The Thwart

A thwart is a bench spanning the width of an open boat, running athwartships — across the beam. In a rowboat or dinghy, the thwart is where the oarsman sits. It is also the structural member that prevents the hull from collapsing inward. Water pressure pushes against the planking from outside. The gunwales want to fold toward each other. The thwart resists by holding the hull open at its widest point, transmitting the force from one side to the other in compression. Remove the thwarts from an open boat and the hull will slowly distort: the gunwales pinch in, the bottom flattens, the shape that allows the boat to float becomes the shape that allows it to fold. The rower sits on the thing that keeps the boat a boat.

A canoe thwart is a crossbar mortised or bolted into the gunwales at one or more points along the hull's length. The center thwart doubles as a portage yoke — the paddler flips the canoe overhead, rests the thwart across the shoulders, and carries the canoe between waterways. Ash or cherry, sometimes contoured to fit the back of the neck, sometimes fitted with shaped pads. The thwart that braces the canoe on the water becomes the yoke that transfers its weight to the body on land. In both cases the thwart connects the two sides: gunwale to gunwale on the water, shoulder to shoulder on the trail. It is the bridge across the boat's own width.

The word thwart means across. The wind blows athwart the beam. A transverse member is a thwart member. To thwart a plan is to cut across it — to impose a direction perpendicular to the one intended. The boat thwart literalizes the metaphor: it runs crosswise to the hull's long axis, opposing the tendency of the structure to close. Every other member of the hull runs lengthwise — keel, planking, gunwale, stem and stern. The thwart is the only part that disagrees with the boat's primary direction. It says this wide and holds that width against everything that would narrow it.

Three thwarts: a rowing bench, a portage yoke, a word for crossing. Each runs athwart — perpendicular to the main axis, opposing the dominant direction. The rowing thwart holds the hull open. The canoe thwart transfers weight across the body. The word itself cuts across intention. In each case the thwart's purpose is resistance to collapse: it maintains a width, a span, an openness that the surrounding structure would close if the thwart were removed.