I’m looking for some ideas on converting the middle thwart to a seat in my Old Town Tripper 172. I was thinking of screwing a metal plate to the underside of the thwart to strengthen it…
Anyone seen conversions like this?
Snap-in seat
Old Town makes an ABS plastic seat that snaps in over the gunwales. If you want a third seat for a passenger or solo paddling, positioning it just aft of the yoke would keep the boat well trimmed while saving you and the boat the possible downsides of drilling new holes.
Most Old Town canoe dealers should have it in stock.
http://store.oldtowncanoe.com/products/314096/Snap_in_Center_Seat
You don’t state whether your
center seat is just for a passenger, or would be for solo paddling. For solo paddling, the center seat would have to be a bit behind the location of the center thwart, and since the Tripper is fairly deep, the seat should be lower than the thwart. I had my Tripper rigged with a foam kneeling pedestal for solo paddling in whitewater. The seat was a bit behind the thwart, and my thighs were braced under the thwart.