So I've been in Ontario for three weeks, helping out at camp and flying whenever I can. I've been up in big wind, glassy, and a variety of conditions, and feeling good. Here's my plan. In a week or two I am going to head about 600 miles northeast to La a L'eau Claire in Northern Quebec around: N 56 17' W 74 48' . My plan is to land and make a base and explore around fishing and otherwise seeing the sites. I used to guide in this area so I know the land and rivers. I've never been float plane camping or dealt with mooring on a big lake. Beaches are common in this area and I will be on the windward side of the lake. The area I will be in is remote, but within 200 miles of the nearest road accesible seaplane base with reasonable avgas. (Mirage Outfitters).

Looking for advice on what to bring or things to keep in mind. Here's what I've got so far for equipment:

-Lots of rope, variety of lengths.
-Lightweight but sturdy anchor.
-Northern survival pack, all that Navcanada recommends and a bit more.
-3 dock bumpers for floatplanes
-Emergency float repair stuff.
-Spot
-406 PLB
-406 ELT
-Normal lightweight camping gear
-Fishing gear
-2 extra Jerry Cans
-Super siphon

What am I missing? Any tricks I should know about mooring? How do I fish from the plane?

Thanks for any ideas.

Brad

Sounds like a fun trip Brad. Any thoughts about a satellite phone? It is very heavy, but I carry a 24 volt jump starter for mine, when going to remote lakes, as I have heard it is nearly impossible to hand crank a 185. If there is any wind at all, with that big tail, it will be challenging to fish off of. An electric trolling motor would probably be the hot setup, but then you would have to figure out how to rig it, then the extra weight of it all, battery, solar charger. Probably not worth it. Fishing off the shore will probably be the easiest. Steve

The few times I have fished off the plane I would drop anchor at the mouth of a creek or small river and still-fish (bobber with minnow baited lead head jig) for the walleye and pike that like to feed at creek mouths. You can do some casting off the floats, but its a bit awkward.

Lots of lakes around here have boats cached on them. I have occassionaly 'borrowed' a cached boat to fish for the day and returned it back to its place. I personally don't have any cached boats, but would not mind another floatplane pilot using it as long as they treated it properly.

Do you have a satellite phone? It might be handy to have if you will be several weeks in the bush. It can be used to check on weather, file flight itinery and arrival report, family contact etc. They are expensive for only occasional use, but I think you can rent them.

I camped for a week up at Beverly Lake, Nunavut and finding enough firewood in the tundra was our biggest concern. We kept an eye out for grizzly bears that were in the area and we had a rifle just in case. Black bears might be attracted to your site after a few days...got room for a rifle?

Have fun on your trip.

I was hunting north of there last fall out of Kuujjuaq. We went in together & got a sat phone. The one who bought it saved $ got a Global-star. Cheeper but only works about 10-20 minutes every half hour as the satellite passes over, you need to print off tables from the net for when youll be there so you know when it may work. The Iridium is much better & works almost all the time w/ a geosynchronous sat, but you pay for it. We never needed it really, but was easier on the folks back home to keep intouch.

A .22 rifle would be good. Ammo is cheep & light. Just in case you need some meat, the ptarmigan are so easy to hit it's a sure meal. And they taste great from what I hear Won't kill a black bear but might help scare it off your camp, but you know that.

Sounds fun! Have a safe trip!

I went all electric.
Runs my
engine heater
built in 12V battery charger
light
boom box
hot plate
laptop (movies, Big Rocks, Long Props)
phone
coffee pot
electric frying pan
micro wave (kidding)

Thanks, Lots of good advice. The 24 volt jumpers I've seen have all been prohibitively expensive. Quick Cable has a new one out for around $300 dollars, add $75 for the cessna cable and I think that is reasonable.

Is an anchor not a smart thing to bring? I assumed it would be, but if not I'd like to leave the weight. Also any 185 guys have an opinion about the amount of gas to keep in the tanks, at 88 gallons it is slow and heavy!

Thanks and keep any suggestions coming, we are leaving on the 15th.

-Brad

I have hunted Caribou with Mirage. Rocky as hell. Float repair kit you listed essential. I always carried a spare gas cap and a spare float cover. Can you prop the plane for start if the battery died/ master left on?

Having a dead battery in a remote area is always a concern because of the HUGE problems it can cause. Before I went to Alaska I put in a new battery. You know the old one will work fine until you are on a deserted lake and try to leave.

I hot wired the beacon to the master switch so if I forget the switch the beacon calls me back to the plane. It has saved me from making a BIG mistake.

DJ

Captcubby wrote:Having a dead battery in a remote area is always a concern because of the HUGE problems it can cause. Before I went to Alaska I put in a new battery. You know the old one will work fine until you are on a deserted lake and try to leave.

I hot wired the beacon to the master switch so if I forget the switch the beacon calls me back to the plane. It has saved me from making a BIG mistake.

DJ

Hotwiring the beacon works, but is not legal of course. The best legal way is to change your pre-landing checklist to include shutting the the master off. This works great in the bush, if you have an aircraft with manual flaps.

Does your 185 have the manual primer system installed? Without it, you can't hand prop with a dead battery, or even if you have a good battery, if your fuel pump goes bad, you are stuck.
With the 3 blade prop, it is REALLY hard to hand prop a 185(not so bad on wheels, but on floats........)

I do have a manual primer, and I've heard different opinions on hand propping on floats. I just got the 24 volt jump pack so i should be in good shape, though for the weight there's lots of other more fun things to bring.

The trip planning is shaping up, probably leaving in about a week, its gorgeous up there now, the weather will turn about then probably.

-Brad

I know that purchase hurt Brad, but the jump starter has got to give you some peace of mind, considering where you will be. Mine is 3 years old and I powered up a 12 volt fuel pump with it twice lately filling a D7 dozer, pumped 120 gallons of fuel and it was still going strong. Hopefully you will get additional use out of your unit also. Have a good trip. Steve

side slip wrote:

Captcubby wrote:Having a dead battery in a remote area is always a concern because of the HUGE problems it can cause. Before I went to Alaska I put in a new battery. You know the old one will work fine until you are on a deserted lake and try to leave.

I hot wired the beacon to the master switch so if I forget the switch the beacon calls me back to the plane. It has saved me from making a BIG mistake.

DJ

Hotwiring the beacon works, but is not legal of course. The best legal way is to change your pre-landing checklist to include shutting the the master off. This works great in the bush, if you have an aircraft with manual flaps.

I've gotten in the habit to just leaving my beacon/strobe light switch in the ON position.

I wonder if you could use a small solar panel to keep your battery topped up. The smaller panels are light enough to carry easily in the plane and could be placed on top of your dash or even outside in direct sun and hooked up to the battery by the quick-connect leads that come with some of the solar panels.

I use a 12 volt pump to fuel up my plane. It is powered by a motorcycle battery that is continually recharged by a small (about 4" x 12") solar panel. It has never run out of juice even after pumping 70 gal. of fuel. I'm tempted to add one of these to my plane's battery for use in the fall when the temps drop. That W80 oil gets pretty thick and the battery capacity is diminished in the cold temps. A strong battery and preheat if possible will make all the difference when trying to start the engine in the cold. If I was flying from a remote site I would want to do everything I can to ensure a good start on the first try.