You will notice that both Solus’s and my yoke hold the canoe higher than a straight yoke.  That helps to get the thwart out of your vision path.  With a straight yoke your head may touch the bottom of the canoe. 
I have tried a lot of pads and have found the rectangular ones the most compfortable.  We pay a lot of money for light canoes and then find that most of the portage yokes weigh more than 10% of wha the canoe weighs.  The comercialy made rectangular pads are heavy.   

TomT  the PVC rod holders are gone and I have a comercialy mader rod holder mounted on the thwart.