I have a OT Guide 174. Bought this spring. Awsome boat for what I use it for. Wife and I spend several weekends paddling around and fishing. I went solo fishing pretty much every second weekend all summer. Just remove the seatbackrest from front seat and sit backwards on foam kids floor puzzle piece thingy (dora. Workes peachy for me.
We love the boat however my trooper wife is cramped for legroom up front. She dont complain outloud but it looks very uncomfortable with one foot on top the other for hours. I want to move the seat back 3-6 inches.
Due to the width of the boat, I wish to make aluminum plates or hardwood plates to form kind of shelves under the gunnels. Then bolt the seat to those. This will even lower the seat a bit. Might even make them long enough with a slot to make the seat position adjustable.
The big question? Is there any structural cautions with relocating the seat in this way? The boat wont lose any structural properties I hope.
Wifes orders…the comfy seat must stay in the boat.
I don’t know that canoe, but if…
the seat is also used as a thwart, you might want to take that into consideration.
I have moved many seats as you are doing, and on some I have had to add a thwart, and others remove a thwart and use the seat.
Sounds like you are handy. You might want to consider a sliding seat. Two small angles on each side of the boat.- a tube across each of them. - two more tubes running forward and aft parralel to each other and under the seat. -Then two slightly larger short pieces of tubing attached to the seat. They fit into the forward and aft tubing, and allow the seat to slide.
I use a stainless pipe strap/clamp with a washer welded into the screw head slot as the seat stop.
All tubing and angles should be aluminum for light weightness and non rusting.
Much simpler method is just as you suggest-one long angle on each side with a series of holes.
Cheers,
JackL
seating
doesnt that seat you refer to taper? In the case of the bow seat the boat get wider as you move it aft. You didnt mention that but perhaps your L bracket idea took that into acount and you are going to extend the bracket “shelf” inboard a few inches?
Not rocket science
but there are some challenges. As has already been noted you will have to deal with the increased width o/a of the gunwales. You should be able to devise a set of drops that both lower the seat a bit and account for teh added dimension. Aluminum plates, 1/4" thick x 1-1/2 or 2" wide could be oriented horizontally and serve as “extension wings” for the existing bow seat. Stainless bolts and locknuts are the only way to go.
Jim
Thanks for the info
Will most likely go the aluminum plate wing thingy. Something to tinker with over winter.
So would the seat mounted on the plates inside the gunnels still act as a thwart? In my theory it should if mounted secure as it should still hold the gunnels inwards.
In a few years with child #2 on the way I will have my dream 17 footer and be able to rig this Guide up for just solo fishin.
Yeah, it ought to act as a thwart
and should be nearly as rigid as OEM.
If you are planning on lowering the seat more than 1/4" you might even be able to use ash blocks, say about 2" x 2" x length of the seat. Interior edge could be rounded off for comfort.
The seat could also be hung using sections of 1/8" x 1" x 1" angle, bolted together to form a "Z" shape :
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|__ Hope this little drawing survives being posted.
This might not be as rigid as the 1/4" plate idea.
Jim
Nope. Didn't maintain iy's spatial relationship.