Hey Mark, I think the Thermarest pad is a neat idea, but the interface between the hull and Thermarest needs some help so the top surface of the Thermarest is more butt-shaped. The way the plain Thermarest works is that your butt cheeks are pressed together by the vee of the hull, and the flatness (longitudinally) of the hull under the pad doesn't give you any under-leg support. While the Thermarest conforms somewhat to your posterior, you still end up with too much pressure on your sciatic nerves. Have you ever considered carving a thin wedge of Minicel to just fit under the thermarest seat? Just carve a piece that is tapered to fit in the bottom vee of the hull, with a relatively flat top profile. Tapered longitudinally from 0" at the back to about 2" under your thighs. Glue on a thin wedge of minicel around the sides and back to contain your butt, and a small lump in the middle front as a "pleasure pod". Then, glue or glue/velcro the Thermarest pad to the top of this wedge. You will still have the pressure-evening properties of the Thermarest, with more support for it so it better conforms to your shape. I would think that a setup like this would also make your boat/seat compatible with a lot of other people's butts, in case you ever wanted to loan the boat to a friend. Shawn Who doesn't have a Pygmy or Thermarest pad, but has paddled a Pygmy so-outfitted and noticed that its fit and function was less than optimum. Mark Colvin wrote: >> I also will be carving a new seat. The thermorest does not suit me >>--numb leg syndrome:( -- Shawn W. Baker 0 46°53'N © 2000 ____©/______ 114°06'W ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^\ ,/ /~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ baker_at_montana.com 0 http://www.geocities.com/shawnkayak/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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