A Comfortable Pirogue (Boat) seat ..ya can make

[beekeeper]

mosportsman
I weighed mine but can't find the notes. I believe it weighed about 6+ lbs. The seat and base weighed 12lbs. together. Mine was yellow pine, 18" wide, and beefed up all around (location sensitive). I could only guess how much you saved over a "standered" seat.



beekeeper

[mosportsmen]

Thanks for the response BeeKeeper, I like your extensions, but like I said before I am wanting to build as light as possible. I am building a Touring TV and my search results tell me that 9 inches is a good height for the seat in that boat (according to TXriver rat).

I am wondering what the practical limit of height would be on this seat by just increasing the length of the "legs". Materials would be one limitation I see, if i want to stay with my red ceder I would be stuck with the limitation of dimensional lumber I could find (barring any creative edge to edge joinery).

Starting with a 1x12 instead of a 1x8 would give me an extra 4 inches which I think would work. Probably have to add more dowels across the bottom 2 or 3 inches up, or side to side motion would tear it up pretty quick....hummmm.......(as he thinks out loud)............ (sorry everyone for such loud thinking)

I guess I should get to a question and stop all this thinking out loud.

What is the (practical) maximum height of this seat without adding too much to the basic design?

Tom

[oldsparkey]

What is the (practical) maximum height of this seat without adding too much to the basic design?

Tom

Not sure about it structural ( that can always be reinforced ) but I would be more concerned about the center of gravity with an drastic increase in height when paddling.
Best thing would be to run some tests with boxes or something to find out when the boat gets tippy and then move down to that sweet spot for height and balance.

Chuck.

[mosportsmen]

Right Chuck, I don't even know how high I want to make it yet, I am just going by what others have found comfortable for the boat. I am trying to resist making any more of these seats till I sit on some boxes.......but I cant work on a boat in this cold and it will be a long time without saw dust before I can.

Tom

[beekeeper]

Right Chuck, I don't even know how high I want to make it yet, I am just going by what others have found comfortable for the boat. I am trying to resist making any more of these seats till I sit on some boxes.......but I cant work on a boat in this cold and it will be a long time without saw dust before I can.

Tom

Not pushing my idea, but you might want to try an adjustable base instead of boxes. I made mine so I could determine what height would work best for me, and then I was going to build a perminate seat. What I found out was, ideal seat height changes as conditions change. I like my seat high for fishing and slow paddling, lower for wind or harder paddling. The biggest advantage is the comfort of changing sitting positions durring the day. A seat with a base and a cushion has six positions. I do need a more "refined" base and chair. Mine is somewhat bulky and heavy. I can't change it much. It has to remain "location sesitive".

beekeeper

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> Mine is somewhat bulky and heavy. I can't change it much.<SNIP>

BK - are we talking your boat seat here? Or, another more personal seat?

( OK , Kids play nice in this section , it was a personal boat seat.... Chuck )

[beekeeper]

mosportsman
I weighed mine but can't find the notes. I believe it weighed about 6+ lbs. The seat and base weighed 12lbs. together. Mine was yellow pine, 18" wide, and beefed up all around (location sensitive). I could only guess how much you saved over a "standered" seat.



beekeeper

Weighed it agin to day. 6.5lbs seat / 5.5lbs. base = 12lbs total

beekeeper

[mosportsmen]

I guess I did pretty well then, cut the weight about in half.

If I do raise the seat 4 inches or so i am thinking i will need to put a couple more cross dowels near the bottom of the legs. The additional ones could probably be 1/2 inch instead of 3/4 inch to cut a little weight.

Just got access to a heated basement work shop.......sawdust will soon be flying.

[beekeeper]

mosportsman
You did do well reduceing the weight. Probably not 50% off a standered size seat. Mine is a beefed up size and made from a heaver wood than most others use. Still a big reduction, I'm sure. I thought about makeing a lighter one, but didn't want to give up comfort or strength. The weight of the seat for me has not been an issue since it isn't attached to the boat. I would recomend finding your best seating height in your boat befor building a nonadjustable seat. Disreguard that. You can always build another one. They are fun to build.


beekeeper

[woodman]

A seat modification a recliner...

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[Whirly]

Well, G’Day to all the Southern Paddlers. I’m new to this forum, though I have visited a few times as a guest to check out the great information and ideas on here…which is sorta why I’m here now.

I’m building a ‘Canadian’ style canoe and posting the progress on the JEW Watercraft site. Matt did a special for me and changed his ‘Trapper’ design to 18 feet for me. I’m calling it the NT Trapper – I live in the Northern Territory of Australia. It’s my first attempt at a build, so I’ve been scouring the internet gathering info and ideas. While doing that, I came across Chuck’s Comfortable Pirogue Seat and got a set of plans emailed from Uncle John’s.

Trapper canoe? Pirogue Seat? Yeah, I know, I know, but I figured I could perhaps adapt the original so it could be used on a canoe bench seat….which is what I did.

Chuck has asked me if I’d post the ideas here, so anyone else who wants to use one (or more) of these in a canoe can get an idea of how to go about it. So, this is how I did it….Oh yeah, and I didn’t just want a seat, I also wanted it to turn into a chair when out of the boat, like the way Tx River Rat Ron did with his…

I had some 19mm marine ply to use for the side pieces, so figured I could narrow in down a bit more than the original. That also did away with the shear plates. Slats are pine and the rest is Jarrah, a hardwood.


The original on top, below is the ‘new’ shape for the sides.

I didn’t have any dowel to use (and the nearest place to get some is 500km from here), so I ripped some Jarrah down to ¾” x 1¾” to use instead (see, I’m even converting the metric for you lot)

The changes drawn over the originals.


The back-brace in the up position…


…and with the back legs down.


I needed to notch the front legs and the back legs cross-brace, so they fitted together neatly….




…and add a spacer to the front legs, so they fit inside the back ones


And that was about it. Everything else was as per the plans. I made up a dummy bench seat out of scrap to see how it all looked. (I’ve made this seat is to suit a 9” wide bench)






…and when it’s out of the canoe,


…otherwise it all folds up pretty neat.


As you can see from the pics, it’s still pretty raw, needs pulling apart, sanding and resin coats applied. To stop it moving across the bench, I’ll probably put a couple of blocks on the back of the bench when I get to that bit. (also thinking about perhaps having a closed top on the bench, make it removable from the canoe and attachable to the seat, so when the seat is used as a chair, there would be a little table on each side, hmmm beer holder as well I’m thinking, better be on the left, as I’m right handed. Ahh, the options are endless)

So, there ya go, that’s my modification to Chuck’s seat and Ron’s chair.

Cheers,
Whirly

[mike]

Welcome, Whirly!

That's a mighty fine modification you've made to the seat.

Mike

[Kayak Jack]

Nice thinking, Whirly. Good ideas. (I'm just surprised there isn't a holder on it for a beer!)

[Whirly]

Thanks Mike, appreciated. Jack, (I'm just surprised there isn't a holder on it for a beer!) give me time mate and I'll come up with something, perhaps a little outrigger arrangement???

[beekeeper]

Customized a new seat for my strip pirogue.







beekeeper