"John R Weiss" wrote in
news:9u9mc.28325$IG1.1221001@attbi_s04:

"John Fereira" wrote...

Yeah, the Ellesmere seat was a killer for me as well. So, I yanked
it out and essentially duplicated the seat in minicell foam

Interesting idea. I've seen a couple of articles around on how to
build a fiberglass seat (Ross Liedy's site had a good description).
One could make a mould from the original seat, modify it slightly so
that it doesn't have that bump, and then lay up a new seat.

One of the articles I read described creating the mold for a seat by
sitting in a box of sand covered with thin plastic. That way you can
create a seat that fits your body perfectly.

A Thermarest pad works just fine for me! Relatively inexpensive,
adjustable, and low in the hull! A couple squares of Velcro hold it
in...

A thermarest pad provides no back, thigh, or hip support. If you want good
body to boat contact (which you would if you want good control) you're still
going to need some kind of back band and padded cheek plates. In some
cases, a thermarest might be *too* low in the hull, giving too much initial
stability. I once paddled a Guillemot that was not quite finished that was
outfitted with only a thin sleeping pad. I practically had to come out the
seat to get the boat on edge and the Guillemot is only 20" wide.

"John Fereira" wrote...

A thermarest pad provides no back, thigh, or hip support. If you want good
body to boat contact (which you would if you want good control) you're still
going to need some kind of back band and padded cheek plates.

True. The kayak is wood, and the backband wraps around from cheekplates between
the coaming and hull bottom. There is enough adjustment available in the
backband to accommodate personal preferences.