Just Bought a Sawyer Shockwave!

I just bought a Sawyer Shockwave in very nice condition. 27.8 lbs. Gold kevlar. I probably won’t be able to paddle it until Monday. I know this seems to be a popular solo tripping boat. I’m wondering how one attaches a yoke to it. I have a clamp-on yoke that attaches to the gunnels of my other solos. This canoe only has inwales that are about 1/2 inch thick so there’s nothing for my clamp-on yoke to grab onto. Thoughts?

Edit: After finding a few pictures on the internet, the Shockwaves that have yokes (along with most of them without yokes) have round aluminum gunnels. As mentioned above, mine only has thin wood inwales. Maybe I can fabricate something that attaches to the seat rails? I’m open to ideas.

Many people use a nylon strap as a portage yoke on light solo boats. You need a fitting to a attach the strap. You could just drill a hole and run some paracord through it for a 29 pound boat.

I’ve used a wide NRS strap as a make-shift yoke. It’s not as good as a real yoke but it works pretty well. I think the comfort depends partly on whether the seat ends up hitting your head or shoulders. It’s easy enough to try. Along the same lines Swift makes an interesting packable yoke. I’d like to try one…I like the concept.

Turn the clamps around and clamp on the outwales?
Wow, that’s light for a shockwave. It’s a rocket…enjoy!

Yes…it is light. But one of the things that make it so light is that there are no outwales. :slight_smile:

Here’s what I plan to try: I’m going to run 2" webbing on each side of the seat attached to the thwart just behind it. These will go forward to the thwart in front of the seat. This is about a 4.5 foot span. I think this should work, but won’t know until I try it. The truth is, I don’t really need a yoke for how I will use it. I don’t plan on using it anywhere that would require a portage, but I would like the option. Does my plan seem like it would work without putting damaging stress on the boat?

Mohawk makes a web yoke. I use them on 3 canoes, one a 60# Dagger Reflection 15 ft three seater.

Just turn the clamps around I portage my Rapidfire with the clamps pushing under the inwales