Doc,  Heck,if I were you I'd figure out a way to email Cliff- go right to the source.

monjon wrote on Jul 23^rd, 2012 at 7:30pm:

I'm thinking that the "Tony" mentioned in the above posts is probably a better source than Cliff.  If I got the story right, Tony may well have been where Cliff got his introduction to Pakcanoes.  In any case, Tony (in his Pakcanoe) is on the cover of one of Cliff's books (published in 2007).

But, I'll cut to the chase.  I put in an order for one today ... a Red Pakcanoe 150T.  (I was actually looking to buy a 150 solo, but they are no longer in production and not available from any source I could find on-line.  In any case, it is nearly identical to the solo version ... 34 inches wide at the gunwales rather than 32, with 2 re/movable seats rather than 1.)

I ordered from Wayfair who has them on sale with free shipping until the 26th.  Better yet, I found a 10% off coupon on top of the sale price ... and no sales tax.

It will be fun to play with, even if it doesn't pan out to be a tripping canoe.  I'll post a personal review when I have some time with the boat.

dd

Opened up the box and this popped out:

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(after about 2 hours).

dd

Jim J Solo wrote on Jul 29^th, 2012 at 8:07pm:

The original seats were crafted of aluminum tubing that attached to the bottom rails with either a solid plastic or a nylon web pedestal seat.  That style seat is no longer in production.  (Customers complained of lack of comfort on longer trips.)

The zip/cable tie idea is now also listed in the assembly instruction manual as a good idea for "tuning" your canoe.

I just got off the phone with Pakboat/Scansports in Enfield, NH (producers of the boat).  Got to talk with Alv (owner/designer) a bit (he just got back from a trip with paddling opportunities in Norway and along the Danube) and Mike (who provided information on seats, mentioned above).  So, I got to order a conversion kit that modifies my current 150T model (tandem configuration) to a 150 (solo configuration).  The conversion kit adjust the hull slightly (5 different ribs) to make a  slightly narrower/deeper canoe.  I'll also get replacement rod extensions for the seat so it can be positioned nearer the middle.

Maybe I'll have new pictures with the alternate configuration by next week.

So, the long and the short of this is ... I now have essentially TWO Pakcanoes ...  I now need to spend some time practicing assembly to get it down to the advertised 30 minutes.

Hey.  Summer cabin fever is not so bad when you have little projects to get into.  (Today's temperature is only slated to reach 103; yesterday it was 105.)  Time to go see if the air conditioner has cooled off my shop!

dd

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the yoke in the link above looks well designed for tandem use ? except you'd have to add some padding

As far as portageing using the seat frame for support, I do that all the time with my 3 solo boats.  MR (45#) and Bell (29#) standard bench seats - I use my pakframes on the front cross piece - haven't noticed any problems with the seat frames, having done so for several hundred portages ?

my Wen Rendezvous (about 62# as rigged) with a bench seat, I use the factory seat mounted yoke - it soes not cantilever like the link/pic you posted, but rather clamps, on and both the front and rear cross pieces are holding the weight of the boat.  If you have a bench seat in your Prism, then you know how Wen mounts them, using a metal flange for the seat drops - that flange isn't "solid" and the boat flexes every step down - i.e., every time my foot hits the ground, the boat flexes out and back in - kinda annoying, and I don't particlulary like that setup - likely it would be better on a composite boat with a stiffer hull ? (mine's Rx)

but in any case, the seat frame itself has held up fine, though that yoke's only been used maybe a hundred times ?  maybe 50 portages and the rest from the car to the river.

you could give the cantilever type a quick test just using a couple pieces of 2x4 or whatever - see how much flexing you get when applying that pressure in two different directions to the framework - that would be my concern, whether lifting that rear seat crosspiece was a good idea or not.

assuming that that round thwart in center is solid enough to lift and hold the boat by, you could rig a packframe setup for it (minimal cost at thrift store and a couple of 90deg corner brackets from home depot)

or alternatively, have a backpack adjusted so that the top of the pack is high and just rest the round thwart on top of a lightly loaded pack ?

or have a transverse groove routed into the top of your head, and fit the round thwart into that for a true canoe hat?