cutting thwarts out of my Avon 14' bucket boat

got a very clean vintage Avon 14' bucket boat beauty last year, so far the Lower D and John Day have been awesome. It's got a frame, a full 3" foam floor, and 2 thwarts, and on the longer JD trip we got to thinking that really, we don't need the thwarts.....i'm not planning on doing any paddle rafting (I think...really just want it for a safer fishing vessel for rocky or low water

any opinions/experiences on cutting thwarts out? I checked, they are glued in. But cut out, the storage on the raft would be huge with a couple drop baskets.

and if cut out, any leads on baskets that would attach to the frame?

thx! hope your seasons are wet and fun so far

Tapper, that is no problem. Gear boats with frames don't run thwarts. With the glued in thwarts, many of the old timers just deflate the thwarts. It might be worth having a professional "un-glue" them vs. cutting. By baskets, I think you means drop bag like this type of arraignment. Lot's of people make them. Head over to mountainbuzz.com if you want the input of a bunch of raft nerds.

Attachment 183543

could, with skill, cut them off with a few inches extra, and put eyelets in for a thwart if needed. Tying thwarts in with cord, webbing, or even snaplocks used to be a design feature.

Perfect, thx boys.

I had custom drop bags from tuff river stuff made. They are good and plenty burly. I had a sheet of udhp cut to size to fit over the top, then I just hold this down with four 1' straps. Makes for a nice seat. Tons of storage. Have fun.