Solo Canoe Portage Yoke

[Bryan Hansel]

I just finished building a solo canoe portage yoke that was talked about somewhere in this thread. It works really well as long as you use pads. Otherwise, the canoe sits down low and obscures the view. With the yoke pads, it's up high enough to get a good view. The canoe also seems to ride just a little more stern heavy with this style vs. my clamp-on carrier. Made from rough-cut ash. Coated with Watco oil. Not sure how I got the pads, but I found them in a box in the shop.

The only problem with the yoke is getting the boat overhead. There's nothing to hold the yoke in place, so I have to hold the seat/yoke with one hand while flipping it overhead. I'd prefer to keep my hand on the gunwale, but my boat is light enough (32 lbs.) that it doesn't seem to matter too much.

I used deck screws to hold the parts together, because that's what I had around the shop today, and nothing is open. I'll probably beef those up with some thicker stainless screws. I was also thinking about wood joints that would be strong enough to hold this together.

Any ideas for wood joints (pegs) or should I just stick with screws?

[BearLeeAlive]

That looks like a great yoke, Bryan. I like that idea much more than attaching to the gunwales. You could use some kind of clip or elastic to hold it in place when hefting it up onto your shoulders.

A mortise and tenon joint, or even some dowels would keep the look clean.

[Patricks Dad]

Looks good Bryan! I used some magnets to hold my yoke in place. The design for my yoke is quite different but I would think you might be able to use some magnets as well. It's nice that your center of balance is so close to the seat (I had a longer reach from the seat to deal with).

[Bryan Hansel]

I usually have a bungee cord next to my seat for various reasons -- you can see it in the picture. I tried that to hold the yoke in place. It works perfect. This is a really nice yoke. I like it much better than my clamp-on version.

[Jim Dodd]

Hi BRYAN
I've made two portage yokes like yours. I stole the concept from Bell.
I made mine to a friction fit, but it's not perfect. So the bungee works.
I wonder if foam or rubber between the seat and the arms of the yoke might hold the yoke in place ?
Maybe a thumb screw mounted into the yoke applying pressure against the seat, again friction.
I like my yoke ! It keeps the canoe bow up enough to easily see where I'm going. The drawback is it's another piece of gear to keep track of.
If you could turn it into a folding backrest that would serve two duties.
Food for thought.
Jim

[Bryan Hansel]

The bungee cord works great. I portaged it around with it on and it holds it in place good enough that I would have no problems trusting it on a rough and long portage.

Plans for this: Solo Canoe Yoke