Ken..our Troop back in the late 50's,early 60's used those Scout canvas Bakers and i troll Ebay every so often in the hopes of finding one.heavy but we used them summer and winter.Cooke Sewing is well respected here and the Leans are popular with the light weight solo gang.i found that too be really useful the back wall is a must,other wise you loose a lot of space back there.i had the Eureka Baker before they stopped making them and with not much of a back wall about all you could do was stuff the packs and other soft gear back there.the shelter i use now was sized for at least three people as the Eureka left one member of our normal three person canoe tripping group outside,ok not really but three guys could just pack in,two was just right.i would like to sew up a one person Baker for my solo trips.long and narrow would work better,even with that big one to get my feet away from the door i have to prop up the roof with a paddle to get head room.
the point of a canoe gear post on a survival site was that you need real gear if you want to stay dry.trash bags and a 8x10 sheet of plastic will just keep you head above water,so to speak.unless you want to get into a tent and try and sleep away the hours and hours that a storm will take to pass you need someplace to cook and move around and do camp chores.before i used a shelter with a tent i tried to use a Timberline to fill both needs and ended up with a dirty damp tent that smelled like cooking,bear bait no less.
to get an idea of what it's like too spend a days in the drenching rain have a look at my Youtube--"dismal day"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi22948jzKg

if a guy with a years of canoe tripping under his belt and all the gear in the world,warm and well fed can get bummed out by a few days of rotten weather you could see why people break cover and try and walk out when they are lost rather than hold up until help arrives-------hummmm..another 1AM post that really drifted off center---sorry folks....