Carry yoke pads??

[redoleary]

My wooden canoe has a straight yoke, I suppose its more of a thwart than a yoke but either way it is more than a little uncomfortable to carry this thing around. I'm not terribly interested in changing the yoke to one that is yoke shaped largely because this is the original thwart.....and I'm lazy. I am however considering putting some clamp on shoulder pads on it in the hopes that it might make it a bit more tolerable. The canoe either rides right on that big vertebrae at the base of your neck or you can choose one shoulder or the other to carry it on. Do you think something like THESE would be worth a try or am I truly not addressing the root cause of "that bar is straight so its always gonna hit your neck dummy"?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Those will help. They are pretty thick so the thwart is elevated.

My husband has portaged our Wenonah for years with a PFD that has foam on top of the shoulders. It does not have yoke but a center thwart and there is just enough padding that the thwart misses his neck

Now an el cheapo possibility.. Duct tape part of a Wallly World foam pad around your thwart If you can add layers of foam on top of the yoke so much the better to get it off your neck.

 

[forest runes]

Red , Take a look at the hidden river yoke or the yoke pads in piragis catalog.

 

[Cookannapurna]

What about a length of pool noodle with a slit running the length? Cheap and light weight.

 

[redoleary]

Those will help. They are pretty thick so the thwart is elevated.

My husband has portaged our Wenonah for years with a PFD that has foam on top of the shoulders. It does not have yoke but a center thwart and there is just enough padding that the thwart misses his neck

Now an el cheapo possibility.. Duct tape part of a Wallly World foam pad around your thwart If you can add layers of foam on top of the yoke so much the better to get it off your neck.

I was kink of thinking that elevating the bar off my neck would do the trick. Padding the bar might work too.

Red , Take a look at the hidden river yoke or the yoke pads in piragis catalog.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately the clamp on ones will have to go right were the current one is. But the yoke pads look interesting.

What about a length of pool noodle with a slit running the length? Cheap and light weight.

I've tried the pool noodle and its definitely an improvement, what I didn't do was secure it very well so it keeps popping off all the time. Perhaps a pool noodle and the shoulder pad combo is the ticket.

 

[BWCA66]

What about something like this? I used one last weekend on my canoe trip, worked great on the yoke, has 3 velcro straps that wrap around so it stayed on and in place pretty well.

 

[latremorej]

I made a set of pads like the ones you linked to. It worked very well on an old grumman canoe with the straiggt center thwart. Same with a Raddison canoe. I made sure the pad was slid all the way forward on that clamp bracket instead of centered. You could also tump it low and let that center thwart rest between that bump and your shoulder blades.

 

[Canotrouge]

You could also consider a tumpline in conjoncture with some light padding on the thwart.

 

[redoleary]

What about something like this? I used one last weekend on my canoe trip, worked great on the yoke, has 3 velcro straps that wrap around so it stayed on and in place pretty well.

I think it would benefit from the elevation that the shoulder pads give because my yoke is really just a thwart... no neck cure to it.

​

I made a set of pads like the ones you linked to. It worked very well on an old grumman canoe with the straiggt center thwart. Same with a Raddison canoe. I made sure the pad was slid all the way forward on that clamp bracket instead of centered. You could also tump it low and let that center thwart rest between that bump and your shoulder blades.

Placing them off center sounds like a good idea, should build a little more space between my neck and the bar.

You could also consider a tumpline in conjoncture with some light padding on the thwart.

Now that sound like a combo I could get on board with that I somehow hadn't considered before. I kind of like tumping things but they're generally not this heavy, however since I do have a tump and some padding already on hand trying it out will be free.

Thanks for all the input folks.

 

[Robin]

I built my own pads like the ones you linked to in your first post. I used some foam I had and some left over canvas I had from canvassing a canoe. They have lasted for years and really make that heavy canoe more comfortable over the portage. Nothing touches my neck, I can adjust the width to a more comfortable space if needed and to me the only other option for an original wood canoe is tied in beavertail paddles.


Like Wilford Brimley said:

 

[yellowcanoe]

oh my ,, instant oatmeal.. Deserves its own thread... Its the wrong thing to do.. and a product of modernity..
sorry for the aside comment.. Going back to the birdseed thread.

 

[Iskweo]

You know you are old when you start channelling your inner Wilford Brimley...lol.

I like those padded blocks...I have the same issue with my Cottage Bruiser...no yoke, just a very pretty curved thwart.

 

[Odyssey]

A pair of paddles are surprisingly comfortable, especially when a PFD is worn (for the little bit of shoulder/neck padding). If I didn't have a padded deep dish yoke (luxury) I'd do the lashed paddle thing.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Paddles do work. If you have not used a tumpline regularly and properly beware. It can lead to c spine fractures if your musculature is not trained regularly
Light loads are one things but heavy loads that can twist can lead to injury

 

[Guest]

My wooden canoe has a straight yoke, I suppose its more of a thwart than a yoke but either way it is more than a little uncomfortable to carry this thing around. I'm not terribly interested in changing the yoke to one that is yoke shaped largely because this is the original thwart.....and I'm lazy. I am however considering putting some clamp on shoulder pads on it in the hopes that it might make it a bit more tolerable. The canoe either rides right on that big vertebrae at the base of your neck or you can choose one shoulder or the other to carry it on. Do you think something like THESE would be worth a try or am I truly not addressing the root cause of "that bar is straight so its always gonna hit your neck dummy"?

I’m lazy too. The clamp on/strap on type pads are one more thing to remember to bring, one more thing to spend time bent over installing (or removing) each trip and one more thing to potentially misplace or lose along the way.

And I am phobic about anything permanently installed that protrudes above the top of the gunwales. I slide my canoes on and off the storage racks, and on/off the too-tall van roof racks. On the van, with four crossbars, any above-sheerline obstruction becomes even more maddening.

My KISS inclination would be to take a piece of minicel, not much thicker than the top of thwart to the top of gunwales, cut it sized to the thwart width and carve out a center notch to accommodates that knobby vertebrae. A 2 inch x 20 inch piece of minicel and little contact cement might make for a permanent and inexpensive solution. Round off the right angles on the top of the minicel pad to reduce the sheer forces when slipping into the yoke.

If you want more of a sculpted yoke shape maybe screw in a couple of U wood shoulder protrusions and cut some yoke shaped minicel to fit. But none of that is really the original piece.

Truth be told, and I know you want to save the original “yoke”, my first inclination would be to install a new wood contour yoke and have something permanent and very comfortable.

I really like the contour yoke Esquif used; broad and deep that sculpted piece fit my shoulders perfectly, including the vertebrae notch. Those Esquif yokes were also eye candy curvatious art.

Ed’s Canoe makes something similar, if not as elegantly sculpted.

http://www.edscanoe.com/copoyo.html

 

[lowangle al]

No Title

Although this boat has a yoke I have used this system on a boat with a straight thwart. In the pic I am moving the foam towards the inside of the paddle blade where it will rest on my shoulder. Doubling up the foam will improve the comfort also.

 

[Srobocop]

I have the superior portage pads and love them.

 

[redoleary]

I built my own pads like the ones you linked to in your first post. I used some foam I had and some left over canvas I had from canvassing a canoe. They have lasted for years and really make that heavy canoe more comfortable over the portage. Nothing touches my neck, I can adjust the width to a more comfortable space if needed and to me the only other option for an original wood canoe is tied in beavertail paddles.


Like Wilford Brimley said:

I like the idea of adjustable width. So many options.

A pair of paddles are surprisingly comfortable, especially when a PFD is worn (for the little bit of shoulder/neck padding). If I didn't have a padded deep dish yoke (luxury) I'd do the lashed paddle thing.

The pair of paddles sounds like its worth a try also. I have one beaver tail and one otter tail, I'm going to have a full day just trying all these ideas out.

​

Paddles do work. If you have not used a tumpline regularly and properly beware. It can lead to c spine fractures if your musculature is not trained regularly
Light loads are one things but heavy loads that can twist can lead to injury

I'm sure my neck is not ready for sherpa loads, but I might be able to safely tump the canoe on the flat and work my way up to more challenging terrain.

 

[redoleary]

I’m lazy too. The clamp on/strap on type pads are one more thing to remember to bring, one more thing to spend time bent over installing (or removing) each trip and one more thing to potentially misplace or lose along the way.

And I am phobic about anything permanently installed that protrudes above the top of the gunwales. I slide my canoes on and off the storage racks, and on/off the too-tall van roof racks. On the van, with four crossbars, any above-sheerline obstruction becomes even more maddening.

My KISS inclination would be to take a piece of minicel, not much thicker than the top of thwart to the top of gunwales, cut it sized to the thwart width and carve out a center notch to accommodates that knobby vertebrae. A 2 inch x 20 inch piece of minicel and little contact cement might make for a permanent and inexpensive solution. Round off the right angles on the top of the minicel pad to reduce the sheer forces when slipping into the yoke.

If you want more of a sculpted yoke shape maybe screw in a couple of U wood shoulder protrusions and cut some yoke shaped minicel to fit. But none of that is really the original piece.

Truth be told, and I know you want to save the original “yoke”, my first inclination would be to install a new wood contour yoke and have something permanent and very comfortable.

I really like the contour yoke Esquif used; broad and deep that sculpted piece fit my shoulders perfectly, including the vertebrae notch. Those Esquif yokes were also eye candy curvatious art.

Ed’s Canoe makes something similar, if not as elegantly sculpted.

http://www.edscanoe.com/copoyo.html

Thanks for the link, those are some fine looking yokes. I've had a couple of rentals with similar yokes and they're not bad but could benefit from some pad glued to them.

​

Although this boat has a yoke I have used this system on a boat with a straight thwart. In the pic I am moving the foam towards the inside of the paddle blade where it will rest on my shoulder. Doubling up the foam will improve the comfort also.

Nice, a hybrid approach. Thanks.

I have the superior portage pads and love them.

Thanks for the input. Nice to have some real world feedback about those pads.