Replacing the seat in a Dagger Kayak

Advice
#1
-- Last Updated: May-08-06 9:30 PM EST --

I tried to move my seat back a couple of inches in my new Dagger 15.5 Airalite to give me some extra leg room.

I noticed that the seat was attached to the bottom of the boat with what appears to be hot glue.

Has anyone either moved or replaced their seat? If so how did you deal with the removal of the adhesive?

Thanks,

Rob

#2

Sounds like you may need to work on
the footbraces or rails instead. They may have glued the seat to the bottom of the boat to stiffen the whole assembly.



You could cut the seat out, carefully scrape the glue off, and then order a custom foam seat from redfishkayak.com. Would probably cost you the better part of $200.



But, I don’t think you’ll do that.

#3

It probably either…
…epoxy or polyester resin bonding the seat to the hull. Either one presents a significant challenge. The easiest way to tell what you’re in for is to poke the glue with a screwdriver or something similar. If it’s hard as a rock, it’s one of the above. If it’s rubbery, it’s an adhesive/sealant of some sort and it may be easier to deal with.



Or, you could just call Dagger and ask them what they use.



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With a seat that’s glued in with epoxy or polyester, there are a couple of removal options. What I usually do is:


  • Remove any screws securing the seat or cut it free from the coaming.


  • Carefully pry up on the seat at one corner.


  • Use piece of 1" x 1/8" steel strap that’s beveled on one end as a chisel and chip away at the resin between the seat and the hull. Pry and chisel from various directions until the set breaks free. TAKE YOUR TIME! It may take a while, but rushing the process can result in a damaged boat.



    An alternative, if you don’t intend to re-use the seat, is to cut out as much of it as you can, then grind/sand away the rest and the resin bonding it to the hull. This may be the faster method, but it’s really messy.



    If the hull is held in place with an adhesive/sealant, the “pry and chisel” method becomes more of a “pry and scrape”. Basically, you put pressure on the adhesive and scape at it to break the bond.



    If you check out my Webshots album on seat removal and replacement, there are some additional tips there.



    http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg