solo canoe seat

[white cedar]

Hi: I am in the process of hanging the seat in a new solo canoe. Traditionally, seats are hung from the inwales on bronze bolts and spacer dowels. However, I was wondering if anyone has mounted the seat on cleats that were attached inside the hull? Your input would be appreciated!

 

[Dave Wermuth]

yes.

lots of seats are set on cleats. Rushton, Shell Lake, and many others.

 

[Lew's Canoes]

Solo Seat Angle

Can anyone suggest the best angle to place a solo seat at for a canoe to be paddled from the kneeling position? I suppose it's a matter of whatever fits your butt, but someone must have worked this out already! Thanks, Lew

 

[JClearwater]

For me at 5'10" the front of the seat is 1" lower than the back edge. That's assuming a typical width seat. The front edge, again for me, is about 9.5" above the bottom of the canoe or more correctly above the kneeling mat. You might try experimenting in your living room with the seat and a stack of blocks under each corner of the frame. If you set it too low you can't get your feet with shoes out from under when you want to switch from kneeling to sitting.

Good luck,
Jim C.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

If you've ever paddled a solo boat with a saddle, you probably noticed that the control over the boat was fantastic, compared to sitting on a seat. I suppose a big block of gray ethafoam is out of the question from a cosmetic standpoint, but if we could come up with some sort of wood and cane saddle, it would be very cool.

The "cleats" that seats hang on are actually called "seat risers" in wooden boat language. Unfortunately though, if you do a google image search for seat risers to get some inspiration, about 95% of what shows up are for toilet seats.....eeeeeuuuuuuuwwww.

 

[Dan Miller]

I'm a fan of Tom Seavey's Saddle Seat (http://azlandtraditions.com/leather_Saddleseat.html) - Highly adjustable with respect to location in boat, off-center, height, and tilt.

 

[pklonowski]

I had heard from someone (don't recall who or how many years back) that 15 degrees is a good starting point. Set up a mock up as suggested earlier, and play with it...

Better yet, engineer the rig with adjustability in mind, so you can change mounting post lengths, or shims on the cleats, without too much difficulty. Then you can play with it in real time, on the water, where it matters.

 

[Max Peterson]

Lew, I use 15 degrees. It works for me on my little kneeling or "Buddha Bench". The advantage of my little bench is the ease of moving it about, side to side to move the canoe to the bilge and forward and backward to accomodate load and wind. Control is much better kneeling than sitting.