I am lucky enough to have a new kayak with a moveable seat (Eddyline Fathom). I haven’t had it out on the water yet Is there a logical method to estimate the best position of the seat for trim fore and aft? Or is this just something that requires experimentation? TIA
That’s a nice looking boat. Congratulations. Trial and error. Put the seat/backband and pegs where you think they belong, get in and test it out. I do this in my yard. In and out until comfy. Then take it to the water.
Same principle with adding foam padding (if it’s not already there, for your knees and hips). I test fit in the yard, then test on the water. Don’t rush. Sometimes it takes a few paddles to understand where you really want the seat and padding.
Good luck.
Thanks ~ I suspected this is the case since I could find nothing on the subject online.
So what do you test for when on the water? I prefer a kayak whose weather cocking is minimal, while not risking lee cocking. This can be somewhat controlled by how you load the boat and where your seat is.
Go out when wind is 10-15 knots. Don’t go out when wind is higher or you might find yourself struggling with a hard to control boat.
If the you find the boat turning into the wind (weathercocking), moving the seat back will begin to remedy that.
If you find the boat turning downwind (leecocking), moving the seat forward will remedy that.
Of course, these trials don’t take into account the “load” that you may take out with you. If have too much load in the back, again, you will have leecocking tendency. If it is too much load in front, you will have weathercocking.
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This is what I’ve forgotten ~ Trim effects weather/lee cocking. Thanks for the reply, very helpful.
It also tells me that trim is not a static thing ~ may need to change as wind and/or load change.
Yup, once your trim where you want it and have a good idea on where to stow your typical gear and be somewhat neutral in winds of 10-15 knots, then you can rely on your rudder or skeg to help you handle the variables of higher loads and/or stronger winds.
sing
Another variable is speed. The faster you paddle, the higher the tendency to weathercock.
Outside of setting it only for weather helm/lee helm, the ability to comfortably lean back can be hindered by having the seat too close to the rear coaming. As you figure what that means to you, it may or may not take some priority over other performance variables.
Good points, thanks!
I wasn’t sure why this would be the case. In case anyone else is also interested, there is a good explanation in the “Under Pressure” section here:
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