-- Last Updated: Sep-06-09 3:12 PM EST --
kneeling be easily changed back to sitting on the floor? OR is it that once setup one way you cant change the setup back.
Can be built for kneeling
A kneeling Rapidfire is built with an extra belly band to provide reinforcement for the hanging seat.
So. You could take the seat out a kneeling Rapidfire and add a floor seat no problem. But you wouldn’t want to take a Rapidfire built for the floor mounted seat and mount a hanging seat.
close
Kanoo pretty much got it. A kneeling Rapid has two carbon belly bands and an extra Kevlar diamond to reinforce the hung seat.
You can unbolt the hung seat and install your choice of Pb’s pack seats, but once the Plexus sets on that installation that is pretty much a permanent decision.
One could, perhaps deal with the issues of Velcro-ing the pack seat down, but running the four machine screws in and out of the rails to switch back and forth will invariable cause rail damage as chips are pulled out.
One can choose a kneeling Rapid and choose again by converting it to pack seating, but then you’ve run out of chooses.
Just buy two RapidFires
Then you can choose over and over which one to paddle.
I would need one for each foot.
I’ve often wondered
Why build a beefier Rapidfire to hang a bench when you could mount a pedestal in the original hull?
Either a minicell saddle like we use in whitewater boats or a tractor on frame like the Wenona Voyager?
For that matter either of those could be strapped or velcroed and easily swapped out for the buttpad.
Seems like a no brainer which makes me wonder if there’s some reason it’s not already offered?
Tommy
pedestal in RapidFire
I’ve thought about a pedestal in my Rapid several times. The three things that deter me are:
(1) Kneelability – I haven’t used a whitewater pedestal much at all, but I don’t imagine they’re as comfortable over the hours as a bench seat, with its multiple leg positions;
(2) Survivability – The Rapid’s rails are narrower than a whitewater canoe’s rails, my feet are big, and my butt is wide. Can a pedestal be built that is comfortable, while leaving enough room at the side to get my legs out if I need to?
(3) Removability – Can a pedestal be removed easily, to allow using the Rapid as a kayak when I want to?
I bought a bench-seat RapidFire thinking that I would switch between canoe and kayak seating often. I successfully installed velcro for the kayak seat, and to my surprise the velcro has held up over the years. But I like the boat so much more as a canoe that I only install the kayak seat when I want to show other people how the boat can be used as a kayak.
Mark
Mark, sounds like you got it figured out
Im over in Nassau county.Theres a few ponds here (Massapequa) that could accomdate a test drive if you ever come out east? I agree, I think the kneeling seat would be more comfortable over the long haul. Can you slide off and sit on the floor clearing your legs from the front thwart to go under it?
Pedestal in a Rapidfire
Mark,
I have not paddled the Rapidfire because the only ones I’ve seen were set up as kayaks. I can’t sit like that. So I can’t really answer your questions with any certainty because I don’t really know the boat.
But…
(1) Kneelability – A pedastal will not stop you from moving your legs around or sitting with your feet out in front of you. The wider the seat is the more comfortable in general.
(2) Survivability – This one is tough to answer with out being familiar with the boat. The narrower the gunnels the less space there will be to lift your legs up. A 6" wide saddle would likely leave plenty of room at the expense of comfort. My Wenonah Voyager has 20" between the gunnels at the seat. The frame is 7" wide the seat is 16". I can not fit my legs between the seat and the gunnels but I can slide them forward and out the same as I would with a bench. I’ve considered mounting a tractor seat on a 6" wide foam pedastal if I didn’t want the slider. That might be the solution?
(3) Removability – You could velcro a pedastal same as your buttpad. Some folks use D-rings and straps to secure removable saddles in whitewater boats.
Pedestals
I had a sorry into to pedestals in the old Blackhawk Covenant and Proem. I remember not being able to stand and crawling to the campfire because my ankles had gone.
That said, pedestal seats have the advantage of weight loading the hull bottom, not the rails, so less fabric or core is needed in the bottom and less fabric/core needed in the sidewalls to reinforce the rails.
But, if you like to move around in the boat; put one, then the other leg out, maybe slip both knees into the chine to heel the hull, it’s hard to beat a contoured cane seat sling from the rails.
This is still America; we’ll get to make our own choices for at least two more decades.
Seat height
– Last Updated: Sep-10-09 9:19 AM EST –
There's no reason a 9" high pedestal can't be as or more comfortable than a 9" high bench seat. You can lower that height as far as you can stand to gain stability but that does eventualy lead to crawling out of the boat.
Nothing about a pedestal that stops you from putting your feet out in front if your knees need a break.
But no, you can not put both knees in the same chine with a pedestal. Nor can you shift your fanny to one side. I condider those advantages to a pedestal.