I recently bought an '08 Valley Anas Acuta with the new style seat, but it’s not working out for me. The original unpadded fiberglass seat in my '01 NDK Explorer is about perfect, but after an hour in the AA I’ve had enough.
Of course there are a lot of great guides out there on how to carve your own out of minicell, but I have my doubts (about my own skills, mainly). Valley and NDK have a foam replacement but they’re apparently a little hard to find (suggestions?) - are they good?
Most of the other replacement seats I see on the market have really tall back rest on them, but any other low-profile options? The Surf-to-Summit backband it came with will probably get replaced with a Snap Dragon like I have in my Explorer, but the seat itself is the biggest problem at the moment.
Redfish
http://www.redfishkayak.com/seats.htm
But really, a chunk of minicell foam and some coarse sand paper and make your own.
Another
I put a Bumfortable seat in my SOF and it is comfortable. My issue with that boat is lack of knee room, but the seat did address a leg numbness issue. It’s a lot to pay for a chunk of squishy foam and the integral seatback interferes with a backband, rather, you run a strap through the back and attach it to the boat somewhere.
Necky Touring seat
I have a chatham and the necky seat is comfortable enough
Replacment seats
I have an AA that I got with the Valley foam seat and I use the foam seat back from Sea kayak Georgia. Had the mod the back just a little to fit, works well, my Pintail has the Sea kayak Georgia back with the standard hung glass seat thats works well also.
Call Andy at GRO, he can get you a valley foam seat, I think also that Rutabaga maight have some in stock and of course as noted in this string Onno. Enjoy the boat its a real blast. Oh yea there is alos the Happy Bottom Pad from Chesapeake Light Craft that works well also
someone mentioned that recently
…buying the Necky seat from a dealer. $100 or so IIRC. This would be great, if true. Would also be nice to be able to buy an entire WS Phase 3 seat from a Tempest. I’ve carved foam seats for boats I’ve built. But, there much to be said for a fully adjustable, engineered seat, if in fact, that engineering is good.
seats
Wow, the 2nd. person to like a NDK glass seat . Sorry, it’s not the greatest IMHO, I’ve got one and it’s “ok” at best.
Btw, I thought your AA seat was fine, though I was only in it for 5 minutes 
The carved minicell seat is ok, Redfish seats have a great rep, lots of people like them.
Bill H.
thanks
Thanks for the info - I may find myself at a shop over the weekend based on the wonderful weather forecast… If not I’ll probably try the CLC which looks a lot like the Valley/NDK foam seat.
The Valley seat is just fine for me for about an hour. Past that, not so much! Wonder if I could get an old NDK seat and fit it into this boat. Anyone have one laying around?
WS won’t sell the phase3 seat
I tried. They wouldn’t do it.
Curious BTW
Where did you get the used AA from ? If you don’t mind telling.
top secret
Well, actually it was sitting at Rutabaga for months and I finally got up there to look at it about a month ago. Red hull and deck with grey stripe and keel strip, compass and knee tube, hardly a scratch on it - and those few I suspect were put there by employees playing with it.
Can’t imagine how it sat so long, price was certainly fair at about half of replacement cost. But I didn’t do an hour-long test paddle. 
Not So Secret
Had a feeling…Its my old boat… traded in for a new AA in Carbon Kevlar, Ocean Cockpit, custom bulkhead, foot pump, Knee tube and Keel strip… glad to see someone finally bought it… I could not understand why it sat there so long… enjoy, I did when I owned it and the few scratches were from me… but mostly that boat did soft landings or water entry or exit only… it was like new really.
Mystery
Mystery solved! It’s a really sharp looking boat and I was pretty sure I’d be taking it home when I saw it on the rack.
Curious on the foot pump and knee tube though; the knee tube on this one goes all the way to the bulkhead and I don’t think I could use a foot pump. Size 11 foot and 34" inseam doesn’t really help though…
Mystery solved on Knee tube as well
Yep on your boat the knee tube goes all the way up to the bulkhead, deep enough to hold your hand pump and a paddle float, on my new one the knee tube is 10 inches long and set back 2 inches from the front of the combing, deep enough to hold a paddle float and a water bottle and misc items, giving me room behind the end of the tube to use the foot pump.
Bumfortable!
I fitted a Bumfortable to my NDK Romany and haven’t looked back. Very comfortable and no problems with my legs going to sleep. Easy to carve out the sides & back if you want to. If you’re in the States then
http://www.pxtkayaks.com/brands/GurneyGears.html
otherwise
http://www.gurneygears.com/gear/bumfortable_kayak_seat/
How did y’all fit your bumfortable seats in? Screws? Expanding foam? I’ve tried several different ways to get mine in my Impex and it’s not working. Also I find it too high.
Foam kayak seat…Gillimont Kayaks
https://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/foam-kayak-seat
I recently converted to this seat. I was using a Sweet Cheeks. Which was comfortable but only worked for an hour until the sore butt.