Seat upgrade options for a Pamlico

Advice
#1

I have a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 135T, with the phase 3 lite seat system. After a couple of hours on the water, my lower back hurts. What are my options to replace this seat? Thanks.

#2

Are you sure that seat replacement is
the issue? It might be that adding minicell or other padding would correct the problem.



Have you an idea about the nature of the low back pain? Is it just tired muscles? Normally your back muscles work with your stomach and lats to stabilize and twist your torso as you paddle. If it’s just tired lower back muscles, you might want to improve your thigh support and check the distance to your foot supports.



If you have a history of back pain from known injuries, that’s another matter.



Seat replacement is potentially expensive. You might check out the custom foam seats offered by redfishkayak.com.

#3

Use
closed cell foam on the seat bottom and an electric knife to trim and bevel it to fit. I added 1.5" to the bottom of the seat base. Then I modified the seat back by adding a post and hinge to be able to raise the seat back to a more comfortable position.

I have pictures of this on the KFS forum:

http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/community/showthread.php?t=72643



It’s not that pretty but it works great. I put 1" of foam on the seat back as well. I needed more seat height for me to be comfortable. If you like the seat back height, you may be OK with just adding more foam.

#4

Extra Sport XtraComfort
http://www.kayakproshop.com/Extra_Seat.html This seat is self-supporting, so if the seat hangers don’t fit your cockpit you can simply place the seat in the bottom of your kayak on a piece of 1/4" closed-cell foam.



I recently made a somewhat comfortable, cheap seat as follows:


  1. Purchase a very basic SOT seat for about $30


  2. Get a $10 closed-cell camping mattress at Wal-Mart. Cut out 2 or 3 pads to place under the seat to get whatever height you want. 2 should be about right.


  3. Cut out another 2 layers about 4" wide to place under the front of the seat and provide hampstring support.


  4. Glue it all together and velcro in bottom of kayak. Secure the back to the cockpit rim with bungees.


  5. Add lumbar support to the back with softer foam.



    Cheap but not supremely comfortable, compared to the Extra Sport seat, which is $170.