I just got a new Jensen and need to get a sliding seat for the stern.
I made my own,for my other jensen but it was quite a job.
Can anyone suggest a good sliding rear seat?
Jack L
My first move
My first move would be to call wenonah and see what they would get for one. I am sure you can order one of these: http://fatpaddler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/P1050365.jpg
A while back I bought a Bell Northwoods. I loved the canoe for tripping, but hated the seats. After trying three different bench style seats in it I gave up and called Wenonah and ordered what I was used to.
Did you install that yourself ?
If yes: Did you use rivits into the foam rib?
If yes to that: did you drill right through and rivit all the way through to the outside ?
Jack L
New jensen
Whats your new boat? ‘new to you’ (used) or did you order one from wenonah/clipper?
We (the MCA) bought 6 of them over the winter and wenonah put sliding seats in the front and rear. Im sure you could order the rear seat assembly from them.
New to me, but two years old
Mint condition! - Like new
We’ll keep our fifteen year old one for a beater boat in rocky rivers, and baby this one.
Jack L
lucky
You’re lucky to find one in that shape. I’ve had my eye out for a Jensen 18 (possibly the 17 too) in the UL layup and I rarely see one. When I do its always in florida or california =( Why are there no Jensens in the midwest!
Before little seats on tracked wheels
were invented, 19th century scullers would wear greased leather pants and slide on a varnished tray in the boat.
Surely there’s some way you could resurrect this approach?
I do that very easily when I approach
a class IV or V rapid in a river that I have never paddled before!
Jack L
This one should work
And they’re made in your neighboring state.
http://www.woodsongcanoes.com/images/seat3aopt.jpg
Stern sliders?
There is a wider variation in men’s weight than women’s and men weight more, so should be in the stern. Hence the need for stern sliders.
unfortunately an easy way to rig parallel slider rails is from a thwart to the rails. This can be done with relatively short rails in the bow because the first thwart can be located close behind the bow paddler.
In the stern we’ve gotta leave room for the paddlers legs, so longer and heavier rails are needed to span the greater distance from rails to third thwart.
Jim Henry came up with neat braces that fit into the chine to shorten/lighter stern slider rails, but the idea died with the Whisper they were used on.
Stay tuned.
That belongs in a living room!
I wouldn’t use the canoe if that was in it.
Did you craft, (and I do mean craft) that yourself ?
Jack L
Me? Haha. That’s Phil Greene’s work.
I don’t have the skill or tools to hammer a nail.
That’s a seat from Phil Greene of Wood Song Canoes in Round O, South Carolina. He makes canoes that cost over $100,000 in addition to $5000 paddles from the the most exotic woods in the world.
It’s worth visiting his shop or ordering his CD to marvel at his craft.
http://www.woodsongcanoes.com/wood_song_contents.htm
I used epoxy to install mine
I used Plexus to install mine. I am about 250 lbs, and have had no issues so far in over 6 years of use.
Sliding rear seat
Jack,
I know you can rig stuff at home, but this one is a pain if you get wrong. The fixed rear seat has the support tubes attached cross ways to the seat. The sliding seat has the slider tubes going front to back. They have to be parallel or the seat will bind on the support tubes. I put a rear slider in my Spirit years ago and fabricated it from higher strength aluminum tubing. I needed much longer support tubes so I could go way front to balance out my young and light daughter. The Kevlar seats then were hand laid Kevlar, not the molded plastic buckets of the last 15 years of so. I ground off the glass attaching the slider tubes to the seat and reattached them with fiberglass cloth and resin. I put the tubes over two support tubes that I passed thru two pieces of 2 x 4 that I drilled together so the holes were on the same centers. that held the support tubes parallel and the sliders on the seat also parallel. if anything shifted it would only mean that the seat wasn’t quite straight on the tubes, but would still slide. 25 years later the set-up is still in the canoe.
I riveted thru the hull. Its a cross-rib so there is no ribbing up the sides. I put on some aluminum angle to support the cross tube at the front and used the stock angles for the rear of the guide tubes. Where the guide tubes rest on the cross tube, I did not drill and rivet. I glassed around both tubes. I did not want to weaken the cross tube with rivet holes after having my front slider break at that joint.
My son in law broke the Baldpaddlers front seat in the same spot.
If the Jensen you bought is a newer hull it may have the aluminum plates already laminated in the rib for the side support angles. Just use a drill stop and drill only thru the aluminum. If the rivet goes a bit into the foam rib it won’t hurt anything.
I do get my rivets from Oak Orchard Canoe so they are the right length and have the big heads. Same source for the heavy duty aluminum parts. Charlie’s Jensen has a cross tube made from a Michi-Craft thwart from a rental canoe. Red Cross Randy duty support.
The Wenonah rear slider kit for a Jensen makes it much simpler. The pieces are already cut for that specific hull and the seat has the tubes attached in the right direction and spacing. Call Todd Finley at Oak Orchard Canoe. If you tell him you know me, he will charge you double; but you will get the right stuff anyway.
Bill
It does have the plates in the ribs
I have often wondered on other boats, (my old Jensen, and my Comp Cruiser) if you can hurt the integrity of the rib if you drill all the way through it and use bolts.
I have added stuff here there and every where on both of the boats and always just go through the thin kevlar hull using either rivits or bolts.
Like yourself, I made the sliding seat for my older Jensen.
As soon as the new seat arrives, I might be getting in touch with you after I see how it gets installed.
JackL