I’ve seen little hatches like that near the stern to access an internal skeg or skeg control line.
I don’t think I will be able to get the old seat out without damaging it. It’s epoxied in pretty well on the sides.
When you guys are talking about getting the wider seat, will I need to mess with the combing legs? It looks like PaddleDog did some custom work to curve the legs out to fit.
I’m a size 36 or 38 waist depending on the brand… The stock seat seems to fit me OK but a little more room is always welcome and I certainly don’t want to feel pinched in.
I can confirm that the seat IS load bearing and structural. The other side of the seat cracked while I was getting in on land to adjust foot pedals. This would not have happened if the seat were epoxied well. It also likely would have been fine if I had it in water.
Lesson learned.
There is still support from the combing legs and remainder of the seat making contact, but now the hull flexes quite a bit more and there is less surface area to keep it from deforming.
I’m still planning to paddle but a new plastic seat is in my future. Just need to figure out how much modification is needed to fit the bigger one.
Can you wedge dense foam under the seat to temporarily support it so it doesn’t place stress on its suspension or the hull? I keep cheap foam “pool noodles” around to use for some boat modifications. Easily cut and sliced with a serrated bread or steak knife. Also closed cell and waterproof. The adjustable ratchet straps for the seat back in the vintage conposite kayak I bought last month were blown out so I cut several lengths of pool noodles and wedged them under the back of the coaming, then split a thicker noodle lengthwise to make a piece with a flat side I could tuck against the seat back to fill the last bit of space. Holds it in place well until I can get a new back band to replace it. This is the time of year when stores that sell summer beach and pool toys dump pool noodles for a $1 and I always replenish my stock of them because it’s such a useful material .
Thanks to you I have pool noodles on everything now…lol
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Those interlocking foam exercise mats are also a good source of dense foam sheet. But it’s not as durable as Minicel foam.
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You cut the combing legs off move them back 1/2" on each side. Use a 1 x 2 as a spacer. Tack it in place first let it harden. Recheck everything is the right place and square. Then glass the combing legs in place. I’ll be doing another wide base seat next week. Also going to add some glass in DC like under the seat and deck behind the combing. I’ll take pictures.