I am 6’ 5" tall and came into a Walden Vista Expedition kayak which does not have enough room for my long legs.
I am planning to move the seat back approximately two inches, taking up the gap between the seat bottom and the bulkhead. Hopefully, that will provide enough room for my legs.
QUESTION: The seat is held to the cockpit coaming by four stainless steel screws or bolts? If they are bolts, how are the ends of the bolts secured? I cannot reach my fingers behind to tell whether there is a nut that will fall loose or stay in place when I remove the bolt. If the nut were to fall loose, I don’t see how I would be able to set it back in place. Is there anything else I should know about moving the seat, that might cause a problem.
Please advise.
Thank you.
Bill Good
Well I just looked at mine
And I can’t get my fingers in their either. But if there is a nut or washer, I bet you can retrieve it once you loosen the seat–either by tilting and shaking the boat, or with one of those telescoping magnet tools.
Your other option, I suppose, is to move the foot peg rails forward, and seal the old holes with some kind of cement.
I’d be careful moving the seat back …
two inches in such a short boat. This will move a lot of your body weight closer to the stern and would likely change the center of rotation of the boat. This could significantly affect the boats handling - tracking and turning ability.
If you do move he seat I would leave it loose for a while so you can test how you’ve changed the boat’s dynamics. If it doesn’t paddle well you can always move it back to it’s original position.
~wetzool