My kayak is an Old Town Voyager III, and one of the straps on the seat has ripped off. Would like to find someplace to but a new seat. Maybe even a higher quality one? Any suggestions. A simple google search has found me very little useful information.
Old Town
Old Towns are essentially mass-produced kayaks mainly sold in big box stores – the manufacturer doesn’t care to provide much in the way of service or parts so you are pretty much on your own. I’d recommend trying to fix the strap as the most economical solution.
There are some aftermarket seats you can buy to retrofit into kayaks but they will run you from $75 to $150 and you will have to figure out on your own how to rig and mount them in the cockpit. Having done this myself I can testify that it isn’t that easy. Old Town markets their “ACS” seat for $150 but there is no telling whether it would fit in your boat.
If the seat bottom is OK, you could cut out the back and add a backband instead, screwed to the coaming. Personally, I find a good backband far superior than most molded plastic stock kayak seat backs,
http://www.outdoorplay.com/Adjustable-Anatomic-Touring-Backband?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&cvsfa=2003&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=353430
Well now, that’s a bit harsh
Old Town used to be a great company to do business with, very personal service. You could call the factory directly. Things went steeply downhill when they were bought out by Johnson Outdoors. But actually there’s been a slight improvement in the past year or so and if you’re persistent you can once again contact the factory directly.
Anyway, Old Town currently makes one of the nicest replacement seats on the market, the ACS. http://store.oldtowncanoe.com/products/318930/Active_Comfort_System_%28ACS%29
More info: http://www.oldtowncanoe.com/pdfs/10_Sell_Sheets/OT_ACS_Seat_Sell_Sheet.pdf
My local Old Town dealer ordered this for me for $100. How good is it? Well, good enough that I put it in an Eddyline. I’m very satisfied with it.
Cup Holder
That’s a seat I’ve never seen before. Looks a lot like the design Wilderness Systems uses except for that cup holder. Not sure why they think a cup or can of anything should go between the paddlers legs while on the water. Not very practical, for me at least. The seat does look comfortable though.
I’ve ordered parts from Old Town with no problem from the website.
looks like Necky’s seat. nm.
Are these easy to install?
Are seats like this designed to fit any Kayak. Is it easy to retrofit these aftermarket seats to any kayak as long as they fit inside?