• Happy International Mermaid Day! 🧜🏼‍♀️

Poll: Where do you sit when soloing a tripping canoe?

Poll: Where do you sit when soloing a tripping canoe?

  • Stern seat

    Votes: 2 6.1%
  • Bow seat with canoe turned around stern first

    Votes: 14 42.4%
  • Centralized seat

    Votes: 17 51.5%

  • Total voters
    33

Glenn MacGrady

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 24, 2012
Messages
4,968
Reaction score
2,954
Location
Connecticut
The first two responses assume you are solo tripping in a tandem canoe. The third response could mean you are soloing a specialized solo canoe that only has a centralized seat or a tandem canoe that has an additional centralized seat.

I realize many posters may have multiple canoes in which they may position themselves in different places at different times. Since this is a tripping site, pick the kind of canoe and position you would trip in with a load most often.

Feel free to discuss why you prefer the position you do.
 
All I own are solo canoes (working on a tandem now) so I don't have much option and I like sitting in the center. I will say that earlier this year I borrowed an OT Penobscot 16 and did a day paddle down the local river from the bow seat facing backwards. It was a lot better than I thought it would be and I was surprised how much control I had over the bow. Maybe it would have been different with a tripping load, however.

I'm thinking of a higher volume solo for longer trips and the thought of a seat farther back from center is appealing as the canoe will be narrower there (easier reach) and it will make packing easier since I can use the highest area of volume to stow gear rather than for myself.

Alan
 
Depends.
Are the seats contoured? Are they canted? Is there a thwart in back of the bow seat making turning around impossible. Would I ruin my antique canoe if I took it out? How long are my arms? Can I make a saddle? Can I heel the canoe over? Do my legs fold in half? Do I need room for a moose?
 
Are the seats contoured? Are they canted? Is there a thwart in back of the bow seat making turning around impossible. Would I ruin my antique canoe if I took it out? How long are my arms? Can I make a saddle? Can I heel the canoe over? Do my legs fold in half? Do I need room for a moose?

Can you answer the "most often" question?

Yes, you can. We have numerous pictures from the CIA, NSA, North Korea and even this site, plus personal experiences with you, that prove that have been a centrist, at least in this century.
 
As I would never trip solo in a tandem canoe you can regard me as the peanut gallery.. Will that be boiled or roasted? Dry roasted? Shell or no shell?
 
For a while, I used an OT Penobscot 16 RX from the bow seat (turned around, symmetrical hull), lightly loaded, on daytrips and long weekenders. I found it near impossible to control in any real wind. I recall being quite aggravated as I was blown upstream, away from the take out, on the Delaware River. I weighed around 190 lbs back then. I never tried to load it down with enough of a load to see if it would neutralize the wind problem. I didn't need all that cargo space anyway. The trips I planned to take were for a week maximum, for the most part. So, I got a dedicated solo tripper (with center seat), and used the Penobscot only as a tandem. I've been interested to see so many here using tandems as solo trippers.
 
Last edited:
It depends on the type of "tripping." If tripping with portages, then I'm in a centralized seat in one of my solo boats (Argosy, Pack, a Sojourn).
If no portages, then I am likely loading the heck out of my Mohawk Intrepid and sitting in the bow seat with the canoe turned around...or using the kneeling thwart.
I am working on converting a tandem Mad River Freedom into a solo so when that's done, I'll be using that (assuming no or few portages)

I haven't taken advantage of paddling a tandem solo from the stern seat like Alan mentions. Someday maybe. I like the idea of it I just haven't had that much stuff in a boat yet haha.
 
I like the stern seat and way back at that. I don't weigh much so it's not hard to balance with gear especially a full cooler. I like to be trimmed slightly stern heavy, because I like to switch to kneeling and recently poling which balances out the trim when I move forward slightly. And if I need to snub with the pole I can move farther forward easily to get the bow down. Also I have a John Winters' design asymmetrical canoe so reversing the orientation doesn't work too well.
 
I kneel just ahead of the stern thwart with my butt resting on said thwart. I do a lot of poling and this positions me at a good location for either, and If I should encounter any head winds I can easily move up to just behind the carry thwart. I'm usually in an 18 1/2' White Guide. If I have to move up to the carry thwart I usually have to favor one side or the other rather than trying to kneel dead center.
Dave
 
I have two problems with tripping with a centralized seat. Number one is needing a removable yoke to make room for your legs when paddling. The other is that when you have a heavy load you may have to put a pack behind you for proper trim, making it harder to load and unload at most of the landings I make.


The only problem I have with my prefered method of paddling from the bow seat is that I have to turn the boat around to get the yoke facing the right way before I can get going.


If I hit some wind I push the packs closer to the front if needed.
 
I only have tandems and paddle them from bow seat turned around. I have owned solo's and might own another someday, but right now I'm happy with my 15' tandem with a center thwart.

When I load up a 16' w/c canoe with wall tent/stove/wannigan I still use the bow seat with the canoe turned around. I tried it from the stern seat with that big load, but have settled on the bow seat.
 
When solo tripping I usually use my Malacite which has the three seats. Oddly enough in good conditions I prefer to use a cut down shower seat (with crutch tips) placed forward of the rear seat. This allows me to vary positions to relieve fatigue and pressure points by kneeling on one knee, sitting with bench athwartship, straddling with bench longitudinal or I can easily set it atop of load to give me a good amount of open floor space for poling. Added benefit is using it as a seat or table in camp.
 
Backwards in the bow for me, I just find that it is more stable both loaded and unloaded especially when entering and exiting said vessel. Looking at adding a double blade to give me "more power" (read in your best "Tim the Toolman Taylor voice) especially in wind so I can keep my schedule.
 
I am almost always in a “centralized” seat.

In our factory designed solo canoes I am generally happy with the solo seat placement, although with the Wenonah Wilderness I would prefer the seat be positioned a few inches further back. That was a 1[SUP]st[/SUP] year RX Wilderness and I think the seat position was screwed up using the longer composite Wilderness placement.

With the tandem canoes I have soloized for tripping purposes (OT Penobscot, MRC Explorer) I positioned the solo seat several inches further back of center than normal; I grew up solo paddling symmetrical tandems bow backwards and that position still feels natural to me.

I am not a fan of having bow, stern and “center” seats in a canoe, or at least in a 16-17 footer. Too much storage area is occluded with seats (and thwarts) for packs and tripping gear purposes.

That backwards facing use of a bow seat depends of course on hull symmetry and not-in-the way thwart placement, but also on how far back the bow seat is factory installed. On our Nova Craft Cronje the center of the bow seat is nearly 6 feet from the stem and with some gear weight distributed forward that canoe paddles agreeably from the bow seat.
 
Usually on my arse! Seriously, it depends on which canoe I am using. One of my two Malecites has the standard seating measurements and I find it hard to paddle solo, although I did try just one seat pushed forward towards center but found I'm too danged short in stature to get a good control stroke so switched back to tandem. I think Robin was trying this at one point in time. The second one I adjusted seat placement so the bow seat was pushed way back for two reasons, one being while tandem the bow person has some leg room and if I need to solo I will be in a good spot for solo paddling. The stern seat is also pushed forward from original placement and I use that when I have a load and am soloing. It seems to work well for me. My Courier was a challenge to find the correct seat placement. I tried the standard measurement of X inches back from center but when kneeling in WW I was too far forward. Against others suggestions I moved it back some 20 inches from center so when I do have to drop to me knees I am just a hair behind center which has work extremely well, have total control in up to class III.

My poor ol' hogged backed Disco is the only boat I haven't changed seat placement at all in. When I solo it's from the front seat facing the opposite way like many of us do. That is, for me, also the ideal poling position! To each their own I guess.
 
I only have tandems although we have had solo boats, just not me. I still like a solo placed further back than most people since I am used to the backwards from the front seat scenario.

Christy
 
Some folks like the old timer in the header don't use the seats, just sit right there on the deck
 
Back
Top