Re: [Paddlewise] Seats in a Nautiraid

Smac2530_at_aol.com wrote:
> 
> My wife and I finally got a chance to put our new Grand Raid into the water
> and paddle. This being our first get aquainted paddle with the boat, we chose
> a local lake in which to practice. My assembly time is slowly improving with
> each new attempt. Learning to paddle in unison was not as hard as I imagined
> it might be (we are both used to narrow British singles). I was impressed by
> how well the boat tracked (we had mild breezes to play in), and how fast it
> could go.

The Grand Raid is a particularly nice paddling double folding kayak, not
all that wide as foldables go.  External sponsons on Nautiraids tend to
keep above the water in calm conditions and thus create less drag than
in other boats.

> One thing that strikes me immediately, is how open the cockpit is,
> and subsequently, how poorly I felt I was connected to the boat (it also
> allows the boat to collect a lot of water off the paddles).

If you are not using the spray deck than you could get in some water
from paddle drip.  Most double boats, whether folding or hardshell, will
never giver you that feeling of oneness with your boat as would any
narrow single.  But you can do somethings to get some of that oneness
you crave.  It is fairly easy to use side bags within the Nautiraid
around you, tying them off on adjacent crossribs or gunwale rods.  Stuff
with kinds of things you may want on a trip such as rainjacket, warm top
etc.  The bags then snug up nicely against your hips.  A better seat
could also help.

> The inflatable
> seats are relatively comfortable to sit on and are infinitely adjustable with
> air pressure, but I could not escape the feeling that I was rocking from side
> to side as I paddled. Does anyone use anything different as a seating
> arrangement in these foldables?

Those airseats are a mixed blessing.  They at times can feel like siting
on a water bed unless you let a lot of air out of them.  Nautiraid has a
seat in its Greenlander single that is also inflated but not as puffy as
the ones on the double and with a bit of articulation or grooves in them
that dampen the movement of air side to side.  Plus the Greenlander seat
has inflatable hip pads that are attached to the seat (and also of
course an infatable backrest with a board stiffener inside).  I doubt
that it would be easy to get that seat for your boat but you could try
using the CLC Creature Comfort seat that has been mentioned on this
listserver in the last few weeks.  It has a curved out area to hug your
tush and a good backrest.  They can be used in the Nautiraid quite
effectively.  Seats are something that people tend to want to change or
modify in nearly every boat, folding or hardshell.  Luckily there are
options out there to take care of this need.  And folding kayaks have
some many tieoff points for strapping or tying in after-market or
home-grown seats (keelbar, chine bars, gunwale bars, cross ribs) that
they really should be considered.
> 
> We plan to test it next on Lake Michigan and see how the waves challenge us,
> but I suspect the seat will feel even more unstable in that environment. I'm
> eager to hear of others' experiences and ideas.

Yeah, you may get a yawing effect and feel very unstable.  If you don't
have a chance to change the seat before than, let lots of air out of the
inflatable seat until you are almost feeling the keelson beneath you. 
That way, it should feel less like a water bed.

ralph diaz
-- 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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