I've been putting off repairing the cane seat in my Old Town Camper long enough. OT sells a cane and spline kit for $16, or a whole new seat for $55. The $40 difference isn't going to break me if it makes good sense to replace the seat entirely - the canoe is going on 13 years old. I'm semi-handy (though women find me more handsome than handy - and that's not saying much). I need some help deciding between replacing the entire seat, or just replacing the cane webbing and spline. Anybody have experience with these cane seat repair kits? Am I better off just replacing the seat?

just replaced one of my seats. Ebay had them for 30 bucks, web not cane. You just cut it to fit your canoe. Pretty easy

Replacing the cane seat is easy, though admittedly it took me two tries to get it perfect.

Soak the cane in hot water, follow the directions and you're good to go - it's actually kinda fun.

Can't answer that one. Just figure out what's making that damn seat squeak. Personally, I like the nylon web seats. Very durable.

edscanoe.com has cane replacement seats starting at $22, contoured ones for $37. i dealt with them last year when i got a set of contoured web seats for my penobscot.

i questioned the cross member spacing, thinking it wouldnt work with my canoe (i didnt want to drill more holes). ya know what? they took my measurements and made me a pair that bolted in perfectly (after me cutting them to length)....for the standard price! no custom charges.

even tho they were custom....they still came in about one and a half weeks.

eds has ALOT of seat options...check out their website.

i do like the web seats alot....however, they take longer to dry than cane.

Jan

just duct tape it.

northwestcanoe.com

cedarboy

Just there today getting a 3rd seat for my 18footer.

A year ago I finally set out to repair the blown out cane seats on my 30-yr old Mad River. I could not find any cane/spline repair parts but decided to buy whole new seats at $20 each. Unfortunately, the new seats were about 1" narrower (front to back) than the old ones, so I would have had to redrill my gunwales to use them. I ended up doing the basket-weave webbing myself on the old seats, as the wood was still perfecly good. Felt like I was being punished by the gods for keeping my boat for so long.

Kanoes,

How do you like those contoured seats? They look like they would be comfortable and would keep you centered (a problem for my paddling partner). Do they feel confining? Do you think a Coleman backrest would work with them?

I'm with some of the others on the nylon web seats. But I did find some cane seats on the Piragis site This one is $30 a smaller seat is $25.

i love them. they do a good job of self-centering (i have the same type of partner...lol)

they are as comfy as straight seats.

i still use my colemans with them....they work just fine. infact, the front anchor "tabs" actually stay in place better....and dont slide in as bad like they did on the straight seats. Jan