I can't tell for sure, but it doesn't appear that the tumpline is carrying the full weight of the canoe, just partial, the rest is spread across your back by the round aluminum thwart he describes? I do believe the tumpline is something worth investigation, as its been used around the world for centuries and still is to carry loads most of us would never attempt. I wouldn't put all the weight on my neck muscles at first, but I could see using an adjustable tumpline and adding it in as a way to take the load off aching shoulder muscles.

I believe its Cliff Jacobson (?), who describes making a variation of the tumpline using a piece of canvas/ Heavy duty bungee cords. This stayed in canoe as sort of " table" and went directly over the top of the head. You could rig it any way you wanted. He still used the traditional portage yoke/pads, but this allowed some of the load to come off the shoulders and onto the neck muscles.

I guess in the end its like everything else we discuss. There are some definite no-no's, but other than that, it's open to what works for you.

One thing about having your own canoe, you can experiment all you want and find the perfect set-up for your paddling style. With the wealth of ideas/techniques out there, with a little effort and maybe combining some out of the box thinking, anyone should able to get to that near perfect Tri-fecta of comfort/safety/ease of use on their canoe.