic equipment or expensive electronics then it is essential for you to obtain some hard shell cases. The two best, in my opinion, are Pelican and Zero Halliburton. I have been using a Zero Halliburton case to protect my 2ΒΌ camera for at least twenty years. It has been dropped, kicked, driven into and fallen overboard and never did I have to worry about the contents.
It seems ironic that we spend so much tme and effort trying to keep our gear dry and then add water to the list of things we must carry. I use two gallon dromedary bags that have a plastic inner liner encased in a nylon bag with carrying handle. These conform well to the shape of the boat and are easier to manage than larger carriers. Some friends of mine use recycled bags that they obtain by purchasing boxes of wine. After they consume the wine they re-fill the bags with water. I don't drink so this is not an option available to me. I like to put the water bags in the boat first. I like to position them up against the bulkheads with other gear placed on top of them. This serves a double purpose, first this helps to keep the center of gravity low as water weighs 7 lbs. per gallon, and second if one of the bags does leak the water will be below the other gear bags. I like to keep the end of the boat lightly loaded with the majority of weight placed amidship. By loading in this manner you are keeping the boat balanced. Even when just going out for a day trip it is a good idea to add this extra weight. A loaded boat is more stable and harder to capsize. By adding weight you are increasing the waterline length of the boat and thus your cruising speed. A touring kayak is a displacement hulled vessel. By increasing your waterline length you are increasing your theoretical hull speed.An example of added weight increasing stability; my buddy Steve on a week long trip off the coast of Maine last year had a hard time getting his fully loaded boat to capsize when he wanted to practice some rolls.
Entire websites have been devoted to lists of what you should bring on a kayak camping trip. Here you will not see another. I am assuming that if you are going to go camping out of your boat then you have previous camping experience. Pack as if you were going backpacking but remember since you are not carrying the gear on your back you can bring more of it. Just try not to bring too much more because there will be times at the start and end of the day that you will have to carry the boat and all your gear above and below the high tide mark. This applies to river camping also. I have seen the Delaware rise four feet overnight because of rain up river.
One of the greatest pleasures after a long day on the water is sittng down to a good meal. I always have along a Crazy Creek chair because it is better then sitting on just the ground. I purchased their Power lounger which doubles as a sleeping pad. Thus one less item to carry. As in navigation when it comes to camp cooking I like to adhere to the K.I.S.S.* method. I like to use a single burner stove made by Coleman.To go along with the stove I bought an Outback Oven. I have found that nothing is quicker to bring a smile to the eyes of my fellow campers then the smell of fresh baked muffins or brownies. With this oven you can even make a pizza. Now that's camping! For pots and pans I use a stainless steel set made by MSR. With practice you will soon be turning out gourmet meals, the key word here being practice. Take the stove out in your yard or go to a local park and prepare your meals as you would if you were camping. You want to find out now what does and does not work for you rather then out in the middle of nowhere. I do keep a couple of packages of freeze dried food in my kitchen pack as an emergency back-up for times when conditions are so bad that all you want to do is quickly boil water. On the other hand I want to purchase a dutch oven because I have seen some wonderful recipes for one. In closing let me say just search the net for recipes. You will find entire websites written about camp cooking.
*keep it simple stupid