Has anyone ever taken the metal seat hangers out of a Wenonah canoe? It looks to me like I can just drill out the three rivets and the hanger should come right out. Any thoughts?
BTW, I got my new Wenonah Wilderness yesterday. In Royalex it weighs 44-1/2 pounds, it is 15’ 2" long from tip of deck plate to tip of deck plate.
And, the seat is mounted with the front exactly at center. I’d like to move the seat back 5 inches, which would put the back of the seat where the middle of the thwart is now.
You can just drill them out and replace
I had an alum hanger stress crack at the bend where the seat is attached on a wilderness river trip on my Cascade. Simply drilled out the rivets and re-drilled the new hangers in place through the existing holes in the gunwhales. Apparently the hanger/seat assembly rocked side-to-side during the trip till it cracked. Upon replacement I cut some peal-and-stick foam to put between the alum hanger and the hull, effectively stopping the side-to-side rocking as the Cascade has no tumblehome. Any reason for the 5" move-back? Just curious, think someone else here mentioned their seat was not centered for balance either.
Drilling will work, but what I did was
leave the old hanger in place, figuring that I might want to move the seat back. Not sure that applies to your situation. Which seat are you moving?
Disadvantages of drilling to remove a seat hanger. There will be little holes you may want to fill, and the flange of the gunwale (if aluminum) may stand out in a slightly lumpy way. You can put new rivets through the holes.
Another way to remove the hangers is to cut them off as close to the gunwale as possible, and sand or file the stub smooth.
Thanks
I was feeling a little apprehensive as I stood there with drill in hand…I’ll just put little stainless cap screws to fill the holes I’m about to make.
This is the 15’ Wilderness solo. With the seat set at the center of the canoe it is bow heavy which makes it sluggish to turn and kicks up a bow wave at speeds it shouldn’t. I can trim it with packs but a lot of the time I’m paddling empty on day trips.
The seat on my Mad River Guide is 4" aft of center, which feels about right, and the seat on my Supernova is 11 inches aft which feels too much, so I’m just guessing at 5 inches will get the seat where I want it.
I was going to take the seat hangers out anyway to install power rocker hangers.