Need to swap out the seat in my Old Town Castine I use for fishing. The high-back seat gets real uncomfortable for extended times. Any suggestions?
I use the same seat…
…in my Castaway, and think I know what you mean. It’s not awful, but the lack of lumbar support will get you bending your knees after 2-3 hours.
The Wilderness Systems (Phase 3?) foam seats seem to get good reviews, and they’re available as an aftermarket add-on. Seem pretty pricey, though. I’ve stuck it out with a soft belt-bag at the small of my back which makes the Old Town seat a little more bearable.
Phase 3 available as an aftermarket?
Where? I had understood they weren’t doing that. I hope you’re right and that they changed their minds.
Meanwhile… I’ve used a cheap, water resistant air filled pillow only partially inflated on the boy’s lil Tarpon 100 and found air to be quite comfy. I use the same pillow when I sit on the floor of the pirogue. It’s $7 on the site linked below but I found them locally for $4 or $5.
More traditional answers might look like this:
http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=sts
Good folks who specialize in kayak fishing stuff.
Gel Seat
I have a WS Pongo 1200 with a phase 3 seat, but if I am planning to be out more than 3 hours I add a supplemental gel seat. I bought mine at a kayak store near Saint Helens outside of Portland, OR. Both REI and Outdoor Adventure have them. They are same material used in running shoe inserts and bicycle seats. The only downer is that you sit a little higher, but the WS had some height adjustment in its phase 3 seat. My seat came with a back rest also. There are also gel pads that you can buy that peel and stick in the seat and backrest, but are faily thin. I also use it with my stadium seat at the Cal Bear games. Go Bears, see you at the Holiday Bowl Texas Tech.
Gel Seat, Hey Metalhead
In my OT Loon the gel seat helped SOME, but I had to also add a “Peel-n-stick” foam pad. OT’s seats just suck, period. I hear the '05 OT kayaks are supposed to have a re-designed seat, which is overdue. BTW, Metalhead, Cal got screwed big time! THEY should be in the Rose Bowl instead of Texas. I’ll actually be rooting for Michigan for one of the first times ever! WW
I could be wrong, wrong, wrong…
…I saw the seat in a local outdoors shop (a trendy, expensive outdoors shop), and may be mistaken on the brand name. They sold a lot of Perception and Wilderness Systems kayaks. This little baby looked like a folding recliner. So, I may be wrong, wrong wrong on the Wilderness Systems Phase 3 thing. In fact, I’m probably wrong. My apologies.
Rose Bowl
Your right about Texas, but they were better at whining than we were, but we will get to beat up on Texas Tech instead. I was able to get some tickets for the game in San Diego. Like our govenator said, “I’ll be right back.” The problem with the BCS is that they don’t believe that the Pac 10 can play with their simipro teams in the East. We all saw what happended to Okalahoma and their Heisman trophy winner last year. Don’t get me going. BCS stands for: Because Cash Speaks.
Meanwhile, I did find the company that sold me a gel seat when I still had my OT 13.8. Its called Yakpads at:
YAKPADS.COM I hope Michigan stomps a mud hole in Texas forehead. I have seen pictures of the new OT and the seats look a lot like the WS seats in my Pungo 1200. Go Bears.