The Happy Camper: New Barrel Seat and Day Pack from Recreational Barrel Works
My canoe buddy Andy Baxter is the owner of the Canadian company Recreational Barrel Works. Every time I pay him a visit, his equipment room looks like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory for campers. He’s always tinkering with and readjusting his packs, barrels, map cases, etc. During my last visit, he had a few new items and innovations spread across the table to make hauling your camp gear along the portage easier than before. Here’s what’s new for Recreational Barrel Works in 2025.
Barrel Seat
($29.95)
If you’re my age, you’ll definitely want to pack a camp chair to sit on in leisure around the campfire. The only issue, of course, is that you have to pack extra weight for such a luxury item. Well, no longer. If you use a camp barrel to store your food or gear, then take advantage of it by adding Recreational Barrel Works’ padded cushion that turns your barrel into a comfy seat. Two layers of high-quality foam bring comfort to your campsite. The seat fits 60 litre, 30 litre or 20 litre barrels. Two clips connect and secures the foam seat to the barrel, and it comes in three colours (red, orange and yellow). It’s also darn lightweight and compact, with a diameter of 39 centimetres or 15.3 inches and weighs a mere 350 grams or 12.3 ounces. When you’re on the move once again, the barrel seat can be stowed inside your barrel or pack.
To quote Andy, “Your bum deserves a little respect and comfort after a long day.”
Trekker Day Pack and Accessory Pouch
($49.95 or $71.85 with the added optional shoulder straps and hip belt available)
Recreational Barrel Works’ new day pack is more than just a day pack. It can also be attached to a barrel harness or the daisy chain on a canoe/portage pack on the side, back or top. Heck, the size of it even matches a proper airline carry-on bag. How cool is that? This durable 42 litre (2563 cubic inch) pouch is perfect to store extra items like a two-burner stove, camp grill or whatever else you have that just doesn’t fit in your regular pack or barrel. It connects to your pack or barrel harness by six webbing straps, using quick release buckles and three horizontal compression straps with quick release buckles. The straps are easily adjusted to compress the contents of the pack, and the compression strap buckles can be moved to multiple locations.
Changes and Enhancements for 2025
Recreational Barrel Works is making improvements and adjustments every year. This year is no exception. First, the handles on the top of the Expedition Barrel Harness are now a bit longer so you don’t wack your knuckles on the side of the barrel lid when lifting it out of the canoe. The colour of the handles is now bright yellow, not black. Much easier to find and grab. Loops are also added to the top and bottom horizontal straps—great for hooking on a water bottle, stinky camp shoes or a side pouch for extra storage. The hip belt has even been adjusted to fit a more wide range of paddlers—big and small. They’ve done the same thing to the Expedition Canoe Pack’s hip belt, adding bright yellow handles rather than black. My favourite change, however, is a slight but important change to the sewing of the ends of the compression straps. It seems like a moot point, but they now have the ends sewn back once, which means the strap is much easier to unthread from the buckle if need be. I love that improvement.
