We need to fix at least one of the cane seats on our new to us 1989 Mad River Explorer, as its starting to tear. I suspect both will need to be replaced before next season.
I guess the options are to repair the existing seats by either re-caning them or converting them to webbing, or install new seats altogether.
Advantages/disadvantages as I see them:
Recaning or webbing by hand will take more time than buying a replacement seat but should be less expensive. It will rely on the existing seat frame being solid and some handy skills.
Cane seats dry faster and look a bit more traditional. Web seats last longer. Comfort is relative with both (I personally find the cane a bit scratchy, but maybe because its old and starting to tear).
Are there other major things to consider that I’m missing?
Factors that may be important - husband is a big guy (240 lbs), canoe will be stored outdoors year round, and we live in NH. I’d also like to replace the thwart with a proper yoke and eventually redo the gunwales (they are half original wood that is not in great shape, half trex deck), but both of those are less pressing.
Yea, I think we’d buy whatever materials we’d need from Ed’s Canoe. I just don’t know if cane or webbed is the way to go, or if there is any reason not to try to DIY/repair ourselves.
With hubby being a bigger guy and knowing we don’t have the option to baby our canoe with a cozy indoor environment, I’d particular love any insight on durability/longevity differences between options, if there are any.
I replaced my cane seats with webbed ones from Old Town 8 years ago and I am happy with that decision. If you decide to do the same thing here is an idea for what to do with the old seats.
I trimmed off the cane and turned them into picture frames. I then added a couple of my canoe adventure pictures. They make for interesting conversation pieces.
After replacing the cane seats twice in my Old Town Camper I went to Home Depot and got a roll of 1” nylon webbing. I used my air staple gun to attach the webbing to the underside of the cane frame. The nylon does stretch when wet but it does go back taunt when it dries.
It doesn’t look as good as cane but I haven’t had to replace it.
Repairing cane seats is easy enough.
But I had three canoes with cane seats and got tired of replacing them.
I like the black webbed seats. You can buy they made up or make them yourself.
I’ve done the cane seat repair and it worked out well. Then, I sold that boat. The boat also had lovely wood gunwales, as does yours. You need to maintain those by sanding and oiling (some use varnish). Stored outside, you need to do this at least annually. I want to play in my boats, not work on them.
I favor the web strap seats. Sooner or later, somebody is going to step or kneel on the seat, and if it is cane, there’s a good chance they’ll punch right through. I’ve never seen the web strap seats fail.
on two boats now, the cane seats disintegrated and I converted them with webbing from REI and a staple gun. It’s a simple job quickly done, will last pretty much indefinitely.
Yea I wish we had vinyl gunwales to be honest. The wood is beautiful but I would prefer less maintenance. We are in New Hampshire and don’t have indoor storage, and we just got the canoe this summer.
Ours has a wood internal gunwale and the external strip was replaced with Trex deck by a previous owner. I don’t think anyone has sanded, oiled, or cared for the wood on the canoe much at all in recent years, and I know it’s been stored outside under a deck year round for the past 5 years or so. I don’t know how much of the wood can be restored, or how much is worth saving since it isn’t all wood anyway. We plan to back out the screws over the winter to prevent cold cracks and then I guess we will see if it all goes back together in the spring.
I anticipate we will just replace the seats with webbed ones, but might wait until the spring to do that in case we need to replace gunwales and other bits as well. I’d love to add a carry yoke if we end up doing a lot of work on it, but we are probably still some years away from any real tripping, so that can wait if we decide minor fixes will work for now.
I appreciate lighter boats for ease of transporting and storing. I also admire the beauty and craftsmanship of a wood furniture, padfles and boats, but would rather paddle than restore or repair.
Sounds like compelling arguments to reserve craftsmanship for heirloom boats, and resort to durable material for working boats. Plastic boats are resilient, but watching the rock garden videos is a step too far for me. Good luck to them. I grunt just watching.
