C-Forum

I am about to start a Caption project and am looking for some info on outfitting placement. Step one for me is mounting a perception saddle in the middle to use it as a solo until I can get s triple saddle glued together. The boat currently only has two thwarts in the bow and stern with no thwarts in the center portion of the boat. So, I have to install some new thwarts in oder to mount saddles.

Does anyone have advice on measurements they used to locate their saddle? Exact center? Or slightly fore or aft?
If I eventually want a dual purpose (tandem and solo) canoe could I keep the perception saddle and glue in two foam saddles? Does a Caption with a triple saddle still make a good camper?

Finally, this may be intuitive to everyone else, but how do people distinguish the bow from the stern on a bare boat? This is an asymmetrical hull right? I just don't see it by just starting at the boat out in the shed in the dark...

Advice, measurements, and pictures are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I outfitted mine with the measurements in the last post of this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7960803" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My Caption came with a Mohawk saddle outfitted in a solo position. I made my system a semi-adjustable system. I can take my Mohawk saddle out of the centre and move it to the stern position. I have a removable bow saddle setup with conventional thigh straps.

A few people have done fully adjustable saddles so they can fine tune the trim. I went the cheaper route.

Fully adjustable thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7963943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If I can pull the caption out from under the snow I may be able to post a few pics.

Wodza, Thanks for the info. I checked out the forum posts and poked around some more, looks like there are lots of options. If you get a chance pictures are appreciated.

Anybody ever done a triple saddle with a removable plastic saddle as the center piece?

Although I've been successful with Mohawk triple saddles in two boats, a MR Synergy and a Millbrook, I would encourage you to thoroughly research how to use three independent saddles, which brings more adjustability and trim control.

With a triple saddle, you place it to get the solo position right, first, just behind the center thwart and balance point. However, on our Synergy, this left the rear position too far forward for tandem trim, so I extended the triple saddle rearward by grafting on a slab of minicell and carving. I did not want the front seat farther forward, as the Synergy is a wetter ride than the Caption.

Neither approach is just a drop-in-and-go. The triple saddle has the advantage of better stiffening the boat against wrapping.

I ended up updating my outfitting today to make it fully adjustable. I added composite hockey stick thwarts to make the pedestals more rigid in the boat. I fastened them with wing-nuts and a Lego-like dowel in the pedestal. My original setup just had nylon webbing running through PVC pipe that ran through the pedestals and then attached to anchors with tensioners. I ran some class III with this and it worked fine on its own. With that setup it had an inch or two forward and back that it could be adjusted. The setup uses two saddles, a Mohawk saddle in the stern and a pedestal with velcro thigh straps in the bow. The mohawk saddle is moved forward for a solo position and the bow pedestal is taken out. I think I spent around $100-$150 on anchors, nylon webbing and tensioners. When i priced out what I needed to do almost the same thing with the adjustable anchors it was going to cost me around $300. This was my main reason for doing it this way. I would have used non D-ring anchors if I had known better. The D-ring anchors work, but just add weight.

The saddles in this picture are in the position that matches the measurements in the thread I referenced. I have it setup so i can move the bow position forward 6 inches in 2 inch increments and I can move the stern forward or backward 4 inches in 2 inch increments.

Picture of the bow.

I should have put the thigh strap anchors on the sides of the canoe about 2-4 inches lower.

Stern position

The strap system

Bow thigh straps

Gunnel adjustment

I had to attached a wing-nut to the stern thwart so I could release it easily in order to get the hockey stick thwarts in to place. The canoe needs to be able to flex above an inch or two in order to get the adjustable thwarts in place.

More straps system

Here is the lego thing I was talking about

SOLO...

The setup can be adjusted in 15 minutes from tandem to solo. It definitely not something I would want to do on the fly. The saddles do not wiggle at all and adding the thwarts has made the hull very stiff. I think the biggest problem with this setup is the potential of misplacing something ( like a screw, wingnut or tensioner) while adjusting trim or switching it from solo to tandem etc. I may attach a little box under the dec plate with some spare parts.

As for figuring out which end is the bow and which is the stern. I bought this used and it had a the mohawk saddle in it with stern being the end with the serial number. I just went with that.