It’s nylon webbing that fails. And stays
wet. Polyester webbing dries faster and resists sun better.
Guess which fiber is used more to make sails.
I always redo in Polypro
Whenever I am restoring a canoe with bad caning or old vinyl webbing, I always redo the seats in 2" wide polypro webbing specifically designed for outdoor use. It can be found on-line in rolls easily. It is excellent stuff and despite datakoll warning about all the horrible medical tragedies that befall the innocent web seated canoeist,… don’t believe him unless you happen to be a naturalist nudist then maybe he has a point.
That was great - NM
I thought I was getting old
Maybe it aint my age killing my sex life. Must have been those canoe seats. Sitting on plastic makes my rear end itch.
You mean polypropylene?
Even dryer than polyester.
Many refer to polyester pile garments as “polypro”.
Yes polypropylene
Thats the stuff
Preference
I have never had a web or cane seat fail.
I have at over 10 canoes with cane seats.
Some of them are at least 20 years old, and still have the original caned seat.
I prefer cane; like the ability to move laterally, which is uncomfortable to do in a bucket seat. Bucket seats are not comfortable for kneeling either.
The front edge of a web or cane seat is easily padded with an inexpensive & comfortable seat pad made by Cooke Custom Sewing. Easily attached, easily removed.
I do NOT miss Old Town’s moulded plastic, one size fits all butts seats with no drain holes in them. Nothing more fun than sitting in a puddle of water in your canoe seat when it’s raining.
Just my 2 cents; I don’t care what other use.
BOB
I’m 100% with Bob.
What Bob said.
Rob.
P.S. I was tempted by Babiche seats recently for a wood canvas I had built. The builder swears by Babiche. But, in the end I went with cane. No regrets.
width
How wide are webbed seats? My bolt holes are 5 1/16" apart. The seats I see on the web only have the length dimensions.
He’s going with web!
Say it ain’t so Joe.
stringers
run fore n aft bolted to stock holes then add spacer ‘firring up’ to the add on cane section level.
Or drill holes in the tractor seat.
Here’s medical imagery of gluteal dermatitis …probably offensive material so warned…
http://goo.gl/BFaCRj
Seems that none of the replacement seat options come with some sort of hanging bracket to solve the issue. SO how do you paddlers that have changed out the molded plastic with a webbed seat do it? Ed’s does not seem to provide the hangers either. Thanks
Ed’s Canoe does have seat hangers. You can find them here:
http://www.edscanoe.com/seathanger.html
You are also going to need the appropriate hardware with stainless steel #10 machine screws, either 24 or 32 threads per inch, with appropriate stainless nuts and finish washers. Long stainless machine screws can sometimes be hard to find locally. Fortunately, Ed’s sells the hardware as well:
http://www.edscanoe.com/stsehakit.html
A cheaper alternative to the one-piece truss hangers is to use dowel hangers and this might be your best bet if the spacing on the truss hangers is not right for your application. Due to the inward curvature of the sheer, especially at the stern seat position, sometimes the truss hangers will not allow the machine screws to be spaced far enough apart to accommodate the seat frame. Ed’s sells a kit with dowel hangers and hardware as well:
Sounds like you currently sit and plan to keep sitting. I think traditional seats with webbing will look better for sure but be forewarned that they MIGHT even be less comfy that what you currently have, and sitting in the middle is a good place to sit.
That said, pblanc has given you good advice. Ed’s makes good stuff at reasonable prices. Ed’s seats will have a center distance around 8 1/4 inches while other seats may be closer to 8. If your current brackets are 5 1/4 inches apart you need to get a little bit creative. Seems like the easiest solution would be to get seat drops from Ed’s (which will match up perfectly to the seat) and drill an extra set of holes in the center of the drops 5 1/4 inches apart so you can bolt them right up to your current holes in the gunnels; maybe Ed would do it for you if you ask. Or you could drill new holes in the gunnels to fit seat drops with 8 1/4 inch spacing…that’s not difficult either. There are many ways you could make it work.