Old Town Tripper Seats...

I have purchased an Old Town Tripper 172, and await its arrival… I also purchased the Nylon woven seats so that I can remove the plastic “bucket” (wet, sticky, hot…I presume) seats that are factory installed in the canoe. Does anyone have any opinions on the wisdom of this decision. The dealer I purchased the canoe from was VERY nice and sold me the seats for a VERY good deal, so I am not committed yet to swapping them out but they just LOOK terribly uncomfortable for long trips or hot days. Someone must have a considered opinion to offer as to why Old Town puts the plastic seats in their classic tripping canoe, in fact I presume Old Town has a good reason. Any takers? The only thing I could find at the Old Town site was that the bucket seats help to keep beginning paddlers centered… uhhh… how many beginning paddlers purchase a wilderness tripping canoe???



Curious what to do…

Far prefer the web seats
Good decision on the web seats, you will be much happier with them than the plastic seats.



I frequently paddle my tripper by myself, often sitting on the bow seat facing the center thwart and paddling the boat stern first. I recently rented a Discovery with the plastic seats and paddled in this fashion on a two day river trip, and I can tell you it is not too comfy.



My Tripper came with the webbed seats. I bought it from Springriver, in Rockville, Md. in 2000. Springriver had ordered it for their rental fleet but sold it to me in order to let me have the boat in time for a trip for which the dates had already been set. Maybe Springriver has some kind of clout with the factory, or maybe it is an option to order the boat with the webbed seats, but I didn’t have to buy separately and then switch out the plastic seats. Ask your dealer about this. It sounds odd to me that they are selling you a boat with seats you are not intending to use. Maybe call Springriver for a second opinion…(301) 881-5694, ask for Brad.



~~Chip Walsh, Gambrills, MD

You did good
The old town seats are not as comfortable, heavier, and keep paddlers from adjusting side to side. They are, I suppose, cheaper, and they hold the gunnel shape well, and provide a bit of floatation.



I know of no one who uses them, though.


With repect to the seats…
I actually called Old Town (previously) and they do NOT sell trippers with out the plastic seats, this was emphatically stated. Thus, I am very happy with the dealer I am working with. I actually inquired as to a “swap”, i.e. he can change out the seats and keep the plastic seats and send me a canoe with the webbed seats… he laughed (really he did) and asked me if I would like some extra plastic seats (no charge). So I kinda think there is a buyers market for plastic old town Tripper seats, thus I am happy with my arrangement in terms of having to buy the seats since they were actually a very minor cost compared to the boat (and to retail for the seats). But thanks for the heads up on a different dealer.



ANY more opinions??

My take
The cane seats are great for shorter paddles, and yes they are cooler, but depending on what your likes and dislikes are each different seat has a purpose.

I have the bucket seats in my OT Disco 158 and left them there.

I took the cane seats out of my Wenonah Jensen and replaced them with bucket seats, sice we not only use the boat for pleasure, but we race it also, and the bucket seat gives you that extra brace behind the butt to keep you in place.

You can get a waffle type rubber material that you glue onto the bucket seat, and it makes it very comfortable for a long all day paddle.

I have two layers of it on the bucket seat in our C-2 comp cruiser since we race that in long all day races and your butt would fall off if you were on a cane seat.

Finally we have a OT Penobscot that will primarily be used for down river WW and right now I am removing the two cane seats and replacing them with the gray foam pedistal seats. These would be uncomfortable for a long paddle, but will be much better than either the bucket or cane for locking in.



I personnaly think the most comfortable seat is a tractor seat with the form fitting waffel foam glued in.



And lastly I think the traditional cane are the prettiest.

Every time I see a wood stripper with straight across cane seats and a beautiful beavertail wood paddle it makes me want to head to the north woods or Quebec.



Cheers,

JackL

Friend of mine…
…has a tripper with the plastic seats and he has been threatening to change to the cane seats for years. Basically because they are not as hot, water will drain through them, and as mentioned above will allow the paddler to slide around a bit to adjust position. One of those roundtoits that hasn’t happened yet.

My Discovery has the molded seat and I am OK with it, but may change my mind if I try one with a cane seat.

If you are undecided on the change, just pick one up and try it. If it doesn’t work out, change it back and use it for a center seat, if it can be extended with a couple of pieces of hardwood.

Me too…

– Last Updated: May-24-06 7:57 AM EST –

Wha Ho, Pilgrim;

Dats wat ah' gone went an' done many moons ago wit my ol' Tripper. Put in cane seats. Much more rump-friendly fer dis boy.

Fat Elmo

canoe seats
Currently, both of my canoes have cane seats. Previously, I’ve had canoes that had nylon webbed or molded plastic seats. I had thought the cane the most comfortable, until I started trying some kayaks with WS Phase 3 seating, or plush, rubberized foam chair type seating, (ala Necky Manitou). Compared to those, the OT cane seats are a step back into antiquity. I think it speaks volumes that there are so many aftermarket, strapon canoe seats and seat backers. But, that’s the good news. If you have either the cane seats or the nylon webbed ones, there’s a whole slew of aftermarket devices to make them more comfortable. And, as long as you can take them off, they don’t interfere with car topping.

Why I don’t have a Tripper
a long long time ago…

I went to a local dealer to buy a Tripper. My only requirement was that it have cane seats (didn’t know about the web seats then).

He would not sell me one without the buckets.

So I bought a Mad River Explorer instead.

Buckets
in my household we have three canoes. Two with buckets on e with webbing. I haven’t used the one with webbing in years. The others with the buckets (Wenonah style)Are used all the time, for up to 11hours 59 minutes at the longest. My legs would fall off if I tried sitting on a cane seat that long.

Charlie