I would never attempt this on a kevlar, but on a plastic Disco 16, how great of a structural compromise would it be to remove a thwart? This would leave me with only the yoke and whatever lateral hull stability the seats offer.

which disco? got a link?

Why are you taking out the thwart?

OT Discovery? I would be concerned about the add'l stress on the center thwart/yoke. Mainly under load and/or in rough water like rapids or high winds. Normal use? not so much... The seats could possibly be reinforced also to make up for the thwarts.

Kanoes: OT Discovery 15-8

Talusman: Myself, 6 yr old daughter and wife, 3 #4 Duluth packs and minimum of fishing gear. Just seems to work out better for usable space. We did a couple of rivers like this last year and it worked out well. Never a BW trip. We'll be entering on Ham and basing on Long Island. Looks like a couple of short portages and easy paddling.

Could you put new thwarts in different locations that would help fit your load and provide strength even if not in the spots originally designed for them? You could even add a seat for your daughter to provide some strength (maybe with a thwart right behind it).

BTW, you can take some thwarts out of Kevlar canoes. The SR Quetico 17 is designed so that you can remove the thwart behind the bow seat so you can sit there to paddle solo facing the other way. That thwart is held in with bolts and nuts instead of rivets to make it easy to do that. However, that thwart is also very near the seat and so the seat takes up a lot of the load from that area.

don't do it. On a trip to Iron up the stew in 07',,, yoke broke (from rot) on the 460rd carry right from the truck. We said "Shove on". Helps when you have 3 engineers to make those kind of choices in the woods. back seat starting giving out on the cane like mesh. then the other thwart went right before stuart lake. had no structual support other than rivets and seats at that time-- and had to physically carry the canoe with 2 people front and back. Camped on Stuart that night and jimmy rigged enough to get to Iron. On Iron,, we went to a beaver dam and made a yoke for it,, enough to get back--- barely.

canoe was penobscot 16'