Seat placement

[bowgarguide]

Gerald
How do you determine the best place for the seat.
Ron

[gerald]

It's generally stated that the paddler's center of gravity should be at the center of flotation of the boat. When seated with the legs extended much like you would be in a kayak your center of gravity would be about 2" in front of your crotch. That makes it about 14" from the CF to the seat back. For some reason I like to be a little further back than that so I generally put the seat back at 16" from the CF.

How do you find the CF? Use a design program OR put the boat in water and move a heavy weight around until you have the boat trimmed level from end to end. That point will be the center of flotation. Some people might want to use the center of buoancy (CB) but they're usually pretty close together anyway.

The final test is to try it out. You'll eventually gain enough experience that it becomes pretty easy.

[Light Keeper's Kid]

Ron thanks for this question,I was wondering the same thing

Mike