Has anyone moved the front seat forward in their Old Town Penobscot 16? It seems to be positioned way back. Paddling with my wife or son, the canoe sits high in the front. I thought about moving it one seat width forward.

What you see is more than likely due to your weight differences, so moving it to suit your situation may make sense. Just be sure you don't crowd the bow paddler too much.

A few years back, I ordered a canoe from Ranger canoe in New Hampshire. One of the questions the builder asked when I ordered it was the weights of my wife (the most likely other paddler) and me so he could position the seats accordingly.

Have you tried paddling your Penobscot backwards? It's a symmetric boat so frontwards and backwards are the same. If you paddle sitting backwards from the front seat you'll be closer to the middle and that will help trim. If your son is small maybe he'll fit in the smaller front space. If you need to move a seat you'd probably be better off moving the stern seat forward a bit (yes you'd need to buy a new seat but seats are cheap and easy to install). With the rear seat moved forward the boat trim will be better whether you paddle the canoe forward or backward and you can make sure there's room for your wife when you paddle the canoe backward. Make sense?

Yes It makes total sense and I tried the paddling backwards with my son in the now smaller space. It just seems on the PB16 the front seat looks like it’s situated a little far back.

What is your weight difference?

In many situations it is possible to just switch positions. I hear people screaming NOOOOO, but with the heavier person in the rear there is no place in the boat that a lighter person could trim the boat. They would have to be sitting on the breastplate with their feet hanging over the bow! You have to get the heavier person closer to the center and that is most easily done in the bow.

We have the same situation with 100 lb difference in our weight. I installed the stern seat as far back as the lighter stern paddler fit comfortably between the gunnels and a bow slider. The bow seat needs to go back pretty far when we are paddling with no gear. It hangs from a thwart that is just 13 inches forward of the center thwart/yoke. The seat can go way forward when paddling with a lighter partner or when gear can be used to trim the canoe.

Figuring where seats need to be to trim is easy. Using the front edge of both seats measure the distance to the center thwart and multiply by the weight of the paddler. You need to match that number bow and stern.

Example:
stern, 120lb x 72 inches(front edge of seat to center thwart)=8640
bow, 8640/200lb= 43.2 inches(distance front edge of seat to center thwart)

I would make that 40 inches just to keep the hull a wee bit light in the front.

Bow sliders are wonderful. Three of my four tandems are set up this way.

Of course there is always the issue of guys not wanting to give up control of the boat, but we won't go there.

justpaddlin: "If you need to move a seat you'd probably be better off moving the stern seat forward a bit (yes you'd need to buy a new seat but seats are cheap and easy to install). With the rear seat moved forward the boat trim will be better whether you paddle the canoe forward or backward and you can make sure there's room for your wife when you paddle the canoe backward. Make sense?"

Makes perfect sense to me.