So I purchased a new "Wagon Queen Family Truckster" canoe this year to bring our kids on BWCA trips. At 18'9" the Northwind18 can act as a tandem boat, but has the capacity to carry me+wife+2 small boys. The problem was that I needed a middle seat.
As I sit stern, and am responsible for the majority of forward propulsion (they don't know how good they have it), I wanted the space in front of me to be unoccupied so as to have plenty of clearance to switch paddle sides often. That meant a tandem seat in front of the center yoke for the boys to sit in. But a seat here is usually in the way for portaging. The common solution is to just flip the center yoke around, and portage the canoe backwards (stern first). I didn't like the idea of having to swing the entire canoe 180deg at each portage landing, so I came up with another solution: a sliding center seat.



For paddling, the center tandem seat sits just forward of the center yoke. For portage, it is slid out of the way just behind the center yoke. Another benefit of hanging sliding rails in the canoe is that I can fairly easily swap out the tandem seat for a single adult seat if a three-man boat is needed.

I bought a tandem ash seat from Piragis, and made the rest from off-the-shelf aluminum parts from Menards. The rails are 30" long 1/2" aluminum square tube, and are pop riveted to the hangers that are just 1/8" aluminum flat stock.



The hangers are screwed to the gunwales using riv-nuts pressed into the gunwale using a pop-rivet tool. These are my new favorite fastener. The Northstar gunwales have an enclosed outwale section that you can hide the threaded riv-nut inside. Each rail is hung by 4 machine screws and can be easily removed to leave only the riv-nuts that are hidden in the gunwale. It is a way to attach things to the boat semi-permanently while still being able to revert to a stock appearance.




The seat has 3/4" aluminum U channel attached to each end that slides perfectly over each rail, and is oriented in a way to keep the seat attached when paddling, as well as when the boat is upside-down during portage. At the ends of the rails (underneath) is a single hex-cap screw to prevent the seat from sliding off the end.



The seat performed well, and was easily slid by the kids as part of their assigned portage routine. It is robust: I tested it with two adults sitting sown while the canoe was in the backyard and everything was solid.

Appears to be clean, functional, and well thought out.

Incredible presentation.

I am impressed, thanks for posting.

John

P.S.
My friend rented a Wenonah Solo Plus and had to remove the carry yoke after each portage. The yoke fasteners were bent and difficult to remove/install and he was worried about losing one. Also with the yoke unattached to the canoe when paddling there is the possibility of it floating away if he were to capsize. I wonder if your system could be applied to sliding the yoke out of the way. If so, it would simplify the transition process.

I am always looking to improve my equipment or technique to keep my trips simple and enjoyable. A place for everything and everything in its' place. I always single portage and I use a paddle storage technique I came across in a video.

It is helpful when someone takes the time to share their idea and present it so well.

GREAT!

Thanks, John.
I love sharing creativity online. I, too have gotten many good ideas from other random people across the internet, and contributing to the shared knowledge is sometimes as easy as just taking a few photos along the way. Good to hear you found some value with it.

ps, If you're interested in solo yokes, I hacked the problem here.
and later took it a few steps further here.

Nice job Muddyfeet. Rather than use pop rivets on the Northstar gunnel I use RIVET NUTS Makes it easy to remove and does not show. They do not need the tool to install them. I use a screw and 2 nuts to install them.

MagicPaddler: "..on the Northstar gunnel I use RIVET NUTS "

I think That is what I used too. They are definitely threaded. (Not sure, but the idea may have come from a thread you participated in on another forum :). I love it: and am thinking of all the other uses I have for them now!

NorthStar should use them rather than drill holes in the top of the gunnels. I made a sliding yoke on my tandem boat and used them to mount the L brackets. It would not move far enough to do your job of clearing the center seat. It is just to balance the canoe.

Kevin,
As usual you have a very creative and functional solution to your need! I love to see your inventions.

Wow! Sweet deal. Well done! I had to do a double take- That looks quite professional and like it’s supposed to be there!

I had a similar problem this summer with a slightly different solution. I built a tandem seat to rest on top of the gunwale instead of down inside.

Hopefully I can keep the kids from pushing each other off :)

I love your plan- wish I would have though of something similar now!

Good to hear, John!
Fantastic if he can get the family out there.

Maybe success bending poles depends on the alloy or wall thickness. I have no idea what kind of pole I bent- an ‘old one’. Cheers.