We are looking at outfitting the cockpit of a Novacraft Supernova for whitewater. Several people of different dimension and skill level will be using it. I’m guessing that some compromises may be required to make it work well for a range of people. Does anyone - possibly associated with a whitewater training organization - have any thoughts or experience with generic outfitting. Good products and/or approaches? Mistakes to avoid? Compromises that are unavoidable? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I have one boat with a Mohawk saddle and
their single-strap knee brace. This setup is very good for medium to large paddlers, and if the thwart is put across the rear of the pedestal rather than the front, one can either kneel, or throw the legs forward for sitting. My only doubt is that this setup might need carving down for some small paddlers.
Outfitting
If you’ve never outfitted a boat before I strongly recommend having a professional do it and teach you. While outfitting a boat certainly isn’t rocket science, it can be especially tricky and unforgiving if you make a mistake.
In my solo boat, I have the Mohawk outfitting but in my tandem whitewater tripper, I have Mike Yee outfitting. Check it out at www.mikeyeeoutfitting.com
outfitting link
Check out http://www.cboats.net/, outfitting tab, Craig Smerda’s infitting site; although Craig’s setup is geared toward custom fit. Maybe Forums would be helpful for generic outfitting ideas and questions.
SuperNova WW Saddle
I recenty installed a Mohawk saddle in a Subernova along with thier single thigh strap. After paddling it for a while now I question whether or not I really like the single strap… the jury is still out. I wouldn’t hesitate to recomend the Mohawk saddle and I think it will work well for a variety of paddlers. You’ll need to reposition the rear thwart and the existing thwart wil be too short (you’ll need to come up with a new thwart…I replaced all of mine with cherry :)…just cuz)
As for the thigh straps… I wonder if the more traditional dual strap would work better.
hope that helps…
Andy