Alternatives to seats

[Ezra Smith]

I have just finished my first build! It is an Atkinson Traveler, and oh my gosh it wonderful to paddle. It puts my 18 ft Otca to shame. I have the seats ready to install, but am thinking about what other options I would have. I do mostly solo paddling, so I would mostly use them on the few occasions that I go with a friend. What are some of the things that some of you do instead of using the standard seats?

 

[Treewater]

Replace the forward seat with a thwart unless there is already a thwart just aft then just forget it. If you are a solo paddler you will never regret taking out or failing to add that front seat. Easier to stow gear and if you're alone forward is where you need the gear.

 

[pklonowski]

Has anyone ever used wing nuts, instead of hex nuts, underneath the seats? Then you could remove or install them as needed.

Not something I've done, just wondering how bad of an idea this is?

 

[Treewater]

I have. Two issues. One is you are apt to lose a wing nut or bolt or both. Two, the forward seat particularly acts as a thwart to keep shape. That is a very nice looking Traveler and if it is a first attempt I'm impressed. I see the distance from the forward thwart and the carry thwart, I'd go for the extra thwart where the rear seat mount would be.

 

[mccloud]

Are you aware of Tom Seavey's 'Saddle Seats', a rectangle of leather with 4 leather belt-like straps that fit thru the notches between inwale and planking of an open gunwale boat? Easy to take in/out, also easy to move forward/backward to adjust the trim.
http://azlandtraditions.com/leather_Saddleseat.html
Tom McCloud

 

[Treewater]

If you look online at the web site for those leather seats you'll notice they are located adjacent to a thwart. No surprise, the weight of the paddler on the leather seat will pull the sides in, bigger the paddler, bigger the problem. I'm sure they work on fiberglass or co-located with a thwart.

 

[Tnic]

Has anyone ever used wing nuts, instead of hex nuts, underneath the seats? Then you could remove or install them as needed.

Not something I've done, just wondering how bad of an idea this is?

No reason it wouldn't work fine, especially with some lock washers to prevent the wingnut from backing off. And GO STAINLESS.

 

[Ezra Smith]

The wingnuts sound like an interesting idea, as long as I make sure not to loose them.

I have. Two issues. One is you are apt to lose a wing nut or bolt or both. Two, the forward seat particularly acts as a thwart to keep shape. That is a very nice looking Traveler and if it is a first attempt I'm impressed. I see the distance from the forward thwart and the carry thwart, I'd go for the extra thwart where the rear seat mount would be.

Yes this is a first attempt and I am very happy with how it turned out! Though of course I can point out every mistake invisible to the casual observer. If I understand you right you are suggesting that I install the rear seat to sit on when doing tandem and to help support the shape? What about the other end? It seems to me that a bow seat does not help much with this anyways since the seat is suspended below the inwale and not directly attached.

Are you aware of Tom Seavey's 'Saddle Seats', a rectangle of leather with 4 leather belt-like straps that fit thru the notches between inwale and planking of an open gunwale boat? Easy to take in/out, also easy to move forward/backward to adjust the trim.
http://azlandtraditions.com/leather_Saddleseat.html
Tom McCloud

I have seen these seats before and have not gotten a chance to use them yet. I am thinking about getting one or making one myself. How much does he ask for one?

 

[Michael Grace]

First let me add to the compliments - that's a beautiful canoe you've produced!

As for seat options, if your knees are good another option is no seats at all. Paddling from a kneeling position, as you probably already know, can be wonderful provided that you knees and feet/toes can handle the pressure. Kneeling pads help, and kneeling can provide better control of the canoe than paddling from a seat. You can change positions to relieve stress and strain, and without seats you have more options for kneeling locations along the length of the canoe. You can also add a drop-in canoe chair, seat or backrest like the ones sold over many years by a variety of canoe companies (click on attached thumbnails).

 

[Nick Dennis]

I have this slatted seat which came with my Peterborough. I use it for sailing as it sets my C of G lower and allows the boom to pass without too many smacks in the cheek. After two hours sailing my backside felt like it was being forced through a cheese grater so I will seek a suitable cushion. Great fun tho. I kneel for ordinary paddling as that gives me more canoe control but tend to move about else onlookers think you have been on the hooch when you get out! I also have a leather saddle seat and a foam block saddle. All work. Out of the lot I find sitting the most uncomfortable. Greetings from the UK.

 

[Craig Johnson]

Here is a link to a post of my solution for a seat that can be set either at a slant to kneel and lean back against, or set level at any comfortable height. It works great for me.
http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/canoe-seat.14632/
The fact that the seat is as wide as the canoe keeps the straps from pulling inward on the gunwales as a leather seat does.

 

[alick burt]

I made this for my wood stripper and it is moveable without tools to 4 different positions.You can even turn round in the boat when you are in a tight spot!
The only time I use my seats now is when I need to stretch.

Cheers

Alick

 

[Greg Nolan]

tried to edit -- will post again

 

[Greg Nolan]

I have been very happy using one of Tom Seavey's Saddle Seats -- < http://azlandtraditions.com/leather_Saddleseat.html >. I forget how much it cost, if I ever knew (it was a gift from my wife) -- but it is well-worth whatever it was. The heavy-duty leather is top rate, and Tom's workmanship is better than first class.

I use it in a 16 foot OT Ideal. Paddling solo facing "backwards" in the bow seat is awkward at best because of the location of a thwart right behind the bow seat in that canoe:

I place the Saddle Seat just ahead of the rear thwart:

which results in a well-trimmed canoe:

readily paddled solo.

As to using seats and seat rails as thwarts -- Bow seats are often hung with spacers so they are a few inches below the gunwales, to lower the center of gravity of the loaded canoe.

But seats hung in this manner provide virtually no structural support across the width of the canoe. When I got my 15’ 50 pound model built in 1931, the seat hangers were splayed out perhaps 1/2 inch because the gunwales had become wider as the canoe aged and the seat, hanging down from the gunwales, could do nothing to stop the spreading. If I had tried to hang the bow seat directly from the holes in the original gunwales, without the hanging spacers, the seat rails would have been a bit too short because of the widening of the canoe at that point.

Stern seats, however, are often hung with the front seat rail bolted directly to the gunwale. The extra height is supposedly allows the stern paddler to see better past the bow paddler (at the cost of a more tender canoe). Such a rail is, effectively, a structural thwart, but if it is lowered with spacers, it loses that structural role (which probably is not much needed that far back in the canoe).

The three main thwarts in the Atkinson Traveler above are quite adequate for structural purposes and need no help from seat rails (or the little carry thwarts). Seats, if you want them at all (and most of us do) should be located as a matter of taste/convenience for those paddling -- if a lot of tandem paddling, two seats traditionally located; if only solo paddling, one seat located for good solo trim. Our Ideal is most often paddled tandem, but does get a good deal of solo paddling -- so the traditional seat plan plus the movable/removable Saddle Seat works just fine for us. And when the 15’ is finally restored, the Saddle Seat can be moved from one canoe to the other.

 

[MGC]

I have an el cheapo hanging nylon seat that I add to boats occasionally....it's a cheaper version of the leather seat. It hangs off of the outside rail. I got it from OT many years ago.
The Traveler is my personal favorite tandem boat...we use it for trips. There's nothing finer with a load in all kinds of water and all conditions...it feels like it belongs wherever you put it.
For solo you need to build the Medford Explorer........

 

[Abenakirgn]

When solo with my 18 1/2 EM White, I kneel just foward of the stern thwart, and rest my butt against it. If you are going to pole, I'd say you're good to go as is. The seats always seem to be in the wrong place when poling.