Adjustable sliding solo seat

[Jim Dodd]

Sliding seats, to me are more practical, when dealing with a dog in the canoe, even a small dog. Everything else can be shuffled, but I want the dog in front of me, and that always makes it bow heavy. Not good !

I want my seat stationary ! If it moves, when I'm about to sit down, I could be swimming, or at least bunged up.

Jim

 

[Trevor Paetkau]

errr, ummm ... posting that quality of craftsmanship is gonna make me want to retire

 

[Trevor Paetkau]

Trevor, something like this? One of Alan's creations.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7935459@N05/25205628795/

My thought was that rather than being fixed, the pedestal would be integrated into the seat itself, and be pegged to the rails as appropriate to achieve desired trim.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

errr, ummm ... posting that quality of craftsmanship is gonna make me want to retire

That's Phil Greene's workmanship at Wood Song Canoes in South Carolina. He imports the most expensive woods from all over the world, and has sold his canoes for over $100,000 and paddles for over $3000.

He sent me a DVD of his work when I called him a few years ago to express my admiration of his work and to discuss paddle grip shapes.

He also makes beautiful skin-on-frame canoes.

http://www.woodsongcanoes.com/wood_song_contents.htm

https://www.facebook.com/Wood-Song-Canoes-178049025584956/

 

[Jim Dodd]

That is some pretty AWESOME work !

Definitely something to strive for ! I wonder if any of those ever see water ? They wouldn't if I owned them !!

Sorry I'm off topic !

Jim

 

[wingnut]

I decided to go with a truss on each side hung from the gunnels to hang my sliding seat. The gunnels ended up fairly straight after I put the thwarts in. The canoe without the thwarts wanted to curl up causing the gunnels to roll quite a bit. My first estimate of 18" long, I think will leave the slider without enough travel to make it worthwhile. The seat frame is 9.5" wide and with the truss legs 1.5" wide 18" would only leave me 5.5" of travel. I scaled a photo of a Swift solo slider and it looks closer to 2' long so I'm going with that, so I should end up with 11.5" travel. How far back from center on the canoe would be a good starting point for the center of the sliding seat?
I realize seat location and height is subject to a lot of personal preference but here's my set up for height. Canoe is 12 3/4" deep to the top of the gunnels. I'm going with 5" drops, leaving 7" to the floor with the contour seat dropping another inch I should end up with 6" in the center with 7" on the outsides. I'm going to try the cross dowels or barrel nuts with 2" bolts to mount the seat frame to the truss and another set to mount the truss to the gunnels to get away from the long holes and the long bolts. I'll take some pics and reply back after seeing how it goes.

 

[Cruiser]

On my Freedom Solo 16 (not the same, but in a similar class), I went a bit more low tech, but it really worked well and it was more importantly, pretty simple to construct.





The travel wasn't quite as far as you are thinking, but it was more than enough for the boat. After a few trips I simply replaced it with a newly designed fixed seat, as I found that it wasn't needed, shifting gear was actually easier for me.

If you hadn't already planned on it, a set of foot braces is highly recommended, I added them when I redid the seat and they changed the entire feel of the boat, being able to lock your feet in, gives you a lot more feel of the boat (not sure of the technicalities, but it does).

Brian

 

[yellowcanoe]

Canting the seat really helps when sitting with a foot bar or pegs in use too
Takes the strain off your back
I find flat seats quite uncomfortable on the back and more so without foot support
You just wind up trying to fight to stay on the seat in accordance with one of Sir Isaac Newtons principles. Each force has an opposite reaction

 

[sailsman63]

Lot of awesome ideas here. Glenn MacGrady, that stuff is a real work of art. Since someone summoned me regarding my adventures last year in this department, I do feel obliged to point out that the first two pages of that thread are of a design that I ultimately found to be far too heavy, fragile and complicated. This applies both to the track arrangement, and the slide/height adjustment.

The design that I went with on page 4 is performing well so far, with some caveats:

- Make sure that your seat joints are fixed with some glue or are positively notched. The webbing will hold them together, but likes to apply a little torsin to each of the joints.
- The pin-based adjustment is not great at tweaking on the fly. Its fine for setting up for the day's conditions, or when you are taking a break for lunch. If you want to move your seat multiple times during a paddling session, you want something that is more slide-ey.

I've also found that having a brace-bar/foot bar is handy. I've actually been using my center seat for that purpose when I paddle solo.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Canting the seat really helps when sitting with a foot bar or pegs in use too
Takes the strain off your back
I find flat seats quite uncomfortable on the back and more so without foot support
You just wind up trying to fight to stay on the seat in accordance with one of Sir Isaac Newtons principles. Each force has an opposite reaction

So true !
I lower the front edge of my seats 5/8". Takes the bite out, as that front edge wears into the legs. Good point !

Jim

 

[wingnut]

Sorry for the slow respond time, Just got my power back on. Nice looking set up Cruiser, good looking boat too. How far aft of center do you builders mount your seats. Jim roughly 5" and SG 3".

 

[Jim Dodd]

On nearly every solo I've built, 5 - 6" has worked fine. I make my seats deep enough, to allow me to shift my weight fore and aft, without being uncomfortable. In rough water, I like to trim Bow lite' I just shift my weight to the rear.

Again 5" -6", running empty. If you always take a load, you may want to adjust for that.

Alan takes Sadie with him, and puts a water bag in the stern, to trim the canoe with Sadie. I'll call that IOWA engineering

Jim

 

[Cruiser]

Concur with Jim, the leading edge of the seat back about 5" aft of the center-of-bouyancy, should put your body weight about dead center.

Brian

 

[wingnut]

Thanks guys, I'll try to set the center of the slider at 5". YC, the analogy of every action having an opposite reaction is the best reason I've heard to have a foot brace. I'll have to do some research on foot braces to see what I can come up with.

 

[Alan Gage]

Thanks guys, I'll try to set the center of the slider at 5"

I don't know that I've ever had my slider more than an inch or two ahead of the "normal" position. And then only because I messed up trim when loading the boat and need to get by until the next landing so I can readjust packs. Invariably I find myself with the seat all the way back and wishing I had a little more travel. I've adjusted the location of my sliding seats so that they only go about 1-2" ahead of the "proper" position. This leaves most of the travel to the rear.

All of my canoes have an adjustable foot brace. I don't like paddling a canoe without one. Huge difference in comfort, power, and perceived stability.

Alan

 

[Cruiser]

Wingnut,

Here is a link to adding foot braces to my Freedom Solo, there may be something there you find useful.

http://buildersforum.bearmountainboats.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4481


Brian

 

[wingnut]

Alan, What is your normal position in relation to center? I'm curious where you locate your seats because you have probably built more boats than anyone here.
Cruiser, those are some good looking foot braces and looks like you did an excellent installation job. How did you settle on the right height when you put them in. I've never used foot braces but I'm starting to see where they could be a good addition.

 

[Cruiser]

Wingnut,
I just positioned them after the turn at the bilge, I wanted then after the turn, because then they won't interfere with anything you want to do on the deck area.

I measured up from my heal to about where i thought I wanted the brace pedal to be on my foot .... measure that much up the side, after the bilge. I don't think it is a super "critical" decision ... I would just keep them off the floor and out of the way.

Brian

 

[Alan Gage]

Alan, What is your normal position in relation to center? I'm curious where you locate your seats because you have probably built more boats than anyone here.

I'm still a newbie compared with a fair number of the builders here.

I normally test paddle my boats before I install the seat. I take along different thicknesses of foam that I can stack up to get an idea of the height I'm comfortable with and also to figure out where the proper seat position is. Since I'm using a slider it's not super critical but I like to know. It usually seems to be a few inches back from the center of the boat but if I was doing a fixed seat I'd probably go back a couple more just to be safe. I think the recommendation of 5" is a good one. I'd rather be a slightly stern heavy than bow heavy.

Alan

 

[wingnut]

No Title

Here are some pics of my slider. Not finished, just wanted to post some pics so you could get a visual of what I've been been talking about. Sometimes I don't explain myself as well as I should.