Building the Kayak Seat

[Walt@CampSwampy]

Note from Gerald:

After researching this post I determined that it is most probably spam, or someone trying to get free advertising. The site does not show seats of any kind. Even my Brazos Boat Works site has more real information on it than the site that was linked. (sad to think, but true) Regretfully I have deleted it. This does not mean that the thread isn't valid though. Seats can still be discussed--or cussed as the case may be.

[Dogpaddlin]

This is a topic that has come up several time lately (mainly because I keep asking the same question ). I visited Southwest Paddle Sports and they told me Native had redesigned their seat to more of a reclined position which allows for your legs to bend more increasing circulation and preventing numb-butt (not to be confused with numb-nuts a.k.a. my brother). This is as far as I have gotten in my personal research. I am looking forward to what others have to say.

[bowgarguide]

I am going to muddy the waters a little more here,I used a plastic seat,I know thats not cool but it works for me,I have tried several and this cheap 10.00 hard seat from wallyworld fits me best.
The one thing I found was the seat hight as I raised the seat I was more comfortable.Darrel and I went on a little fishing trip and I was in the boat for 8 hours before I started getting uncomfortable
So play with different seat and different angles for your legs.
Ron
Like Gerald says the perfect seat would be adjustable in height while sitting in the seat

[Pogo]

Listen to Ron -- he's twice as old as you are.

Aside from seat options, I'd consider looking into other things as well, like chiropractic and ibuprofen for instance.

All Chiropractors are not equal; if you get no results from one, try another. There may or may not be satisfactory results ultimately, but a fair shot at it would certainly involve trying more than one.

I've heard Texas Water Safari racers refer to scrip-strength ibuprofen as "River Chiclets", which tells me they're eaten often in that grueling endurance contest .... which suggests good things since those commonly-relative-middle-aged-yet-highly-competitive athletes are, as a rule, big health freaks, and into good health practices as long term endeavors. In other words, many of them want to still be running river races when they're 70 and beyond, and mean to do it. That puts ibuprofen rather on the side of friendly aspirin, instead of not-so-nice tylenol, is the drift I get.

Just a couple thoughts....

[gerald]

Like Gerald says the perfect seat would be adjustable in height while sitting in the seat

...adjustable for height and forward/back position. Molded to firmly hold the bottom for 8 hours of scintillating comfort, with a tilting backrest that you can use when needed and totally out of the way when you don't---AND it weighs one pound.

I'm not asking for much....

[Hirsch]

I've heard Texas Water Safari racers refer to scrip-strength ibuprofen as "River Chiclets",

Be nice to your wallet too. The only difference between over the counter ibuprofen and and prescription strength is the dosage. The standard dosage is two 200 mg tablets. Prescription strength is 800 mg or the same as 4 over the counter tablets.

[Pogo]

Yep. There was a discussion as to why you didn't just take four OTC tablets instead of one scrip pill, but I didn't follow the thread. Wish I had. Any pharmacy professionals out there? In the meantime, racers aren't rich, and are as thrifty as anyone.

[Dogpaddlin]

I've heard Texas Water Safari racers refer to scrip-strength ibuprofen as "River Chiclets",

Be nice to your wallet too. The only difference between over the counter ibuprofen and and prescription strength is the dosage. The standard dosage is two 200 mg tablets. Prescription strength is 800 mg or the same as 4 over the counter tablets.

This is correct according to my pharmacist (a.k.a. my wife). I always take 800mg for muscle aches.

[Hirsch]

I've heard Texas Water Safari racers refer to scrip-strength ibuprofen as "River Chiclets",

Be nice to your wallet too. The only difference between over the counter ibuprofen and and prescription strength is the dosage. The standard dosage is two 200 mg tablets. Prescription strength is 800 mg or the same as 4 over the counter tablets.

This is correct according to my pharmacist (a.k.a. my wife). I always take 800mg for muscle aches.

My wife, the Dental Assistant, clued me in and my Doctor confirmed it. With 5 herniated disc in my neck and osteo-arthritis setting in there and my left rotator cup I somewhat routinely take 600-800 mg of over the counter ibuprofen.

I did not feel the need of a pharmacist's opinion after receiving the dental and medical folks opinions.

[preacher]

I use a Surf to Sumit seat in my yak. The only thing I did to make it comfortable for my long fishing excursions is to add a $19.00 air cushion from Academy. Made all the difference. It is adjustable but doesn't tilt and it did get rid of the numb-butt.

[Dogpaddlin]

Here is a link to a site that shows you how to carve one out of mini cell foam. Gerald has talked about this and I think did it in Seashell's new boat?

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

(You have to scroll down a bit to get to the seat section)

[Pogo]

Sea kayakers have used carved minicell seats for years as the gold standard in tushie comfort, and Water Safari racers are using them more and more frequently too. CLC sells suitable blanks for carving for less than $40. Carving your own seat is NOT difficult. The basic idea is to eliminate pressure points, and provide as constant and evenly-distributed support as possible. Look at and study old-timey tractor seats with renewed interest sometime.

Good catch Dogpaddlin, here are a few more:

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Wshophtm/kayakseat18b.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.folbotforum.com/viewtopic.php?start=15&t=436" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.dbeweb.com/kayak/pages/seat.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/s ... -foam.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.sit-on-topkayaking.com/Artic ... dlers.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.redfishkayak.com/seats.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note: That last entry shows a complete, ready-to-use minicell seat from Joe at Redfish (photo below), and Joe aka Nightwing has one in his OI.


Redfish sells just the bucket, or bottom part only, for under $50, seems like it would work very well in concert with a good store-bought backband or homemade backrest. Here's one of homemade backbands I made out of scrap strips, nylon webbing strap, and cheap foam ..... very comfortable for just sitting.

[gerald]

For my purposes--paddling, paddling, and more long distance paddling--the carved minicell seat has been the best. That type of seat bottom with the addition of forward/back, up/down adjustments with an adjustable/moveable/removeable seat back that weighs one pound would be ideal. When I get the time I'm going to start trying to design and build a module that is easily applied to small paddled craft.

Heck....I may become the seat/bottom guru. I already admire many seats/bottoms. Now maybe I can make them a hands on experience. But...back to boats...seats have always been a major problem for me...