Cane is a bargain…
Look on the web for caning supplies. You can buy enough hand cane material to do 20 seats for the price of new seats.
Here's one source:
http://www.furnitureknowledge.com/pre-woven%20Cane.htm
Check with local caners too. Canoe seats take so little, sometimes they'll give you enough material.
I Hesitated to Answer Because…
...I haven't found a seat in ANY canoe and kayak to be comfortable since I've had problems with my leg after a surgery gone bad last year. I have used cane, webbed, tractor seats, Great Canadian's padded faux leather seats and the Novacraft laced seats in the past. Cane seats have always been my favorite and I have cane in a few boats and webbed in a few. I have considered checking into getting a couple of Great Canadian's seats again now that I'm looking for a seat that would keep my right leg from going numb in 30 minutes. I paddle rivers and BWCAW. WW
Canoe seating
We do day trips on rivers most weekends and one or two extended lake loops most summers. There are three of us in our family – we all paddle solo canoes and we all use single blades. We’re into having fun on the water, playing with the current, but we pretty much stick to easy riffles up to C2. We do some Freestyle, so we primarily kneel.
I find the curved frame with nylon webbing in Swift canoe seats to be very comfortable for sitting & kneeling against. I’m not a Swift fan, but their seats are very nicely designed.
Generally speaking nylon webbing is reasonably comfortable and very durable it, but webbing does hold water as has been mentioned.
Cane looks better and seems cooler and drier to me, but is not nearly as durable. It becomes increasingly fragile with age. It can be replaced easily enough I understand.
The best combination of durability and comfort in my opinion are woven nylon cord seats – like Merrimack (and a few others) offer in their canoes. It has a traditional look, doesn’t hold water, is tough as nails and comfortable. My Merrimack Baboosic is by far my favorite canoe, but there are so many things I like about that boat – not just the seat.
On a whim one weekend a few years ago I carved a cherry seat with a modified saddle of my own design for my Wildfire RX. I’d have to say I find it pretty darn comfy, but then again I carved it to fit my butt, so it ought to be… The darn thing does ad a few pounds of weight to that boat though!
Among my least favorite seats are We-No-Nah tractor seats mounted on their God awful metal pedestals. While fine for sit ‘n switch type paddling (I suppose) they really suck for kneeling. I understand racers really like ‘em, but racing canoes is not for me.
The Mad River “IQ” tractor seats are at least not mounted on nasty Wenny type pedestals so there’s leg room under them, but they’re “solar gain black” plastic… What were they thinking? Looks nice in the showroom I guess…
Tractor. Lucky for us, tractor seats in
our first canoe were at the right height for sitting, kneeling, and leg extraction when kneeling. (Also depends on safe design of under-seat hardware with tractor seats.)
I have both in different canoes and
much prefer the tractor seat, with pad, in my Wenonah Voyager.
Depends…
after owning two tandem canoes, one with flat raw-hide seat (very uncomfortable) and one with caned seats (very comfortable) I never thought I would like a tractor seat. A 4 -day trip a few years ago in a Wenonah tandem made me beleive I'd never want a tractor seat. By the 2nd day I was kneeling behind it. When I bought my solo Wenonah Solitude with sliding tractor, my plan was to replace it. However after my first paddle I was hooked. The solo tractor allowed me to kneel or sit VERY comfortablly, I kneel with my legs on either side of the seat with my butt resting on the seat, and using two kneeling pads. When I want to go fast, or need to give my knees a break, I pop up in the seat, put my feet on the foot bar, and speed away.
In Tandem boats, I like a caned seat. The cane allows water to flow through, and dries very quickly. Webbing seems to stay wet all day.
-MEAT
Caned seats
I use caned seats in all my canoes Bell Wildfire, Magic, Freedom 17, and Wee Lassie. Angled slightly forward for kneeling.
I use then for tripping, day paddling, messing about, whatever. Never much liked a bucket seat in a canoe because it locks you in place. I feel I gain more control over the canoe’s movements when I’m able to move my weight and gravity around the cockpit of the canoe.
I do like bucket seats in kayaks, but I’m working out how to build a caned bucket seat for mine.
tractor seats
So much more comfortable then cane seats.
Sliding molded tractor, but
with additional foam padding.
Type: Recreation, touring and racing.
Cheers,
JackL
Tractor
I have always chose, and always will choose, a tractor style seat for my canoeing. Last year I did a solo canoe trip covering thousands of kilometres through coastal paddling, gentle lakes, WILD lakes and up to class three river paddling…all in a seated postion on a molded style tractor seat and an adjustable footbrace. It has been many, many years since I’ve paddled using a bench style seat…and I intend to keep it that way.
Cheers…Joe O’
I like cane
and have made a couple for my MR Guide. Like to move around on the seat as the day wears on and I find kneeling helps me stay upright when things get “interesting”. I do have an old ford tractor with a tractor seat however! It just wouldn’t look right with a cane seat.
Seats
I prefer kneeling unless I’m standing up.
In a wide boat like my MR Explorer I prefer a bench seat so that I can move side to side.
In a narrow non whitewater boat like my Swift Osprey I am happy with either a bench, pedastal or bucket so long as there is room for kneeling.
I liked the Wenonah pedastal combined with foam padding on the gunnels in Tophers Voyager. It gave good contact with the boat. So good that I THINK I could have stayed locked in long enough to roll it.
I also liked the bench seats in the Magic and Peregrine that I tried except that they were a touch low so I had to take off my shoes to get my feet underneath.
The bucket in the Clipper Sea-1 worked well for me so long as I raised it up high enough to get my feet underneath. That was mounted on thwarts which were on rails so that you could slide it for and aft to trim the boat. The rails could be set to three different heights. I had it at the top. That makes for a very flexible set up to accomodate a variety of paddlers and styles.
Tommy
Curved frame
I am in agreement with arkay, “I find the curved frame with nylon webbing in Swift canoe seats to be very comfortable for sitting & kneeling against”.
I also like the frame to be tilted with the front edge lower than the rear. I am planning on tilting the sliding bench on my woodstrip Osprey. The horizontal bootlace seat is uncomfortable when kneeling and sitting.
tractor for me
i paddle a bell rob roy, as you’re well aware, matt. sliding wenonah kevlar seat with padding. i like it a lot, although i’ve never been into kneeling. i can sit in my bucket seat for hours on end with no discomfort. i like the control and lowered center of gravity when kneeling, but i do coastal touring, no whitewater. i think it may come down to the type of boat you’re building and the use of the boat. river=cane or saddle. coastal/lake=sliding bucket, imo. i would like to see a tractor style seat that would also allow you to kneel comfortable. that would cure just about everyone’s problems.
tractor
Both my Advantage and Voyageur have tractor seats and I love 'em . I also use a gel pad . Not so much for the extra comfort, but I find my butt is more securely locked in that on the slippery kevlar materail ( although my Voyageur tractor seat was a slightly textured plastic.
web seat no complaints!
I hvae had my wenonah solo-plus for almost a year now and think
my web seats are fine . When I ordered the model I tried to get a sliding seat installed but they couldn’t do due to the design of the boat? Anyways when I do get a dedicated solo I will have to try the bucket seat.