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**TrentePieds** · 03-12-2018, 08:34

Carrying on one shoulder was an approved means of shifting heavy stuff when I wuz a lad. My grandad, who was a builder, had one shoulder higher than the other as a result of having been doing that for years.

Hod-carriers are probably an unknown concept to most of today's North Americans. A "hod" is a tray, so to speak, with a small bulkhead at the fore end and a shaped bracket underneath that fits on a man's shoulder. It has a handle on the foreside of the bulkhead so it can be controlled by the hand on the same side as the shoulder carrying it. A good hod-carrier could take about 100 lbs of bricks or roof tiles up a ladder to the level of the scaffolding where they were needed. Nothing Asiatic about that. Such was the means of "humping" heavy stuff all over Europe and England.

When I was a teen-ager - an unknown concept in those days. You were either a boy or you were a man. Nothing in between - my grandad would occasionally send me to the lumberyard for "a stick of wood", say a ten-foot 6 x 6. I'd go off on my bicycle and come back across town carrying the stick on my shoulder, one hand on the stick to control it the other on the handlebars, not to steer, but to steady me :-)

TrentePieds
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ElVikingo · 03-12-2018, 09:24

Not sure, but now that you mention them I am going to have my son build me one in wood class. Great idea for the boat! We live on ours and have to carry things up and down all day. Sure, I could grab a cart, but having my own shoulder yoke is way cooler. Cheers!

wefleenor · 03-12-2018, 09:58

Made several trips to Uganda to work on water supply and treatment and sanitation projects. Never saw a shoulder yoke but those with the money would use bicycles. This lad carried 3 20 liter (5 gal) jerrycans and wasn't even big enough to straddle the cross-bar, but still managed to peddle on the flats and downhill stretches.

owly · 03-12-2018, 11:15

I seem to be beating a proverbial dead horse here, but in my case at least, I'd rather not carry heavy loads through my spine. Not that I have not done it many times, but I've also paid the price. It would not be difficult to create a pack frame with a good padded hip strap, and attach a fork at the correct location to rest a bar with your buckets in. It would be far kinder to your back. I'm no longer a young man, and I do everything I can to be kinder and gentler to this body.... it's the only one I have. I'm very strong and capable, but I've learned that just because I can, doesn't mean I should do something.

I'm here to tell you that the old saying "If have taken better care of myself if I'd known I would live this long", may sound like just a cute saying, but there is more than a grain of truth in it... more like a ton.

H.W.

dcorbert · 03-12-2018, 11:56

I'm a firm advocate of living in the third world and paying someone else to do it wherever possible!!

Bourne · 03-12-2018, 13:25

Surely the issue is carrying loads to the boat not how big were the cans or the woman. And an issue it is. Rolley ccarts are good and I'm always ready to listen--- yoke would be an option.

Cherod · 03-12-2018, 13:46

Quote:

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.

" sailing Zero " i believe.. ( 5 gall i think )

woc · 03-12-2018, 13:54

Quote:

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

A lady strong enough to carry thus weight should be able to convince the captain to invest in a water maker.

wingssail · 03-12-2018, 15:39

I don't think it is necessary to carry water jugs. Nowadays everyone has a high capacity water maker, but you don't need it and carrying two jerry jugs of water or fuel, even with a "straight" spine, can lead to back problems. Don't carry water jugs.

In 20 years of cruising and 55,000 miles we've had to jerry jug water exactly...never. We have 140 gallons on board and a water maker, (very small PUR35) and with full tanks we can go a month. We take showers at least once every three days. If we are in a rainy climate we can collect water. Two inches of rain will fill our tanks. Then we have plenty. When we need water we go out of our way to get to a dock where water is available. They do exist. We can filter and treat suspect water.

On the rare occasions where there was no dock or no tap with safe water we buy bottled water and pay someone to deliver it. If we have to put it into the dingy that is a downhill movement a few feet and then we use a halyard to yard it up to the deck.

Never carry water jugs.

Fuel jugs are a bit of a different kettle of fish. We've had to jug fuel a few times (rarely) and when I did carry 12 gallons a couple of blocks I had a sore back for a couple of weeks. Maybe a yoke would have prevented that, but I simply don't do it any more. Have someone help you get it to the dingy and then lift it on to the deck with a halyard.

It amazes me that people avoid moving their boats to the fuel or water dock. In my marina the fuel dock, (which has potable water too) is easily approachable but still people will jerry jug fuel for days to avoid moving their boat.

When we first cruised the Sea of Cortez we commuted back and forth across (60 miles at that point) once a month to fill the tanks.

Take Mohamed to the mountain, don't take the mountain to Mohamed.

Buzzman · 03-12-2018, 17:30

Or there's this:

https://www.traveluniverse.com.au/Fr...SABEgLNDPD_BwE

Buzzman · 03-12-2018, 17:32

I'd also like to see MikeReilly lugging jerry cans with a "yolk"....

spukistiles · 03-12-2018, 19:13

I remember a shoulder yoke on the farm when I was much younger. It wasn't being used any more. I may have tried them, but they really didn't help make the job easier, just easier to handle.

Once I volunteered to bring four spools of bailing twine from the barn to the field where we had run out of twine for the bailer. On the way to the barn I realized that they would be impossible for me to carry, and that everyone was waiting in the field to see if I could accomplish it. Remembering a picture of an American Indian dragging a litter constructed of two long poles with the load on the end closest to the ground, I located a long dead tree branch about an inch+ in diameter and secured the twine spools towards the thick end up far enough so they didn't touch the ground. What a surprize the onlookers had when I came running over the hill with my one pole litter dragging down one track of the lane about six+ feet behind me. If you ask me, that was a lot easier than using a yoke to carry something heavy or unwieldy.