I've been contemplating seat designs for my current project. I've read at the Milwaukee Museum's native eskimo exhibit, that native designs were something of a sling. I'm not sure if they meant a sling for a lumbar support, or something like a rock-climber's harness, or both. Reviewing the diagrams in Mr. Shade's book, which depicted the center of boyancy and center of mass in a boat, I was wondering if it would be possible for the paddler to maintain a vertical possiton in relation to the horizon, no matter what the boat did underneath him or her, by being suspended by a seat as described above. How might this affect the stability and efficiency of the boat?

A draw back that comes to mind is the neccessity for the paddler to be firmly connected to the boat so that each stroke's energy is set to move the boat, not rock the paddler in a cockpit seat harness. Any kind of rolling might be difficult as well. I'm an inexperienced paddler. Off hand, I imagine that it would be possible to maintain foot and knee contact with the boat, and still have a sling type seat. Preassure from feet and knees against sling seat might be enough to stablize the paddler in position while paddling. The "cheek plates" would provide adequate anchors for sling-supports distributing stress between the cockpit coaming and the hull interior. Bottom of paddler would be suspended out of the bilge, yet control of the height of that suspension would be possible.

My simple alternative to this questionable theory is to use a Thermorest self inflatable stadium seat, velcroed to the hull interior and any kind of lumbar support (plexiglass seat back, padded with foam, or the commercial ones sold through many paddling suppliers). I have many weeks before I'll be actually working that part of the boat, but it helps me to visualize these things in place before I start committing actual labor to them.
Sincerely,
Bill Cruz