I make snowshoes and have found 2 Tubb’s folding canoe seats from the 30’s. I restored repaired and rewove the seats . I have a 14.6 Merrimack Tennessean i canoe solo. Reverse canoe, I sit in bow seat for optimal nearer to center of canoe paddling. These folding seats sit on the floor of the canoe and would put me in the exact center. I am a old girl approaching 70…yikes! Any tips from anyone using one of these before? Or should I just have at it and give it a go?
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Great find and they would match up nicely with your boat. I have a modern plastic tandem that I use as a solo and installed a modern seat back and the concept is about the same and the comfort as I also quickly approach 70 is appreciated.
You will likely have trouble paddling the canoe backwards with the center seat and the carry yoke being where your knees want to be. You may be able to go back to paddling forward and back the seat up against the thwart. It may still be tight. In my case I removed the center carry yoke I don’t use and had plenty of room.
I wouldn’t like the seat just sitting free. You might want to think of a way to fix it in place.
If you get it in would love seeing it all together.
Beautiful work restoring those chairs, they are gorgeous. I’d say start with the shorter chair since it will still give a very high seating position, bring your longest paddle, and bear in mind that if you sit right in the middle the boat might be harder to control that if you can get 5 or 6 inches behind center.
I’d enjoy seeing pics of anyone using the high seat.
I would be afraid of breaking it or losing it. I would just hang it on my wall and admire it.
Those seats are great. In my 20’s I managed an outfitter shop and we were a Sherpa-Tubbs dealer that sold their snowshoe furniture as well as the snowshoes and kits. We had one of the rocking chairs and one of those low folding canoe seats as “showroom samples” and seating in our outdoor book corner and I used to sit in the canoe seat every morning to input the manual inventory and write up stock orders (in the days before computers). The mesh weave gives just enough to be really comfy on the butt and back and the rake of the seat back is just right.
But I do wonder about using one in a canoe, particularly as a solo paddler. While it would be lovely to languidly lounge in such a seat while a partner propelled the boat (I can picture myself in a white linen dress and straw hat with a parasol), I suspect that the high back would tend to restrict movement in the paddle stroke.
I was just given a Tubbs canoe seat that looks very much like the one you have on the right (taller one). But it is not completely assembled. I was wondering if I could get a few pics of the base assembly to help guide me. Thanks!
Absolutely… let me take pics and get the to you.
Hope this helps … if you need more let me know. They are very special and very old. They are the same ones in the Adirondack museum in Blue Lake , New York. I picked these up at Yard sales in the Adirondack mts. And repaired and Re wove the seats. They were also used as camp chairs around a fire. I don’t think I am going to use these in my canoe …I think balance and location may be off in my 14’6” Merrimack. Thanks to all for replies.
Sorry for the delay in responding. Many thanks for the pics. They show exactly what I needed to see!