This past week I worked on setting the seats and thwart in place. I decided to recess the seat carriage bolts so they would not be seen. Therefore I reinforced the inwall under it with an extra 1/2" piece as you can see. This should provide plenty of support. Canoe Craft provides good instructions for setting the seats through the use of a "seat jig". It recommends the seats being 91/2 to 101/2 " off the bottom of the canoe. Once I laid it out I realized that the 4" brass carriage bolts that Noah's sent me were not going to be long enough for the rear seat. I called them and they quickly send me 4, six inch stainless steel carriage bolts for the rear seat. My plan is to finish them underneath with a larger washer and acorn nuts.
The Huron Cruiser plans call for a yoke or thwart in the center and another thwart 30" behind the center. For a canoe 15'9" long only one thwart is necessary. Noah's recommended only one and the two looked crowded. Therefore I prepared the thwart and the yoke to be interchangeable. They can easily be removed simply by loosening 4 nuts and replacing one with the other depending on the paddling needs. The yoke is pretty cool looking even if your not going to portage.
Here's a view from the stern to the bow with the thwart and front seat in place. Things are shaping up well and I'm on schedule for completion by the Paterson Habitat Annual Dinner on April 11.
Today I spent doing all the final sanding of the gunnels, thwart, yoke, seats and cleaning up the entire basement.I will create a plastic -hopefully dust free- chamber for the final 5 coats of varnish on the inside and out.
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