Webbed Seats

[BWCA66]

So if you were going to web some seats, what size and type of webbing would you use? Standard 1"? Polypropylene, nylon, polyester?

OK, go.....................

 

[Guest]

I use 1 ½” webbing. Mostly because I have a couple hundred yards in the shop, and because the wider webbing needs fewer pieces cut. Doesn’t have to be all black.

P6100007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I cut and seal the ends with a hot putty knife blade, and size the webbing long enough to wrap around the frame and fold under the ends, so the cut portion is tucked under and stapled to the inner edge of the frame, with another staple or two on the bottom of the frame on each strip of webbing.

 

[pblanc]

I like 1.5" wide web strips when I can find them. 1" seems a bit too narrow and 2" is sometimes a bit wider than is convenient, but if the choice is 1" or 2" I would go with 2" every time. Nylon is very strong but will stretch very significantly when wet and does degrade with prolonged UV exposure. Polypropylene does not stretch significantly, but polypro webbing is sometimes sort of rough. Polyester is probably best. It is what most seat belts are made of, can be made very smooth, does not have much stretch, and stands up to prolonged UV exposure.

 

[dogbrain]

I use 2” polyester seatbelt webbing. It doesn’t stretch and is more uv resistant than nylon. Most seats will take 3 pieces Width wise, and either 5 or 6 pieces lengthwise depending on seat width. 5 yards will easily do one seat, and 10 will do 2 seats with a bit left over. Search for that item with “country brook design”. They have their own website and also sell on amazon. I’ve been able to get free shipping in the past, so look for that.

Youll probably want to use stainless staples, but my regular staple gun doesn’t drive them in far enough. I now just use my air staple gun with narrow crown steel staples.

mark

 

[Guest]

2 inch webbing can present more of a spacing problem than 1 ½ inch.

I like a little gap space between pieces, and have used a single piece of 1 inch webbing when the seat frame spacing left a wider gap that I wanted between 1 ½” pieces.

 

[dogbrain]

The 2” I buy is actually a little less than 1-7/8, seems to work well with anything I’ve tried it on. Good to check your seat ahead of ordering though.

Mark

 

[gumpus]

Use whatever you have on hand or recycle something. I have some frayed 1.5" NRS straps that could be candidates for a new life. Our fearless administrator might give you a good deal on some pink stuff. Your thinking is too conventional.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Definitely polyester webbing for seats and cartop straps because it is equal or superior to both nylon and polypropylene in every category. See this Straworks chart. Strapworks sells polyester webbing in both regular and seatbelt weave, the latter being lighter in weight. I'd use 1.5" for seat webbing.

 

[Canotrouge]

Ripstop by the roll is a good place for webbing!!

 

[pblanc]

Definitely polyester webbing for seats and cartop straps because it is equal or superior to both nylon and polypropylene in every category. See this Straworks chart. Strapworks sells polyester webbing in both regular and seatbelt weave, the latter being lighter in weight. I'd use 1.5" for seat webbing.

Well I agree that polyester is superior to nylon for webbed canoe seats. But I am going to call BS on one aspect of that chart.

Nylon, polypropylene, and polyester are all used in non-absorbable surgical suture material and it is well-accepted that of these synthetic fibers, nylon has the greatest initial tensile strength. Here is a brief article that looks at the relative attributes of nylon and polyester materials as used for outdoor products:

http://nemoadventureanywhere.blogspo...-nylon-vs.html

That is not to say that polyester doesn't have more than sufficient strength for canoe seat webbing. As does polypropylene, which has significantly less tensile strength than either nylon or polyester.

 

[sweeper]

Whatever you end up with (Polyester) check out

https://www.strapworks.com/default.asp

 

[gumpus]

Whatever you end up with (Polyester) check out

https://www.strapworks.com/default.asp

Now that's a fun website.

Coincidentally a thread came up today on another forum where 1" heavy duty cotton "Shaker tape" was used to re-web a canoe seat because apparently it's commonly used on indoor chairs. I'd assume that it stains easily and retains water and has lower tensile strength than the strong (and rock hard) stuff used on Ed's webbed seats but I might be tempted to try it just to get away from the plasticky synthetics. I wonder if it's more comfy.