Canoe Seats

Wood and cane canoe seats need to be replaced every once in a while. The cane may have been cut or torn on an outing or having snagged in the body of the canoe.

Your canoe seat may have finally succumbed to the elements and need a change owing to the general wear and tear that it is put through. Cane canoe seas can be easily bought from almost any kayak and canoe shop, however many people choose to make their own canoe seats. Thought the cost savings are insignificant at best, it is something that many canoeists choose to do as they find pride in such an accomplishment. Do-it-yourself canoes seats can be outfitted with useful hooks and the like in addition to giving it a customized look using different patterns and wood materials like ash to give it a personal touch.

An extremely popular canoe seat style is the bench style wood-cane canoe seat. When looking to purchase a canoe seat, it is important that you choose he whole seat apparatus and not just the cane replacement. Replacing the worn down cane usually takes as much time and cost nearly as much as getting a new seat frame along with the cane canoe seat replacement. Like it is with cars, when a head light goes out, the other one isn’t usually far behind on its way to be replaced. Thus, you should look to replace the whole seat seat in one go.

The bench style wood-cane canoe seat is made using a woven webbing wound across a wooden frame. The webbing spans the width of the canoe and is propped up by horizontal rails attached to the canoe frame. This allows the seat to be adjustable not only in the forward and backward direction, but up and down as well. For low seating configurations, add to that a footrest or a foot brace and you’ve achieved the most secure seating method possible.

To replace the canoe seat, replace the old canoe seat and center it on top of the new seat so that you can make marks for cutting and drilling it later on. If you manage to find a seat that is an exact match to the one you are replacing, then you can leave your ruler and saw in your tool box and spend less than an hour and have your seat installed and your canoe ready for a ride. For a seat that doesn’t fit as perfectly, you’re going to have to mark, cut and drill into the bow seat first using the narrow stern to your advantage while fitting the seat in.

No matter how well the seat fits, you will need to apply a dab of wood preservative on the exposed gain of the seat so that you can get maximum value out of it. While working on the ends of your canoe seat you may want to use fine sand paper or a powered sander to round the edges of the wooden frame before you attach the cane to it. Not only does this give your work a professional feel, it also allows the wood preservative to fill in uniformly increasing the life span of your canoe seat.