Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

We have a Bell Prospector tandem canoe. Any way to modify it for solo other than using the forward (?) seat? Thanks.

Leave your tandem seats where they are; install a saddle in the solo position. Gives you a very versatile boat...

The saddle can also help reinforce the center portion against oil-canning, although I doubt the Bell would have that problem in the first place.

The solo saddle can be mounted using glued in D rings and
2" wide cam straps that will allow you to remove it when you
need more storage for longer trips or a bigger cooler for more
buddies.

Assuming that you are not interested in putting a flatwater boat on whitewater, here is another option.

Simply get yourself another seat and install it where you want it for solo use. No D-rings, no glue, no straps, no foam installation. I, personally, wouldn’t want my cruiser to have a saddle because I don’t want to kneel all day in a cruiser and I like to stretch out, move my legs around. I can always kneel if I feel like it, and/or use a removable kneeling pad. I don't kneel enough in a cruiser to justify a full saddle/strap setup. Conversely, I wouldn’t want my whitewater machine to have a seat. You do battle in those from your knees! Though it relieves a little discomfort by sitting on the back of your saddle when the action slows.

I did this with my Bell (Yellowstone Tandem) and it works nicely. Now I have the option of either tandem or solo work with the boat. I got another seat, decided where I wanted it, drilled 4 holes in the gunwhales to install it. Used the drop saddles/hardware for one of the existing seats to install the new one, and voila… solo.

Since the Bell Prospector is symmetrical (meaning same rocker in the bow as in the stern), you could use either end as the bow without compromising an asymmetrical set-up, giving you more options as to the seat placement. Example: my boat is asymmetrical (Meaning more bow rocker than stern rocker. So I set it up for solo using the bow as the bow to take advantage of the asymmetry).

If this sounds like an option that is in line with what you are looking for I can probably provide a couple more details of what I did, casf.

This Drop-in-Seat may or may not be an adequate solution, but the price is right and it's removable...
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