Where to mount the seats in a canoe is a subject that I can't find much Info on. Hopefully some of the builders on this site can shed some light. I have found the formula for placing the seats at the right distance apart adjusting for weight differences so the boat will be trimmed but the unknown is where to place the front seat to start with. Using my best judgment I put the front edge of the front seat 4 feet from the tip of the bow. I have a small floatation tank that takes up some of the space but at almost six feet tall I can still stretch my legs straight out.

Stability is my main concern with the seat placement as my boat is tippy. I am starting with changing the seat height before I try to move the seats closer to the center and on to a flatter part of the hull. I used contoured seats and mounted them with the lowest part of the contour at 8 inches with the highest part of the seat at 9. I'm lowering them to 6.5 at the low end and 7.5 at the mounting point. I think that height should put them at a better height in relation to the hulls midship height of 12.5 inches. The canoe is 17 foot long and 34 inches wide with a shallow arched hull and is symmetrical.

This is a pretty tough subject...I can relate some of my experiences. On my first boat, I built a model of my boat with some 2X2's where the gunwales would be, and sat on a milk crate to figure out where I wanted to be. The both seats ended up too far to the back. The front seat has tons of room, but the bow paddler is too far back to balance the boat well. The rear seat was nice to paddle from, but it felt way to tippy. In fact, it rolled on me at a bad time on its first BWCA trip. I ended up moving the rear seat about 6" forward and lower, and it feels like a different boat. It helps that I have become more comfortable in it as well as I grew up paddling a Grumman.

On my second boat, I put a lot more thought into the seating as I built it to use with kids. I ended up building the gunwales with two different mounting places on each end, and each place has 6" to fine tune the placement. It worked out well, and the boat can grow with us. I am currently paddling it backwards with the oldest kid backwards on the back seat, and the little one playing in the middle. It still works well paddled normal with 2 adults.

On the solo that I just finished, I left lots of room on the gunwales for the seat location, and paddled around on a milk crate with my normal load to determine the location. Worked great, but tough in a tandem.

Be careful about the seat height. In rough water, I want to be able to kneel. I can't quickly get my size 13 feet under a seat that has less than 7 1/2" of clearance.

It seems with all the Information on canoe building available, seat placement would have been more pre determined. I realize there are a lot of variables, must be too many for one rule of thumb. The seats are contoured, caned seats from Ed's canoe's so the center of the seat is the low point with another inch of height on the sides. That was why I set them at 8" at the low point thinking of an 8" seat height. The weight shifting must affect the stability from the point where it actually connects to the canoe with the mounting point being at 9" instead of the seat height of 8" at the center. I worked on the gussets for the seat drop yesterday and should be able to wrap them up in a couple of days. Point well taken on having room under the seat for your feet. I'll have a better Idea about clearance under the seat next time I take it out. I've heard of the milk crate Idea before but looking at the boat unfinished in the garage pushed me into taking my best shot and mounting the seats before I hit the water.

The seat position front to back looks proportioned and looks like it should. I'm only going to move them more to the center if I have too. My thinking is that if they were positioned over a flatter part of the hull they would be more stable. I think If the canoe were loaded with gear in the middle it would put more weight on the flatter part of the hull and make it more stable.

Just thought I would report back on the seat adjustment. Dropping the seats made a big difference in how the boat feels on the water. More enjoyable to paddle when you feel like your under control Instead of being on the edge of flipping. I've got 6.5" clearance at the center of the seat and 7.5" on the sides and looks proportioned to the size of the boat.

I was just wondering, what was the exact model? Was this a canoe you built? I ask because there is a lot of info on the Bear Mountain forum, as well as a few others.

Moonman.

The model is a 17' x 34" Micmac from David Hazen. Yes, I built the canoe, It was my first, Finished It Aug 2013.

Sorry I'm late to the party.. I used this photo as a good starting point.


It's from the Northwest canoe "guide to canoe building". Which I think you can still download for free off their website. It gave me an idea of where to start. Modified them slightly based on my needs.

Nice looking canoe by the way. Love the kid going for a ride.