raising the seats

mccloud

"Tiger Rag" back on the tidal Potomac
In Memoriam
This was the canoe I brought to Assembly this year. I put the seats in where I thought they originally had been, based on locations of screw holes in ribs, but after paddling it I have discovered that they are too low for me. I can't get my big feet underneath, so want to raise the seats by about 2". I see this as a dilemma. Do I remove the chocks, fill the holes with epoxy, drill new screw holes and put a new, wider chock into place? Or leave the existing chocks but add a riser to support the seats? Or something different? Tom McCloud
 

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mccloud;72263 leave the existing chocks but add a riser to support the seats? [/QUOTE said:
Tom,

Adding risers is reversible..... I would try that first.
Are the seat frames going to need trimming if you raise them two inches? Sometimes the frames are line to line with the hull. If the interference is a very small amount I would trim them (small to me is 1/4 inch or less)
Otherwise I would be tempted to make some replacement seats. You could attach the risers to the new frames.

Mike
 
Mike, There is no tumblehome, so the seats that are in it now will be about 3/4" too short if raised 2". It may not look quite right, but giving a try to a slightly wider riser will let me determine whether raising the seats is the solution I'm looking for. Tom McCloud
 
Mike, There is no tumblehome, so the seats that are in it now will be about 3/4" too short if raised 2".

Yeah...I kind of expected that. My WW opens up a bit near the rails and I sort of expected that yours might do the same.

It's not a big deal to make a couple seats but it's even easier to buy a few that are pre-made. There is a shop in Vermont that sells pretty good seats for less money than my time and materials cost. To experiment it may be worth your while to do some shopping:
http://www.edscanoe.com/canoeseats.html
Not quite original but you can always put the old seats back in if you want to restore it.
 
Risers it was. Cut out 4 of these, varnished, set on top of existing chocks, held in place with 2 x 1 1/4" brass screws. The seats are now 2" higher than before. Now I have to spend some time paddling this canoe and decide whether it solves the problem. The seats that you see were made by me. Tom McCloud
 

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