I'm considering moving the seats of my Wenonah Sundowner 18 toward the center of the boat.  The stern seat would be close behind the center thwart and the bow seat just ahead of it.  I'd use cane seats so the paddlers can sit close to the opposite gunwales when paddling.  There are several intended benefits of doing this:

- To give the bow paddler a wider station.
- To put most of the weight in the middle, thus making handling easier in wavy conditions.
- To reduce the amount of yawing, or deflection, thus reducing the amount of J-stroking needed.

A down side might be that it could make the boat harder to turn, especially a long, straight-keeled boat like the Sundowner.

Packs would obviously go toward the ends, and I assume it would be easy to trim.

Has anyone heard of or had experience with this sort of thing?

It would seem to me, that if this was a good idea, they would manufacture them this way, at least as an option.

In a wind, the pivot point of any canoe is where the weight is. There is a reason the weight should be spread along the length of the canoe. It makes it easier to steer and handle.

I noticed ST was not suggesting that he would do this experiment with his canoe...

solotripper wrote on Mar 20^th, 2016 at 3:31am:


No problem here. You proved my point. It is better to have the weight distributed along the length of the canoe...

Thanks for the feedback, folks!

Actually, a canoe with the weight in the middle will handle better than a canoe with the weight more evenly distributed along the length.  That's why whitewater tandems put the paddlers as close as possible together.  The lighter the ends are, the easier it will turn.  Someone who remembers high school physics could explain this better than I can ... something about moment of inertia ....

My purpose stems from a trip some years ago in this boat.  My partner outweighed me by 70 lbs and the only way we could trim the boat was if he was in the stern. 

When I was in the stern, we couldn't get enough weight back far enough to trim the boat, so it was bow-heavy.  I'm planning a trip this spring with my brother, who's 30-50 lbs heavier than I am.  Same problem, and I want to be able to switch places.

But the more I think about this arrangement, the more it seems like the boat will be harder to handle because both paddlers' control strokes will be close to the center instead of the ends.  It definitely calls for testing before committing it to a trip.

Referring to one of ST's comments, I have a Bell NorthStar (16'6") that I use solo.  I don't paddle it backwards; rather, I remove the bow and stern seats and install a seat about 18 inches behind the center thwart.  There's plenty of room for moving packs around, and if I paddle it empty, a day pack placed all the way forward trims it pretty well.