Anyone moved the rear thwart (behind seat) back a couple inches? Any special considerations? How did it work out for paddling?
I did move the thwart back 3" on a Royalex Wenonah Vagabond so it would no longer rub against my back. Works fine. I got black plastic plugs from Lowe’s to fill in the old mounting holes. I just finished replacing the original fixed seat mount with Wenonah’s adjustable mount. I set that back about 2" more that original, Makes me wish I moved the thwart back further the first time.
Funny, I’d like to dump the adjustable seat for a fixed one. 
How did moving the seat help - loaded trim or unloaded?
Most of the water here in SE Pa is solid. I’ll have to wait till spring to test it out more. I don’t carry any heavy loads (except my 230#). The seat was just much closer to center than what I’m used to. I only paddled once after moving the seat, it lightens the bow a little, seems like I can turn a tad easier. I like the adjustability, my old ankles can only take kneeling for a short time, then i switch to sitting (lowest seat setting).
I used to have a Wilderness that I paddled mostly unloaded. The front edge of the seat was set so that it was right at the center of the boat, which worked well when I had a load behind me, but not so well when the boat was empty. I wound up moving the seat back about 3 1/2" and liked that a lot better. The thwart had to be moved rearward as well, but all it took to do that was drilling out the old rivets, pushing it back, and putting in new rivets. Pretty easy project.
So you didn’t have to shorten the thwart? Seems like this would be necessary.
I use this boat on small rivers mostly. Making it more responsive is desireable, as is getting that dang thwart out of my back.
@Loon_Watcher said:
So you didn’t have to shorten the thwart? Seems like this would be necessary.I use this boat on small rivers mostly. Making it more responsive is desireable, as is getting that dang thwart out of my back.
I tend to be fussy about such things, so if it were me, I’d measure how much closer together the gunwales are at the proposed thwart location compared to the current location (take these measurements before removing the thwart), and I’d shorten it appropriately. That said, if you only plan to move the thwart a couple inches, I can’t believe you’d actually notice the difference if no length adjustment were made. It’s just the principle of the thing, so go ahead and shorten it if that’s what makes sense to you.
@Loon_Watcher said:
So you didn’t have to shorten the thwart? Seems like this would be necessary.I use this boat on small rivers mostly. Making it more responsive is desireable, as is getting that dang thwart out of my back.
It’s been long enough since I did it that I don’t remember the details, but I did not have to shorten it. I think the amount I needed to move it turned out to be about as far as I could move it without having to shorten it, so it was probably only about 3 or 4 inches.
Thanks. Always good to have a little knowledge before starting a project. Now I just need some good weather.
On my Vagabond, I did not need to shorten the thwart. I drilled the holes in the vinyl rails closer to the hull to compensate for moving the toward to the thinner rear location.