How To Lower A Canoe Seat?

The distance from the ground to your sit bones or ischial tuberosities and the depth of your canoe from gunwale to gunwale at its widest point should be measured. Subtract half this depth from your sit bone measurement to determine how far below gunwale level you should place your seat. Lowering a seat in a canoe has both advantages and disadvantages. Lowering the seat can lower your center of gravity, but it may be more comfortable for white water paddlers. If the canoe is extra wide, move the seats closer together for more comfort and stability. If the seat is too low, it’s easy to raise them.

To make adjustments in seat height, use duct tape, masking tape, a homemade temporary kneeling bar, clamps, and a measuring tape. Measure the width of the canoe and the distance between mounting points. Choose the right seat mount hardware and adjust the tension of the seat mounts. Use the provided nuts and bolts for installation.

Your height plays a critical role in determining the ideal height for your canoe seat. If you are tall, you may need to raise the seat higher to maintain proper body positioning. To get the feel for where you like your seat, leave out the dowels and use long bolts and adjust height by tightening or loosening nuts. Paddling without the dowels can help you adjust the seat height.

Lowering your seat by 2 can provide 50% more stability from your old canoe. The seat spacer requires no maintenance and won’t rot like wood. Trim any excess bolts under the seat as they make a snag hazard and have ripped into many sets of dry-dried canoe seats.

In conclusion, the height of your canoe seat plays a significant role in your comfort and stability during a trip.

What height should a canoe seat be for kneeling?

Your seat should be high enough that you can get your feet under them if you are kneeling. There are times in heavy waves that kneeling will lower the center of gravity to the point where you can prevent capsizing.

Most seats are usually around 10″ at the top of the seat from the bottom of the canoe. I’ve placed hundreds of seats in canoes over my years.Tom.

Thank you all for the thoughts and good ideas! I knew this group would come through for me.

I understand completely the stability factor and respect this first. I have always owned a cushion, used it as a pillow in tent, had it ready for a throw device for floatation if someone needed it overboard etc., but I have never sat on it in the canoe. This might be a test method before I lay the cash down but I will cross that bridge when I get there on the test “drive”.

Where should a heavy person sit on a canoe?

To avoid this issue, try to balance the weight evenly in the canoe and keep a low center mass. Don’t try to stand up in the canoe while out on the water. If you must move around in the canoe, stay low and concentrate on balancing the weight with those around you. If you are alone in the canoe, sit in the middle. If there are two people in the canoe, have one sit in the back and one sit in the front, with the heavier person or more experienced paddler in the rear of the boat, called the stern. When paddling, try to stay over the centerline of the canoe and keep your back straight. If you are leaning over, make sure that all of the people in the canoe are not leaning over to look at the same place and at the same time. It can be exciting to look at something in the water next to you, such as a fish, but if everyone leans over too far to look, you might just end up joining the fish in the water!

If the body of water you are gliding on has a current, such as a river or creek, it is much easier to paddle in the direction of the water flow than to fight the current going the opposite way. The water will also push you in the direction of the current so you will get to your downriver destination faster.

If you do find the need to go upriver against the current, pick your route carefully. Look for areas where the water is calmer and there are few rapids, rocks, or tree snags. You will need to expend a lot more energy to paddle upriver, so communicate with your team to make sure you are paddling as efficiently as possible. In life, going with the flow is often the same… it is usually easier to do something the way it has been done before than to change it.

How low should canoe seats be?

Your right most canoes have a seat drop of 3 or 4 inches as standard on the tandem seats.

If you plan to kneel with your feet under the seat then enough clearance for them to easily slide out in case of inversion is quite a good idea.

Other factors to take into consideration the higher the seat the higher the centre of gravity and slightly less stability and vice versa of course for lower.

As long as you feel comfortable I’m not sure that much else matters too much but someone else may have a different view.

How high should a canoe saddle be?

• How to cut and shape the saddle. Remove all thwarts and lacing from the boat. This allows the boat to flex open so that the saddle can be removed. You will need a knife with a serrated edge, such as a bread knife, which makes an effective tool for cutting foam.
• The best way to cut and shape foam is to mark your cut lines with a marker pen and ruler. There is a huge risk of making mistakes in working by eye. Start with small cuts
• you can always take off more later.
• Larger paddlers may need to cut the backrest first in order to give them room to work on the hooks (see below).
• The height of the saddle. Before you start cutting, the key decision is what height to set your saddle at. Supplied saddles are approx. 10 inches high. Seat height for most people will be 8-9 inches but may range from 7-10 inches, dependent on paddlers preference. Your comfort is very important but height is generally determined by the size of the paddler.
• Mark the cut line following the contours of the saddle. Cut to the waste side of the line initially and the final shaping can be done using the Surform tool supplied. This applies to cuts for the hooks, backrest, etc. too.
• Cutting the hooks. You’re aiming for two things
• to get your seat bones sitting on the saddle, and to get your legs splayed so that your knees locate in to the chines of the boat, on the knee pads. This creates a stable triangle to give you better control and stability.
• The saddle comes with a shim
• tear it out if it needs removing or glue it in if it needs to stay. Slowly cut your way in to the hooks marking pinch points with a marker pen
• make small cuts and remove little and often. Keep jumping back into the saddle and test the fit. It will soon start to take shape, so that you can refine the fit using the Surform. Take your time.

• MAKING THE CUTS. Cutting the backrest. A larger/taller paddler is likely to need to take off a vertical slice of the backrest but a smaller/shorter person may not need to take off any. Phil is 6-foot tall, and does not take anything off the backrest, except for creating a slope of 10-15 degrees
• a personal preference. This leaves a saddle where he can dig deeper into the hooks.
• The biggest mistake that people make is in cutting too much off the backrest. What this does is move you too far back in the boat, which makes it harder to get the saddle to fall correctly under the thwarts to achieve correct trim.
• Use a ruler and mark the straight cut lines and blend your cut lines into the contours of the saddle. As above, cut above the waste line and refine using the Surform tool.

Where does a single person sit in a canoe?

The most efficient way to paddle solo in a two-person canoe is to sit in the bow seat facing the stern, and paddle stern first. This will help center your weight and you’ll have better control of your canoe.

Another option is to kneel behind the center thwart. You’ll want knee pads or a piece of foam to kneel on, and maybe a rolled-up towel for behind your knees for longer paddles.

Try various positions and see which is most comfortable for you.

Paddle strokes, like the J-stroke work well to keep your canoe straight while limiting inefficient switching of sides.

Where should the heavier person sit in a canoe?

To avoid this issue, try to balance the weight evenly in the canoe and keep a low center mass. Don’t try to stand up in the canoe while out on the water. If you must move around in the canoe, stay low and concentrate on balancing the weight with those around you. If you are alone in the canoe, sit in the middle. If there are two people in the canoe, have one sit in the back and one sit in the front, with the heavier person or more experienced paddler in the rear of the boat, called the stern. When paddling, try to stay over the centerline of the canoe and keep your back straight. If you are leaning over, make sure that all of the people in the canoe are not leaning over to look at the same place and at the same time. It can be exciting to look at something in the water next to you, such as a fish, but if everyone leans over too far to look, you might just end up joining the fish in the water!

If the body of water you are gliding on has a current, such as a river or creek, it is much easier to paddle in the direction of the water flow than to fight the current going the opposite way. The water will also push you in the direction of the current so you will get to your downriver destination faster.

If you do find the need to go upriver against the current, pick your route carefully. Look for areas where the water is calmer and there are few rapids, rocks, or tree snags. You will need to expend a lot more energy to paddle upriver, so communicate with your team to make sure you are paddling as efficiently as possible. In life, going with the flow is often the same… it is usually easier to do something the way it has been done before than to change it.

Is my saddle height too high?

– A stable foot – there should not be excessive toe down or heel down. – A smooth pedal stroke – a “dead spot” or a feeling of losing contact at the bottom of the pedal stroke may mean the saddle is too high.

Setting the correct saddle height on your bike is essential for comfort, efficiency, performance and to avoid injury, which will ultimately allow you to ride longer and push harder.

Not only is it important to choose a bike saddle that’s right for you (the best bike saddle varies from rider to rider as we’re all built a little differently), finding the optimum saddle height is the foundation of setting up your bike, whether that’s with a bike fitter or as part of a DIY bike fit at home.

Nicole Oh is a physiotherapist and bike fitter, with training in biomechanical assessments, sports injury rehabilitation, acupuncture and clinical pilates. She’s an avid racer and lives in Sydney.

Should you kneel or sit in a canoe?

Position. Now, looking at specific paddling positions, the majority of paddlers find it most comfortable sitting on the seats to begin with. That’s great. But you should know that kneeling off the seat is a much more stable position. Not only does it lower your center of gravity, but it gives you more intimate contact with, and therefore more control of, the canoe.

Kneeling is particularly useful in windy conditions, or if you’re paddling with children, pets, or inexperienced paddlers, or if you just want to change things up so they don’t feel cramped after sitting in one position for too long.

Comfort for Kneeling. When kneeling in a canoe, it’s important to understand that you’ll still make good use of the seat. In fact, the front edge of your seat should still take a lot of your body weight because this takes the pressure off your legs and leaves them free to move up and down in case you need to adjust the boat tilt. Another thing that you can do to make paddling more comfortable is to install knee pads inside the canoe.

How do you sit comfortably in a canoe?

All right so just a little something to keep in mind when you are in the sitting. Position with your legs. Straight.

Can you be too heavy for a canoe?

Weight Limit. While a canoe has a maximum load capacity of 450 kg, in practice this doesn’t mean that if there are two paddlers, you simply divide this capacity by two.

As a general rule, the maximum weight of a single paddler in one of our canoes is 18½ stone / 120 kg.

Weight Distribution. Another practical consideration is the difference in weight between the front and back seat of the canoe. If in the back seat (the heaviest paddler is always at the back) is, say, a parent who weighs 110 kg, it would not be wise for them to come just with their 10-year-old weighing only 32 kg. In this case, what we would advise is to persuade another adult to accompany you and then the two adults can sit front and back and the child can go in the middle.

“If you’re looking for some fun, get away from Shrewsbury and explore the Shropshire countryside. Canoeing is a great way to do so without having to be super fit! There are loads of companies that can help you hire out equipment/boats etc., but I recommendHire A Canoeas they were incredible when I last visited!”

Can you sit on the bottom of a canoe?

Position not only does it lower your center of gravity. But it gives you more intimate. Contact with and therefore more control of the canoe. Kneeling is particularly useful in windy conditions.

How can I make my canoe more comfortable?

Using a lifejacket for a seat cushion is a common and foolish decision for anyone paddling a canoe. A canoe is an inherently unstable craft, and it’s unlikely that the lifejacket will be located in a panic if overturned. Wear the personal floatation device and pick up an inexpensive seat cushion for comfort.

After several hours sitting upright in a canoe, you might begin to feel some lower back fatigue. A seat-back clips or straps to the canoe seat and offers essential back support and extra comfort as well. They, too, can be found in almost any outdoor or sporting goods store.

Once you have made your canoe more comfortable, the next step is adding fishing accessories. A small gas or electric motor is a major luxury item, but it can make canoe fishing much more productive by getting from fishing spot to fishing spot more quickly. A small trolling motor can also help hold the canoe’s position in the windy conditions.

A small, portable fishfinder is another helpful accessory. Most portable units operate on small, consumer-grade batteries with suction cup-mounted transducers that are ideal for canoes.