Canoe Seats

[Jim Dodd]

Many of us build our own seats.

But I just wanted to bring up one aspect of building these, especially for solo boats. I've always struggled trying to position the seat at the right spot. I know A sliding seat works great, for when you need to adjust for different loads. That's fine, I just didn't want to get that involved, building seats.
So my solution was to build a big enough seat, so I could just move forward, or back in the seat, and still be comfortable.
Here's a pic of a seat made to Bell's canoe specks(the small one, and one I make for my solos.

Jim

 

[memaquay]

I made the one for my Jack's Special extra big too, although I hadn't thought about the ability to use it like a slider. I was just trying to fit me big arse! I like the big seat, really improves the experience.

 

[Alan Gage]

I can vouch for the comfort of Jim's seats and that they are effective for trim adjustments.

Alan

 

[wysedav]

Jim, what are the dimensions? The big one looks huge, I think I could have my kids lay the wrong way and take a nap like a hammock.

 

[Guest]

I can vouch for the comfort of Jim's seats and that they are effective for trim adjustments.

A different Jim, but late paddling pal Jsaults built a massively deep seat for his Bell Magic. He was a big guy, and it was a big seat, allowing him to effectively shift his weight fore or aft a good 10 or 12 inches in either direction.

It does seem like a much simpler solution than slider rails and etc. I think there is a photo of Jsault’s works somewhere on Canoe Tripping.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Jim, what are the dimensions? The big one looks huge, I think I could have my kids lay the wrong way and take a nap like a hammock.

The small one was fit for a Bell solo. It was 9 1/2" front to back. The bigger one was only 11" front to back, and about 36" side to side.

My solo seats are wide enough, so that when I trim the ends, I can use the trimmings, for the up and down supports. They blend with the seats well that way.

Jim

 

[Jim Dodd]

I can vouch for the comfort of Jim's seats and that they are effective for trim adjustments.

Alan

I'm needing bigger seats all the time, so remember that, when you build the seats for GP ! HA ! ( You're probably already done !)

I've got the contact information ! Thanks I guess I can't win if I don't play ! And I'm planning on winning !

Jim

 

[Mihun09]

I always build my seats bigger for personal boats, but when I'm restoring w/c I copy the originals as much as possible. They had such tiny seats back in those days.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I always build my seats bigger for personal boats, but when I'm restoring w/c I copy the originals as much as possible. They had such tiny seats back in those days.

For some reason my seats keep getting smaller ?

 

[sweeper]

Wood Shrinkage, dry it a little more before working it, should fine then.

 

[latremorej]

Wood Shrinkage, dry it a little more before working it, should fine then.

Ha!