Solves one, creates another
Standard, ~ 9 inches across seat bars, with holes bored on 8" centers are industry standard and fit with most component maker’s seat drops. Narrowing the spacing eliminates stability, putting more stress on seat and track as today’s older, wider, solo paddler kneel on the seat front edge or scoot back when sitting.
In a world totally without free lunches, both seat cross bars and side pods would need more strength/weight as cross bars come together and twisting forces increase.
There’s nothing but tooling keeping Paul from introducing a 4" wide kneeling thwart for those who want more trim adjustment, but it’ll probably need wait 'till after the portage yoke.
Colden cannot have seat breakage as they introduce their new SidePod Slider, so a known overbuild is way better than good enough for most. Hmm, sounds like a tasty burger!
Don’t buy the evil torque theory
Been sitting on a Galt seat for 25 years and, older and wider, on a Deal bucket for two. There is no sign of torque stress because of the more closely spaced seat rails. That theory, extended, would invalidate kneeling thwarts.
Actually, I don’t understand whether the Colden slider is mounted on top of the pods, a la the Caper, or suspended from the gunwales. Perhaps CW could clarify.
Whichever, I hope it is easily removable. I consider that feature invaluable on the Caper. I remove the seat when I want to sit on the bottom of the canoe, and also whenever I cartop the canoe. Who would steal a canoe with no seat, much less one with a proprietary seat mounting mechanism?
I see what you mean about the seats,
… but not about the kneeling thwart. Since a kneeling thwart is not significantly wider where you sit than where it attaches to the drops or gunwale (as the case may be), you really can’t generate much torque by loading the front or rear edge instead of the center (if that kind of edge-loading were even likely).
Anyway, I agree with both of you “in principle”. Charlie is right that the mounts carry greater stress when the seat is edge-loaded if they are closer together, but I suspect for paddlers of average weight, there will usually be more than enough reserve strength already. For paddlers already “capable” of breaking standard seats, given enough time on the water (BIG guys - I know this has happened), I think the torque issue would be real.
Agree about the thwart, but
Yes, the kneeling thwart is not a good example of the logical extension of the torque theory.
But I’m trying to get away from thinking in terms of the stock cane seat, which is a flat plane. On such a flat plane some paddlers do sit on the front edge. However, that shouldn’t damage a properly structured seat unless we are talking about a very big person.
More importantly, the contoured solo seats made by Galt and Curtis are canted at an angle to the plane of the seat rails. They are blocked up in the rear on top of the seat rails. Hence, you don’t sit on the edge of the seat when you are kneeling; your entire bottom is in the seat pan. Hence, there is not much front edge torque or total weight on the seat.
These kinds of contoured and canted seats are what I would expect on a high end solo kneeling canoe. Galt made some seats with leather webbing. Gorgeous and comfortable. Hemlock’s kneeling buckets are molded carbon fiber. Very functional for kneeling or sit 'n switch paddling.
These canted seats are higher off the bottom than stock seats because the seat pan does lay above the plane of the rails, and that might create a problem. Depending upon how the interior sponsons are designed and where they are placed, the seats may be too high for shorter paddlers.
I would also be happy with a carbon fiber kneeling pedestal that slides in a long floor track, having a canted tractor seat top, and which could be easily removed for shore use. That would avoid the weight of sponsons altogether, the need for seat drops and the whole torque issue, while providing a very long slide range.
Everything is possible for him who doesn’t have to make it.
The Colden Synthetic Seat
Colden’s synthetic seat is a shaped, foam cored, Snakeskin frame with a separate, shaped seat pan. Frame and pan are sloped. That is the easiest way to build the required angle into a system with horizontal tracks.
Look forward to seeing it (nt)
Composite rails-my experience
I had the pleasure of paddling my
Retail prices…
Estimated retail price for a Dragonfly with infused rails, and one with wood rails would be?
More than you paid for your used one
You thinking of an upgrade already Bob?
Just curious…
Just curious about the new Dragonfly prices.
I would really like to find a used, composite Wildfire .
BOB