Raised Seat for Hobie Outback

[shoffer]

When is someone going to invent an aftermarket seat for Outbacks that sits you up nice, high and comfy like a Native or even a Pro Angler? I am waiting for that to hit the market and will gladly be the first customer. In the meantime, I was scouting the net this morning and found some ideas to make due:

Here is a thought - someone purchased a Jackson seat and installed it on an Outback with Mighty mounts:

http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index ... pic=7362.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another Jackson seat retrofitted to an Outback:

http://www.scoutdoorsblog.com/2012/12/h ... -seat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.yakangler.com/forum/21-look- ... ie-outback" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here are some thoughts from our friends down under:

http://www.kfdu.com.au/forum/viewtopic. ... 2ce8da4918" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This guy is actually building them, but don't know if he is still in business:

http://www.orlandokayakfishingclub.com/ ... pic=3713.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is an aftermarket set at ACK you might be able to retrofit into the Hobie, but it has poor reviews:

http://www.austinkayak.com/products/820 ... -Seat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Do any of you have any other ideas?

[YAK'N AGGIE]

I'm looking into doing that first link right now. Talking to the guy who did that one. I want to make sure I can put the original seat back in, because for BTB I wouldn't want to sacrifice stability by sitting up that high, particularly in the surf. But all other instances, that looks amazing.

Although it's not a Jackson seat. It's a Freedom Hawk seat: http://www.basspro.com/Freedom-Hawk-Kay ... 707293217/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Armada de Plastico]

Very Nice! May start looking into this mod very soon...

[TxTitan]

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 3&t=207305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a link to my post about a raised seat, have pictures posted of the install.

[shoffer]

Here's another idea that might work.

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/913113/upgraded-hobie-outback-seat-diy

[Mr. B]

That question has been posed to Hobie for years I would imagine cause I was asked about it a few years ago when I had my outback and I told the rep the one thing I thought needed to be changed was the seat but they seemed to think it was a fantastic seat and seating position. Its not bad but its not that great either. Every year keep waiting to see if they might make some sort of change but they have made very few changes to the outback. I eventually rigged my own seat in it so just play with it and see what fits and how you can secure it and be stable in it.

[shoffer]

I am going to try the modification by the StriperOnline guy this weekend. I got the seat and some of the other parts and once I complete it and test it out I will report back.

[shoffer]

So I did the modification. It took about 20 painless minutes and cost around 85 dollars total, with seat, hardware, and pads.

The seat is a Browning Woodland Camping and Turkey Chair, and can be purchased on Amazon for $42.00 here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AV ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I removed the carrying strap on the chair, and got to work.

Like the stripersonline guy, I put padeyes on the front of the seat, but I used my regular nylon ones that I got at ACK, and then riveted them on like I do with any padeye installation on my yak. I then put a carabiner on there, and used a round eye swivel bolt snap from Lowes ($2.48) to attach the seat to the spots where the Hobie seat mounts. I tried to put the seat as far up near the round hatch as possible, as it makes it easier to reach the steering knob.

I then used two pad eyes I installed in the tankwell for my old aftermarket seat and connected the back of the seat using two more brass round eye swivel bolt snaps, and two velcro/nylon straps that you can adjust to ensure a tight fit. These are called Kwik Tek "Wrap it Up" and can be purchased on Amazon here for $6.50 a pack: http://www.amazon.com/Kwik-Tek-WR-123BK ... roduct_top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

The chair fits perfectly into the boat on the sides, so there is no side to side movement, and with the way I connected the seat to the boat, there is no front to back movement.

So I took the new seat out and tried it out. The seat stayed in place - no movement. I had to move my Mirage Drive settings from 7 to 4 to make it comfortable, but that was easy enough. To manage the issue that the new seat position causes you to have to lean up a bit to get to the steering knob, I purchased two outdoor seat cushions from Lowes for 6 bucks each on clearance like these, but cheaper [http://www.lowes.com/pd_494894-70254-05 ... facetInfo=], and a $9.00 mesh office seat lumber support from Bed Bath Beyond [http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/282 ... pport.html] that connects to seat with adjustble plastic buckle. I used the seat ties to tie the cushions to the seat from the top, put the lumbar support between the cusions and my back, and put my relaxoback grey sponge cushion on the bottom and it all worked great. They did not move. So, the problem of having to lean up to get to the steering knob was essentially solved.

The yak felt a bit tippy when I first got in it, but after about 30 minutes, it was no problem, and it was pure heaven. I would not use this seat for BTB, but for bay or lake fishing, it should be great. I am still going to sew the two seat cushions together to make it even more immoveble.

This might work good as well if you wanted a bottom cushion connected to the back cushion. [http://www.lowes.com/pd_247045-66016-A- ... facetInfo=

[pdt818]

You're such a tease. Come on and post some pics. You know you want to

[emtp101]

Nice work.

[shoffer]

This seat is still going strong. I love. I have improved it by replacing the velcro straps in the back with two, one foot lashing straps with cam buckles that I bought here:
http://www.strapworks.com/ProductDetail ... XvEALw_wcB