Mossback,

The solution may depend upon the type of canoe & canoe seat that you have. 

For instance, I have a Wenonah Prism.  My yoke clamps to the bars that the seat slides/adjusts on.  It was the yoke Wenonah recommended years & years ago and, frankly, I have NOT been happy with it all.  In fact, I curse it regularly on portages as it FREQUENTLY loosens when you don't want it to.  The device they used at the time to screw down & tighten did not effectively lock it into position.

HOWEVER, Wenonah has since developed another mechanism to lock down the yoke on their new Prisms.  I got to see it in action this past summer as my brother used it on his vessel.  I can report that the NEW version of the yoke locks down easily & stays locked until you release it.  He was very happy with it & could install it on his Prism in less than half the time it took me to put my inferior one on.

Bottom line: if you have a Prism OR a vessel with a seat that slides on two bars, you might want to consider their new yoke designed for that purpose.  It seemed to work well for him.  The canoe rides high on your shoulders allowing good vision of what's coming at you on the portage path.  It's a bit pricey but sometimes good quality stuff is.  Here is what I can find on the Wenonah site: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Again, your solution will certainly depend on your style of canoe & seat.  This solution worked well for my brother with his Wenonah Prism.

FYI

Jimbo   

I too had a disappointing experience with the 2nd generation Chosen Valley yoke that Mossback mentions. I purchased it after the yoke I used for 20 some years failed on a Q-trip. The company that made it was out of business so I replaced it with a Chosen Valley Pedestal yoke. The sling pads are uncomfortable for any portage beyond 40 rods and over time became more uncomfortable. As Mossback noted it was prone to coming lose. On the second Q trip I took it on it failed and I had to send it back for a replacement. The replacement failed on its first Q trip- replaced again and this one had a manufacturing defect that made it nearly impossible to secure. Not to mention that clamping the yoke firmly damages the sliding seat making it unworkable.

Luckily I happened upon someone who had bought out the manufacturer of my original yoke and was able to secure replacement parts. The Chosen Valley yoke gathers dust in the garage. The yoke I use is quick to attach [when tripping I leave the metal tabs on the canoe, they drop out of the way- attaching is just a matter of sliding the tabs into the slots of the yoke- takes seconds]. My head is clear of the canoe for good sight lines and no interference from the seat. The yoke accepts whatever pads are preferred- currently it has some big rectangular blocks like the ones on Magicpaddler's

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.

Magicpaddler wrote on Oct 25^th, 2018 at 11:39am:

Oh man. It looked like you were paddling a pipe organ. I hope you still have the holder for your pliers.

Something like this?

Souris River Tranquility yoke.
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