kneeling on seat
I kneel propped against the leading edge of the seat, but I suppose whatever feels good for you will work.
A little downward angle of the seat at the front helps, but I find it doesn’t have to be much. The rule of thumb on seat height depends on your shoe size. As long as your heels clear the underside of the seat you should be OK. Seats set up for kneeling are often a bit higher than those set up for sitting exclusively.
Most whitewater pedestals have their horizontal surface in the 8 to 10 inch high range so you could use that as an estimate as to how high to position the front edge of the seat.
Another quick comment on seat position
I looked at the seat on my Supernova last night, and based on what others have said about drilling just two new holes and moving the seat forward by “one seat-width”, I COULD/SHOULD have done it that way. As it is, I moved my seat forward by a distance of about 3 inches less than that amount. I sometimes feel like I should be positioned just a tad farther forward when backferrying (even though I scoot forward a bit during backferrys as it is).
I bet that drilling two new holes and re-using one pair of the old holes will make your new seat position just about perfect!
Seat is in new position!
I called Nova Craft this morning to see if they could recommend a seat position for unloaded solo use, and they said that the seats leave the factory in only one location (rear seat bolts 69" from the stern) and didn’t have a set number he could give me. (He also said that on a special order, they would put the seat anywhere the customer wanted, including the bottom of the boat!) Anyhow, they were REALLY nice to talk to, and indicated there would not be any problems drilling new holes in the gunwales.
Since several people mentioned that moving the seat one width forward was the ticket, and would only require drilling one new hole, I figured that would be the thing to do, but I wanted to take some measurements to make sure. I started by finding the centerline of the canoe and marking it with a piece of blue tape on the bottom of the hull and the gunwales. I then positioned the boat on the centerline on a 2x4 with a towel on it. Next I sat in the boat and found my comfortable kneeling spot, and put a piece of tape in front of my knee. Then I slid forward with my rear on my heels until I found the point where the boat balanced while seated upright and put another piece of tape in this position. The distance between these two marks was 10 3/8 inches, and the width of the distance between the seat bolts is 9 1/16 inches, which meant that moving a seat width forward should be just about perfect!
I measured and carefully drilled the new holes in the gunwales 9 1/16 in front of the existing front seat bolts. Next I flipped the seat around so that the front of the seat is now in the rear, and will match up with the existing holes in the gunwale. Then I machined up a couple brackets that will bolt to the existing holes in the front of the seat, and will adapt the width to the new holes in the gunwales. This kept me from having to purchase a new seat to make up the extra width. I bolted the whole setup together using the original hardware (plus 2 more flathead screws for the bracket), added a couple wilkey buttons to cover up the old rear gunwale holes and it is ready to go!
I haven’t had it on the water yet, but am very happy with the new position in static testing. It seems to be still a bit bow light, but I can get the bow down with a slight lean to the front. With my day kit strapped in front of me, I think it will be in perfect trim. And another bonus is that in about 10 minutes, I could have it changed over to the original position if necessary.
Here is a link to a pic of the new setup:
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii96/hpmguy/DSCN3982.jpg
If anyone is interested in doing a similar swap, I would be happy to send a sketch of the little bracket, it was rather easy to make.
Thanks again everyone for the advice and suggestions!
Nicely done!
Now I’m motivated to look at my boat more closely once again, to see if I might want to scoot the seat forward that last three inches (and with any luck, not find out that the first set of gear tie-downs are where my knees would be!).
Turning the seat around and installing those little metal plates on the “short ends” is a solution that is positively elegant. Very good thinking, that one.
Agreed. hpmguy looks like
… a fine addition to the canoe futzers
Nicely played