Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Hang that Seat Back!
By:Ron
Date: 12/8/2000, 2:55 pm
In Response To: Hang that Seat Back! *Pic* (Spidey)

Spidey, you're driving me crazy-

I finished my kayak, or so I thought, last August. Spent August, Sept., and Oct. scratching it up. So I thought, I would use your rag varnishing technique to repair the scratches on the hull before putting it away for the winter. The whole kayak got five coats of varnish, while I perfected the rag method. This looked so good, I went right on to your Meguiar 1,2,&9 polishing routine.

I originally had a flat, rigid, hanging seat back, as Nick discribes in his book. I found this to be uncomfortable, hard to adjust, and and a real pain on wet enteries. After seeing your posts on seat building, and while waiting for varnish to dry, I remade my seat and seat back. I made a rigid contour seat back simaliar to yours except, I mounted it on a veritical 3"x4" foam post which is notched on the top so that most of the post stuffs under the back of the cockpit. Now you come up with a new and improved design. This remodeling has got to stop. I've got to get started on my next kayak.

The backrest does look great. Just a couple of ideas on mounting. On the two horizontal webbing straps, I would attach all four ends separately, with each of the two straps having their own adjusting buckle. On my original seat, I used one long strap with one adjustment buckle. It crossed the back of the seat twice and ran through slots in cheek plates on either side. On my less than graceful wet entries, the backrest had a tendency to tilt forward, slide around, and get into uncomforable positions, which were impossible to readjust while in the boat. By having each strap separately connected and adjustable you should be able to control the tilt of the backrest and prevent unwanted movement.

Keep the posts coming. I enjoy seeing your work. Maybe I'll include your ideas in the next kayak. This one's going to bed for the winter.

Ron

Messages In This Thread

Hang that Seat Back! *Pic*
Spidey -- 12/7/2000, 7:59 pm
Re: Hang that Seat Back!
Ron -- 12/8/2000, 2:55 pm
Re: Good Point
Spidey -- 12/8/2000, 4:51 pm
Back band angle
Brian Nystrom -- 12/11/2000, 12:02 pm
Looks Nice!
Brian Nystrom -- 12/8/2000, 12:28 pm