Lugging around a tandem canoe by yourself

Canoeing is fun with a buddy and I love it, but I want to take it out alone sometimes. But i bought this big old Cadillac and it's hard as fuck to transport without two sets of hands. I can do it, but its a pain in the ass and my car is scratched to shit from loading it up by myself.

Should I replace the seats and center container with traditional bars? It seems like it would definitely make lifting it easier since there are literally no places to grasp it with that shit. The seats are nice and all but you can just buy tie-on seat rests for regular canoe seats.

I don't know how much lighter that would make it, however.