Valley Seat Mods: success stories?

We Valley owners know the seat pans and back bands suck royally. I’m fairly pissed that I have to contend with crap plastic seat and ergonomicalky poor backband, even on my 2009 AvLV custom. I know old pans and bands are excellent-- I can paddle for hours without issue with my 2003 Valley Argonaut.



I’ve got plenty of ideas for fixes(minicell, new seat, take it out, don’t sit back etc), but an asking: has any Valley owner of the crap seats circa 2005 to 2009 (I think they made changes in late 2009) have an actual working fix?

my fix worked very well
I know what you mean: the Valley plastic seats pre late 2009 are junk.

You and me are am not the only ones to lament the problem (two other paddlers I know have problems if paddling for more than one hour).

The seat shape is wrong: it slopes too gently on the back and the back band makes contact with your back too far back.

The seat literally gives you a pain in the butt.

I have removed the seat, fabricated a new one and replaced it.

Needless to say now the seat is 100% good.

Details on how I did the job is at: http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2010/01/shop-replacing-valley-seat.html

Confused about seats…
My early Nord LV (2007?)had the plastic seat with the foam seat and hip pads. I never had an issue with comfort but did remove the seat pad to get lower in the boat.

Wondering if this is the seat everyone has issues with.



GH

That is beautiful custom work on your
Valley seat replacement. Regrettably it requires materials, skills, talents and time I simply do not have, and I happen to own two Valley boats with the offending seat pans (both 2006 models). :frowning:



Like CD1 I wish there was an easier solution.

I believe so…

– Last Updated: Mar-17-10 10:37 AM EST –

unless you speced your boat otherwise the default seat in a Valley kayak from sometime in 2005 through 2009 is the one CD1 is referring to. I am not sure what Valley is using on their boats in 2010?
I have two Valley boats with the offending seats (2006) and my backside is not real happy, particularly during long crossings. :-(

Based on comments from other Valley owners I have been told that if you were ordering a custom Valley one could have specified a hung glass seat (extra cost) or possibly the foam seat Valley used prior to 2006.

Very simple seats
Kayak seats don’t have to be complex or expensive to be comfortable. You can see a simple, inexpensive method of construction a foam seat and some examples of them in my “Seat Removal & Replacement” and “Kayak Outfitting” albums on Webshots at:



http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

I have owned several Valleys and ended
up either cutting out or modifying all of them. The glass pans were all cut out because of my size. My new carbon/kevlar Nordkapp has the plastic seat. I removed it and filled the entire back area with minicell and put in a 2" minicell pan cut on an angle front to back or 2" down to zero at the rear. This method has worked fine for me. My 07 Aquanaut LV RM uses the stock plastic pan and the back band is completely filled in with scultped minicell. I think a simple wedge bottom and minicell back stop works great. The good part of the stock seat is that you can use the mounting holes on the deck for the attachment of a new back band. Bill

I have modified the Q-Boat seat
I have no problem with the Valley seats per se but I did modify the seat on our Q-Boat. The reasons in our case were to get the paddler sit lower in the boat. I cut the plastic seat out and then followed advice from Brian Nystrom’s web site on installing a foam seat. The end result is great and I am very happy with it.





… except that I fitted it for my older son and once in a while I try to squeeze my ass into it. It works in the summer but not when I wear a drysuit with insulation underneath.

addendum
think about the use. If you plan on using the boat in pool sessions and rolling practice where you constantly swamp the cockpit then I would keep the plastic seat for a while.



What happened to me with a different boat was that the foam started separating from the fiberglass due to the constant water exposure and (perhaps the chlorine).



I have a Nordkapp with the original plastic seat and it works great for me in pool session or outside.

if you don’t want to spend time

– Last Updated: Mar-17-10 7:31 PM EST –

making your own foam seat, the pre-made Bumfortable seat is really great. I used this to replace the seat in my wife's Aquanaut when time was short before a trip, and we both find it extremely comfortable. We took the backband out - there's enough support from the seat itself.
http://www.pxtkayaks.com/accessories/Seats.html
The "wide" model.
It is expensive for what it is, but very nice.

moparharn - seat tilted back 2 inches?
I want to make cetain I have this right. But the seat is 2 inches thick nearest your knees and 0 inches thick at the stern?



I ask because I cut out a seat that was slightly tilted back so I could put in one that was level. I find it interesting how different people need very different seat positions to be comfortable. I need to have a verticle spine or tilted slightly forward, but many boats come with the seat tilted backward so you have to curve your spine forward to sit up straight.

Thanks for the link…
I’ll have to take a closer look.

simple foam seat are great
simple foam seat are great and very comfortable too.

Easy to make and inexpensive.

They don’t work for me since all my kayaks have electric bilge pumps fitted.

The water sits on the floor and can not get to the pump behind the seat.

Details on electric bilge pump: http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2009/04/shop-electric-bilge-pump-in-kayak.html

Yes- that is it. Two inches to support
the thighs and zero at the back which is somewhat tucked under the seat back. I use the two inches to bore a tunnel in the middle for the pick-up on my foot pump. I have run tubing from the foot pump down the keel and about five inches into the seat bottom. The end is plugged and I have cut about 6 or 7 radius grooves in the bottom to serve as a strum box. It works pretty good. Takes about 75 pumps to empty the cockpit from a re-enter and roll and I think the flow is about right, I may add a slit or two for more flow.

Bill

I can add pictures if you want to see it.

Wow- I like the looks of it, Sure would
be a time saver if you have the cash. My worry is fastening it down. Velcro always comes loose and requires gorilla glue or some adhesive to remain more permanent. This adhesive may damage an expensive piece of foam. Bill

plz add pics, mop

.
The seat shape is wrong: it slopes too gently on the back and the back band makes contact with your back too far back.

I agree! Well-said. And what a nice mod! Thnaks, gnarls.

A prophet: mop!

– Last Updated: Mar-17-10 11:42 PM EST –

I own a Valley Nordkapp which came, when I bought it, with the Bumfortable seat. Same as in the pics. It is precisely as you say, mop: I can;t get that bad boy pegged down even if I slather the underside with enough DAP Weldwood to close 1000 elephant's anus's. The underside is corrugated floam (not smooth) and that does not help. It seems "down", then I paddle once, and Bumfortable simply pulls off. Funny that you'd see that from the pics. Smart. The integrated back is the issue when puching forward on footpegs. Now, if I put foam behind it--like between it and the bulkhead--it might solve the issue. Because issue #2 with the Bumfortable is the back has little firmness, so it's rather useless. I se from the link that others have that issue, as they sell a strap of some type to keep the back upright. So a mod of the Bumfortable might help one of my five Valleys. No, make that six Valleys. But one, the Argonaut, alreayd has the ideal old hanging glass seat. I really wish I had lobbied for a hanging glass seat in the custom sectiona, I bought in 2008-2009... forced them to put it on or no deal (deal or no deal?). The plastic crap is horrendous on the carb Kev boat--it's a joke really. These are many great ideas on here--I look forward to the photos.

CD1 glad you posted your experiences

– Last Updated: Mar-18-10 12:01 AM EST –

with trying to glue down the Bumfortable seat with DAP Weldwood, because that is exactly what I would have tried in my Valley boats. So I guess the Bumfortable is out, but possibly a Redfish foam seat would work?

Happy bottom pad
Just put this in my 1989 Skerray last week. I saw a guy carrying one around at QWS, and asked about it. He bought his in Canada, but I found them at CLC. Great service from CLC. http://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-gear/kayak-seats-foam/happy-bottom-pad-kayak-seat.html