I finally got my Home built Arctic Hawk in the H2O for the first time. I’m no longer a Virgin!
3 hours of Pool time with CPA (MD)on Sat, 3 hours on Sunday and three hours today paddling the Patapsco River. Main problem I had was legs hurting/going numb on me. I think I read something here about putting something underyour legs/thigh. Any info on this would be a great help. Thanks in advance
This has been discussed here …
in great detail and multiple times. I suggest you do a search. There is lots of good info already posted.
I did a seach but got nothing…
Seach by what? Every time I try to seach things
Before asking for Help I never seem to be able to get what I need or there are so many Emails that you have to read and still don’t get the required info Thanks anyway Dr.
ONNO chair seat
My QCC seat made my left leg and foot go to sleep so badly that I just about quite paddling the boat. Most of my paddles were multi hour trips. It would sometimes take my foot over a week to recover. My foot felt like it was waking up from being asleep. I changed out the stock seat with ONNO’s seat and I haven’t had a problem since. The seat is easy to put in and not too expensive. Good luck. Franklin
Seat pad
Depending on your chosen seat, try putting in a foam seat pad, works wonders for me.
Put in Stock seat - Foam CLC ArcticHawk
Had to cut and sand it. No uphill part in front like the article stated, but I just put my first hours in paddling… I had to stop every 45 minutes of so and get out of the Kayak.
keep searching the various archives
but in the mean time here’s my observation,20% beginners cannot paddle 15minutes without a custom seat or some kind of remediation. The minimalist configurations of some seats (like the AHawk seat) are designed for the 10% of the kayak population who already are accustomed to the position and don’t have a problem. That leaves a big chunk of folks in the middle who need something just to paddle or continue paddling.
Putting support in front of the seat/thighs doesn’t do as much as carving out support around the sides and back of the butt. That’s where most of the weight it so that’s where you need the support,AFTER doing that then try the front edge of the seat.
Make up some triangular chucks of minicell then place them around the sides of your butt to get a sense of what I’m talking about. Isn’t the stock CLCAHawk seat a piece of 1" minicell?
The conditioning isn’t as brutal as gettting accustomed to long distance bike riding where even with the perfect seat after a few hours you learn to accomodate a unique form of suffering. With kayaking you can have a comfortable seat…THEN get acccustomed to another unique form of suffering.
90% deflted Thermarest Sportseat seatpad
does wonders,the basic small rectangular seat Pygmy sells as a stock seat can fine tune a lot of marginal seats
Thermarest 3/4 Standard Mattress…
I don’t know your kayak at all, but…
We use the Thermarest 3/4 Standard camping pad in our S&G kayaks. The pad is folded to give two layers under the buttocks, one up the back - I pad out the recess under the rear cockpit rim to give good back support. We let the pads inflate, close the valve, get in, open the valve, and allow air to escape until the buttocks just contact the kayak’s bottom. The air one’s rear displaces goes forward, forming good thigh suppport with no hard edges. I’ve spent up to four hours in the boat at a stretch, with absolutely no numbness or other discomfort. Forgot the pad once - used an old lifejacket instead for a two hour paddle - by the time we got where we were going, my wife had to virtually lift me out of the boat. Works for us - YMMV.
Rick
Simple solution
Put something like a pad, paddle float, or rolled towel under your thighs in front of the seat.
Here is one previous discussion.
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=383450
When I used to paddle
Sit in kayaks, canoes and rowboats for that matter, My legs would go numb right away.
Not to mention the back pain that I endure all the time, seemed to limit the ammount of time that I can spend in my boats. I am 54 and I have not been kind to my back and neck, Most of the damage was done by pushing my limits all my life, surfing, downhill skiing, dirt-biking and that other activity ---------- WORKING !
Thats why I paddle a sit on top kayak ! It is like riding my lazyboy recliner down the river while reeling in smallies ! And I go through solid class III rapids without dumping all the time. I float for hours with no numbing or pain.
And if you do dump over , climbing back on is not hard at all. No need to know how to roll with these types of kayaks. At one time these were considered over grown pool toys, but those
days are gone. Boats like the O.K. Prowler, the W.S. Tarpons and the new Cobra Marauder are being rigged with Rod holders, fishfinders, sound systems, anchor trolly systems, compasses and even downriggers ! I also like the ease with which I can hop on and off to fish from the bank here and there. They may not be well suited for arctic paddling but many sit on tops are very dry to paddle I even use mine through the winter here in northwestern Montana as long as the ice lets me !