Bell Rob Roy...Seat replacement?

-- Last Updated: Oct-19-04 2:19 PM EST --

I followed Chad19's thread with interest a while back about replacing the seat in his Rob Roy with a Wenonah sliding tractor seat. He says it is very comfortable.

Any other Rob Roy owners out there who have replaced the seat in your boat? What did you use and how did you do it? Would you do it again or would you change something?

The previous owner of my Rob Roy added a very small tractor seat on top of the existing glued-in sitting pad. The seat was okay but not great. I wanted to replace it with something more comfortable (i.e. bigger seat), but "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" has become my motto after making several projects a bit harder than necessary! LOL. Now, however, the pad has come unglued from the bottom of the boat. It's definitely time to fix the seat situation, and I want to do it right.

I'm pretty sure I want the comfort of a tractor seat, something along the lines of the Wenonah tractor, or a Sea Wind seat, but I'm open to all suggestions. Problem is, I'm not sure how to install a new seat. Should I try glueing a new seat in, like the previous installation had been? Do I try to install it like a typical canoe installation? Only thing is, the Rob Roy isn't a typical canoe and I'm not sure what adaptations I need to make. For example, I saw a seat (Kajak Sport ergonomic seat http://www.newfound.com/kayakacc.htm )that looked very comfortable in the Newfound catalog, but the ad said it installed easily by bolting to the existing hip braces. The Rob Roy doesn't have hip braces. I emailed them, and they said it wouldn't work for my situation.

I'm pretty handy, but I've never done any fiberglassing. I guess I could learn, but I don't have a clue about what I'm doing there.

BTW...my boat is the kevlar model, if that makes any difference in the installation choices.

And what about seat height? If you changed out your seat, did you replace it with one higher and moore canoe-like or did you leave it low on the bottom as originally designed? I want seat and leg comfort.

Thanks for any help and input you all can give me.

Jill

Seat replacement
I have a friend here in Michigan that has pulled the stock seat out of the Rob Roy and replaced it with a standard rail supported seat. For lightweight ladies this can simple be done by hanging it from the rails in a stock manner. But for bigger folks problems develop because the rear portion of the deck immediately behind the cockpit is not capable of supporting the weight. So this friend adds kevlar, carbon and structurla fiberglass reinforcment to the deck. Her boat has seen a fair amount of usage and it’s in great shape.



This same friend is best known for building hard decks on any of a number of Bell composite canoes (Wildfire, Magic, Merlin, Northwoods). If you should be so interested in contacting this individual, shoot me an email off the board.



PK

Definitely interested.
I sent you an email. Thanks for the response.



Jill

Rob Roy
The Bell Rob Roy seat is sort of nice yet , like

yourself , I would like to upgrade it .Have had the

boat out only a few times , having picked it up last summer . Its a fun thing to paddle yet I should be

sitting a couple of inches lower .

The boat handles nicely , but my knees stick up a bit , and should the wind and waves become strong,

I worry that bracing could be a problem .

I may take the seat out and just use a gell pad,though I find them a little hard to sit on.

John

paddle?
what type of paddle are you using? kayak or canoe? i’ve NEVER thought of lowering the seat in my rob roy, although i do use a single-blade. as to the bracing, i had never needed to brace until i installed a sliding wenonah seat, which sits about 6 inches off the hull. now i need to brace only when in two-foot plus surf and with an empty boat.

first edition
thinking of Rob Roy, I bought a first edition of 1500 MILES ( I think it was)IN A ROB ROY CANOE in a used book shop in perfect condition, fly leaf and all.



Nick

it’s 1000 miles
but still cool.