Installing Seats

Welcome to the new Bear Mountain Builders Forum - an interactive internet service we provide to encourage communication between canoe and kayak builders
Post Reply
ibefishin
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:26 am

Installing Seats

Post by ibefishin »

I'm just finishing my first 15 foot cedar strip canoe and have delayed installing seats. I built a stapleless canoe to avoid holes and have no screws or hardware anywhere on the canoe. Now I'm having difficulty accepting the conventional method of hanging seats on bolts with spacer dowels. This means drilling a hole through my perfect gunnels and inserting an ugly bolt. Plus, it seems to me that this method would give some fore/aft sway to the seat just hanging from the gunnel. There must be a better method.

I am now considering wood cleats epoxied to the sides of the canoe with the seat arms then epoxied to the support cleats.

Has anyone tried this or have a better method of installing seats?
User avatar
Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Post by Glen Smith »

I am now considering wood cleats epoxied to the sides of the canoe with the seat arms then epoxied to the support cleats.
Cleats work well. If you are not using any fasteners, perhaps you should notch the cleats to receive the seat arms. This will increase the gluing surface and assure a rigid, stable joint.
User avatar
Jeff in Farmington, MI
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

There are ways to avoid visible fasteners. You mentioned cleats on the inside of the hull, but there are also varieties of hidden fasteners. I hung my canoe seats from the gunwales, but rather than a bolt on top, I ran the bolts up from the bottom and into stainless steel binding posts inside the gunwale. A binding post consists of a flanged tube, threaded on the inside, into which a bolt is inserted. Internet search on "binding post barrel".

I drilled a countersink into the top of the gunwales, just deep enough to accept the binding post barrel flange plus a very thin 1/8 inch thick plug over that. Into each countersink, I drilled a through hole to accept the binding post. The binding post is epoxied into the gunnel and hidden by the plug, so the top of the gunwales are SMOOTH. Long #10 (3/16 inch) stainless steel bolts come up from below the seat, through the spacers, and are never seen unless unless you look under the seat.

Threaded wood inserts are more easily obtained, but I believe they would weaken the gunwale too much. Using the binding posts, the weight of the seats and paddler are entirely supported by the binding post flanges resting in the gunwale countersinks.

Unfortunately, I don't have in-process photos of that construction, but the end result is seen in this photo set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19215801@N ... 3023503608

Jeff
User avatar
Patricks Dad
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Post by Patricks Dad »

The first canoe I built had no metal in it either (except a couple coins mounted on the decks). I used wooden dowels through the gunwales into the seats to mount my seats. I drilled the holes in the gunwales and seat rails in a slight funnel shape and split the ends of the dowels and inserted small wedges of a contrasting color to hold them in place (all glued in place with epoxy. Similar to bolts, the dowels pass through a wooden spacer between the gunwale and the seat rail for proper height. No sway to worry about. Plenty strong (I tested a single joint to well over 200 pounds without failure).
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
User avatar
BradRob
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Grayling, Mich.

Post by BradRob »

I have seen somewhere, I cant remember just where yet that someone made a seat that can be adjusted easily front to back on cleats. I have also kicked around the idea of hanging seats from the scuppers. Something that could be removed easily and adjusted front to back if needed.. Racing canoes are rigged with aluminum braces that allow a seat to be mounted on an internal frame system so they can be adjusted front to back as well. I really like the idea of having adjustable seats to accomodate conditions and different paddling partners. I will keep searching and if i find something i will post it.
ibefishin
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:26 am

Installing Seats

Post by ibefishin »

Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments on installing seats. While I mull this over, I guess I'll just paddle around the lake while kneeling on a boat cusion.
ibefishin
<'///><
In God We Trust
vann evans
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:52 pm
Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Post by vann evans »

I know you don't want to use metal fasteners(I used bronze bolts that I think look ok after weathering) but I wanted to show you the seat hangers that I used. They will not allow any sway or movement of the seats since they have 2 attachment points on each side. I can't figure out how to display a single picture, so you will have to look at the entire page(look at the 8th picture from the end).

http://picasaweb.google.com/cboaternc/F ... StripCanoe#

hope this helps
Vann Evans

[/img]
AlanWS
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Shorewood, WI

Post by AlanWS »

Cleats epoxied into the hull to support the seats work well. I have a canoe I built that way about 35 years ago. Seats hanging from the gunwale don't tend to sway if they are fitted well. Some wooden hangers prevent any forward and back deviation by being one piece on each side.

This link has descriptions of hanging seats with hidden hardware, and of installing sliding seats: http://www.greenval.com/builders_notes.html

Adjustable seats are helpful only if you tend to paddle with two people and no gear in the canoe, and your paddling partners vary a lot in weight. If you are camping or have a passenger, it's easier to shift the gear or the passenger to keep the boat level.
Alan
Post Reply