see below for some details -  the yoke sits in the "hooks" a few inches below the top of the frame in this version  - you can probably find a used packframe at garage sales, or used sporting goods stores ("play it again sports"), or maybe e-bay for 15 to 20 dollars.  The important thing is to get one with a good hipbelt, though you can buy just a hipbelt from Campmor.  If you want to buy a new frame, Cabela's sells the Freighter Frame (or whatever they are calling it now) with a removeable cross piece at the top - I bought a pack and packframe combo a couple of years ago from Gander Mtn, which is similar - I use that one for hunting, but it would work for a canoe carrier - it was about $59

h  -  this is upside down, but is what the "hooks"  look like when attached to the top of the frame -


I've made two packframe setups - both just using a piece of flat stock shelf bracket from home depot - I'd have to go and look to be sure, but I think I used 5" or 6" bracket - i.e. a 10" piece of flat stock that was pre-bent at ninety degrees in the center; all I did was put that in a vise and pound with a hammer so that one "leg" was bent back, in half to form an "up-right-up" shape. Then I just attached the bent leg to the outside of the frame upright (you could drill and rivet, which was the original magazine article idea, or epoxy and wire, or however you want to - just using several wrappings of duct tape would work temporarily for a trial.  I used shrink tubing to "set" the hook in place, and just laced it very tightly with string - I never bothered to use epoxy or rivtes or anything, but that would be stronger.

anyways, what I wind up with is a squared U, at the back of the frametop on each side, that the canoe thwart (or seat frame for my solo boats) drops into.

I use a rope, bow to stern, that will dangle down at pocket height for adjusting the "trim" of the boat - pull on the stern side and stern drops, pull the bow side and bow drops - very good control, and you don't need to have a hand on the boat, just comfortablly dangling at your side.

I think the key idea is to "match" your U to the thwart its going be used for.


a few other thoughts on using a framepack to carry a canoe


It is fairly simple to load a canoe onto the packframe if you have a helper - helper goes to the bow, lifts and flips the canoe, and then gunnel walks his hands back towards the center, till the boat is high enough for you to duck under and bring the U cradles up under the thwart - you kindof feel the thwart into position with your hands (or you can do the lift and then have helper duck under the boat to take it from you and hold it up).

Loading a boat onto the cradles by yourself is more of a problem, especially if it is a heavy boat (though they make it look easy in that video). For my solo boat, I just try to find a tree branch at the appropriate height to set the bow on, then put the packframe on and duck under the propped up boat. Two trees growing 18" or so apart will also work, just "jam" the bow up high between the two trees - its also a good rest technique if ou are on a long portage - takes the weight off of you for a rest.

It is really a big help to have some tape wrapped around the thwart, at the outside ends of the distance spanned by the two hooks - that makes it a lot easier to locate the center position for the yokes and it adds a "stop" at each outside side of the cradles, so that the canoe can't slide side to side. I just typically use some black plastic electrical tape, and wrap around till a"ridge" is built up, maybe a 1/4" high.

It also helps to have the thwart padded a little, using something like foam pipe insulation - that makes it a bit snugger fit in the U cradles, and helps the thwart conform to the shape of the cradle easier - you'd need to think about that before you customize the width of the U you make. That padding on the thwart also helps protect a nicely fininshed wooden thwart, if that is what you have.

I also use a piece of shrink tubing on the finished U yoke, to keep it from scratching the canoe, and the rubber texture also helps to keep the canoe thwart from slipping around in the cradle you make 9you could just use some duct tape). I'd do the same padding, to thwart and cradles, even if I bought a Knupack form Knudson, or whoever the new owner is.

Also, to help protect your boat, since the stern endpoint will be on the ground, you might want to think about adding a bit of padding there. I just took a piece of old radiator hose, cut maybe a 3 or 4" length, split it, and tape it over that endpoint - several strips of tape have always held that on fine for me, even doing 50 or so portages in a typical 10 day trip.