Kayak seat for a little one

Going Paddling
#1

Was wondering if anyone had either made or bought a seat to take a child in a sea/ touring kayak?

The kids are desperate to get out on the water and I want to encourage their enthusiasm but do it in a safe manner.

I envisage a SOT would be the ideal craft but that necessitate purchasing something I don’t know if I would use if they don’t like it.

I have a wavesport hydra which has an absolutely massive cockpit that would comfortably take the smaller or the kids (5) but I think I would clip the larger ones (7 years) head with the paddle.

PS would only be taking one at a time for safetly.

My kayak has yak attack rails mounted on the back deck immediately behind the rear combing. These are mounted over the rear bulkhead and I was toying with the idea of fashioning some form of seat that fastens to the rails. When not in use as a childcarrier it would be a reasonable place to hold excess items not fitting in the holds for those extended trips.

My slight concern other than where exactly yo begin with the construction is that it would alter the centre of gravity and make the boat more tippy.

Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts? Anyone done similar or is this a plan destined to fail?

Many thanks for your time!

#2

Buy a used tandem SOT at a price point you can live with in case the kids do not want to ever paddle again with you (highly unlikely). Should that happen, resell it for what you paid or a minimal loss after a season or two.

#3

Thank you for the reply.

I have seriously considered this but have not seen anything suitable come up in the past year of looking hence the thought towards a seat adaptation. We live in an area of scotland where there are plenty of used fishing SOTs but very little recreational boats and no tandems that I have seen. I have looked at new but am a little sceptical as how cheap some of them are which worries me as to their quality. The area we live is pretty windy and can have strong currents. This is fine in my current boat but fear a big buoyant SOT might be hard to control.

Might take the bigger child out who is a pretty competent swimmer (will have pfd as well) into the harbour and see how having him in the cockpit works out. If he really loves it I suspect I will be revisiting the SOT search although for a more capable craft.