all you ultra light small females.
My wife is quite happy with her back band, but is searching for a cushy seat pad to comfort her bony butt bones.
She is not interested in yak pads, (the gel leaks out)
What can you suggest ?
jack L
Golden Corral Buffet
That oughta solve that problem
SKWOOSH
SKWOOSH makes a kayaking seat pad that is pretty comfortable but is not cheap. I was luck to find one on clearance for under $10 at a kayak show once.
I am probably the weight of 2-3 boney little women and it keeps my butt feeling relaxed on a long day of paddling.
SealLine makes a blow up seat cushion. Seen a few other brands like this.
I have at times just used a cheap thick foam stadium cushion as well.
You can always just buy some mini-cell foam and stick under the seat fabric for a more permanent solution.
Thermarest
I have the SealLine Discovery Kayak Seat and the Thermarest Trail Seat. I prefer the Thermarest Trail Seat even though they are pretty much the same. The Thermarest is 12x16 while the SealLine is 14x15. That one inch makes a difference for me. The edge of the SealLine was irritating my rear after several hours. The Thermarest ($20) is less than half the cost of the SealLine ($50) which I don’t understand. The only real difference is the size and the fact that the SealLine comes with two pieces of Velcro to secure the seat to the kayak seat.
I have heard good things about the Thermarest Z Seat also, but I have yet to try it. Some kayakers actually buy the Thermarest Z Lite mattress and then cut the mattress to the shape of their seat.
Jeff
My petite girlfriend has one…
…and she likes it, so it’s worth a try.
The downside to inflatable seat pads…
…in kayaks is that they compromise your control somewhat. When you push down with your hip to edge the boat, the air in the pad shifts to the other side. This means that you have to push enough to bottom out that side of the pad before you can actually affect the boat. One thing that helps is to use only as much air in the pad as absolutely necessary for comfort.
Tri-fold
I like the Tri-fold cushion.
http://www.paddlerscove.com/tri-foldseatcushion.aspx
I have several brands and use it the most.
SYOTW
Randy
True
I found what you said about the air true. At first I had air in the pad but over several paddles found I was most comfortable when there was basically not any air in the pad.
We use the SeaLine
air pad and Bonnie really likes it. As a matter of fact, we keep it in the back seat of the car 'cuz sometimes there are seminars we go to and those folding chairs can get pretty hard! Glad to hear about the thermarest, I like cheaper!
“Sweet Cheeks” seat pad
I just bought a demo Jackson Journey kayak.
In researching the model I found info on their optional “Sweet Cheeks” seat pad. It’s an sealed pad with a air valve and is filled with plastic beans. One has to inflates it slightly, sit on it in the kayak, wiggle around until the beans form a comfortable base for your butt and sit bones and then sucks out the air. I haven’t tried it but am intrigued enough to find a shop that has some in kayaks and demo it in spring.
If it works as advertised, it could be the solution for many uncomfortable seats
is replacement an option
If removing the current seat is an option, try this one.
http://shop.skinboats.com/Foam-Kayak-Seat-fks.htm
I’ve been very comfortable with this in a few of our boats.
Have you padded up with minicell?
I found some improvement by gluing in some minicell right under each of the sitz bones, onto the seat. Not sure it would solve the whole thing, but it might be a start.
Seat pan switch?
My wife has the same problem, we tried many types of pads but none were comfortable and allowed fine control of the boat. Her first boat was a Necky Manatou and she loved the seat pan, so we got a replacement pan and pad from confluence for about $40 (it was quite an ordeal by itself) and now after trimming the outside edgesof the foam rubber and plastic base to allow for narrower boats, switching pans was easier than anticipated.
Wish boards had a like, or funny button
Thanks everyone
she has ordered a couple of pieces of the waffle foam from J & J canoe and will cut to fit.
We both use that on our canoe seats with holes cut out for our “cheeks” and it works good in them so hopefully it will work in the kayaks, even though our sitting posture is different.
Jack L
We do our best to keep away from
there.
Every time I see that chocolate fountain, I dream of swimming in it.
jack L
She is a happy paddler again!
We received the pieces of foam, and today we did a 12 miler and she never got the dreaded “kayak can” !
jack L