Hydra kayak seat !!!!!help!!!!!

Advice
#1

hello i just ‘acquired’ an old plastic kayak with no seat in it. it seems really cheap due to the styrofoam inserts that are betwwen your legs as youre in the boat. was told it was a hydra ‘taurus’ by tom johnson kayak. it seems like its in good shape and i want to get a seat in it for my boys. i cant find a seat for the kayak that fits the bottom of the boat. the best way to explain it is there are 2 plastic formed ‘rails’ directly in the bottom that run fwd to aft around 2ft long positioned about 5" apart. the two rails sit up about an inch, so an aftermarket seat seat wouldnt work very well. is there special seats that fit these ‘rails’? thanks, garret

#2

Minicell foam and a Rasp
Make your own seat and you’ll be all set.



http://bit.ly/MarineFoam



http://bit.ly/SeatFoam


#3

yep. NM

#4

foam seat
http://shop.skinboats.com/product.sc?categoryId=2&productId=2



I’d put foam in the bottom of the boat, between the rails and on either side, and then glue the foam seat in the above link onto that.



$45 and done. You’ll pay more than that to get a block of foam that needs carved into a seat.

#5

Looks good, Nate. That Taurus
should be used only on light duty whitewater. If I were to put it to serious use, I’d have to install a firmly located seat-support bulkhead that would defend the kayak against getting wrapped after a capsize and wet exit. I had to do the same thing after restoring an '82 Noah Kevlar kayak.

#6

improving rigidity
I’ve owned a Hydra Centaur C-1 for many years. One thing I did to improve its rigidity and resistance to wrapping was to put some solid aluminum rod in those raised areas of the plastic insert in the boat. The foam walls in a Centaur run right up to the cockpit rim. Not sure they did on the Taurus.

Did a similar thing with my Hydra Duet C-2.

#7

I had similar concerns in my old Sage
so I widened the pillar forward of the seat and put in knee blocks extending out to the side. Kind of funny to think that my first c-1, a Hahn, had no walls and single air bags front and rear. But the Hahn was made with multiple glass layers, was fairly stiff, and probably would have broken open if seriously pinned.