View topic - Asymmetrical 16' Canoe + Kneeling Thwart Placement Advice

Hello Forum,

I just picked up my first 16' 'light' asymmetrical fiberglass canoe and would like to know the best place to put a kneeling thwart. Or is it necessary at all?

Thanks.

Gary

It looks like a Royalex Old Town.. Not fiberglass. Is it a Camper or a Penobscot.. 18 inches in back of the yoke.. Its not a strongly asymmetric hull as you go by the cross sections and not the sheer..

Thanks for answering.

Seller told me it was a Trailhead fiberglass. It weighs fifty pounds. I did find a YT video of a fellow who bought at a NOLS gear sale, 16ft Trailhead Prospector. With, say 'exactly'? the same configuration.
The beam is less than 36 inches because it fits easily between the roof rails of my Jeep Patriot.
Looks more like Nova Craft's aramid layout to me. But I don't know much about layouts. It's my first canoe.

I was going by the decks and the RX appearing slippery interior without a weave.. Glass boats usually have a weave.. 50 lbs is impressive. Aramid does not have that interior color.. RX does..

This boat requires a touch test. It is possible that the boat was made for Trailhead by someone else.. either NC but those decks are Old Town

at any rate you can hang a kneeling thwart..

You do not need a kneeling thwart if you don't want one.

Other options exist: (canoe saddle, Buddha bench, kneeling pad, packing peanut filled bag to straddle like Becky Mason).

Each are easily removable, and don't have the downsides of kneeling thwarts (increased potential for leg entrapment, and potential reduction of cargo space when paddling tandem).

But if you are convinced that you want to install a kneeling thwart, I agree with Littleredcanoe that 18" aft of the carry thwart is optimal positioning for it.

Cheers!

_________________

Ubique

thanks @guyfawkes041

Other owner says RoyalX or Royalite.

Your canoe is fiberglass or Kevlar. You can clearly see the weave of the fiberglass or Kevlar cloth in the bottom. The flotation tanks in the ends are consistent with fiberglass or Kevlar construction...Royalex boats never have those kind of flotation tanks. The interior color looks like Kevlar and if your boat weighs 50 pounds it's within one pound of the rated weight for Kevlar so most likely it's a Kevlar boat.

https://buyersguide.paddlingmag.com/bra ... -16-kevlar

@daypaddler,

Thank you kindly for the insight and the link..

My! maybe I unwittingly landed myself a kevlar 16' canoe!!

Thanks again.

here's a short 40" survey video of it.

https://youtu.be/0Z70Mv0SjXI

Did you stand on a bathroom scale with and without it to confirm the 50lbs?

I lifted a cadorette and it was as heavy as a bath tub.

Mine, I bought a yoke pad at MEC, and the canoe almost disappeared.