The bane of inland touring is carrying your kayak over portages.
The over-one-shoulder cockpit carry is suitable over short distances but the lop-sided effort becomes strenuous over long portages.
While there are numerous examples of attempts to duplicate and adapt today’s canoe yokes to the usually small kayak cockpit, most are bulky, unwieldy and sometimes heavy, posing challenges when mounting, dismounting and stowing this accessory.
A simple alternative to these drawbacks is to revert to the original canoe-carry solution, namely the Center Thwart.
Before the advent of anatomically-shaped yokes, the center thwart was key to portaging canoes. Comfort over longer portages was enhanced by lashing the blades of two paddles to the center thwart and the shafts to the bow seat or second thwart so that the blades rested on the shoulders.
Similarly, although not quite as comfortable as the anatomically configured canoe yokes of today, a simple Kayak Thwart performs remarkably well while avoiding most of the aforementioned Kayak Yoke drawbacks.
This DIY Kayak Thwart is quick to mount and dismount. Straight, short and narrow, it is easily lashed onto the deck or stowed below.
The kayak is carried stern first with the thwart resting across the neck/shoulders. With head in the cockpit and one or two hands on the rear coaming, visibility, balance and manoeuverability are adequate for most situations.
The thwart chock blocks are shaped to conform to the cockpit coaming and can be adjusted for different cockpit widths. The quick-release cockpit sling keeps the thwart from sliding off the coaming.
Pipe insulation padding offers increased comfort across the shoulders, which may be further enhanced by draping a shirt, towel or sweater around the back of the neck.
