carrying a solo canoe without yoke

is your yoke seat an improvement
over a regular bench seat, or would you recommend to not bother with it?



The reasoning that either seat will work for a (very) short portage and that you’d need a removable yoke with pads for anything more makes sense to me.

Seat placement
in yours must be farther back than the usual eight inches from front of seat to center of boat.



Swedeform boats can be harder to balance.

symetrical design
it’s a Mohawk Odyssey 14 and when kneeling my knees are at about the widest part of the boat, but the “yoke” is still off center.

PFD looped around a stern thwart
should do it. I hang stuff occasionally when I run out of hands.

Might want to look at this…
I’ve seen other vids showing how to do the lift but can’t find the one I had in mind - but this one will do. This guy is pretty much a hoot anyhow. Just use the seat as he uses the yoke and you’ll get it soon enough. Its about momentum and balance - but it really only requires about a second of momentum and balance once you get the feel of it. Of course it helps to start as a kid - but its too late for that, I suppose.

You can also use a knee to toss it up a bit. When you grab the gunwales take a second and make sure your grip on the gunwales puts your thumbs in the direction you’ll want them once the canoe is upside down - pointing toward your shoulders.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osgp6EfZcpU

Solos short carries

– Last Updated: Sep-10-13 9:51 PM EST –

I carry solo canoes over head balancing on head with some weight of bench seats on a shoulder. Like from the back yard to the front or from the vehicle to the landing.Did this for years in the BWCA, but now for true portages I use a detachable yoke, much easier and predictable..
As a Teenager I always used a tumpline to deliver the papers for nearly 5 years.

One way: if there’s a thwart that is

– Last Updated: Sep-11-13 9:58 PM EST –

sufficient...buy some football shoulder pads that fit. Light enough but with the protection over the back of your neck and shoulders...

$.01

For distances too painful for head
balancing, I can throw my ww boats up onto the extension bar of my old Kelty Mountaineer pack, so the minicell seat rests on the extension bar. A bit tricky in the wind, but putting the weight down on the shoulders and hips.

webbing yoke
I just reread your post after discovering that Mohawk sells a webbing yoke with buckle, similar to your first version.



But the idea of just strapping some webbing around the belly doesn’t even require drilling. I use rope for tie-downs, but might purchase a 2" wide strap and try it out.

Left shoulder against seat, forearm
and hand under left gunwale. Most of the weight is supported in the crook of my left elbow and forearm. My right hand is over my head on the right gunwale just to stabilize the canoe.



My right shoulder doesn’t work well for lifting the boat and my neck is too bad to support the boat on my head or the back of the neck.



For longer carries, a detachable yoke will be used.