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From: Rob MacDonald <robm_at_udl.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] Coho Fitting, and Kids
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 08:03:40 -0700
The stock seat in a Coho is a Thermarest butt pad.  I find it comfy enough,
but no hope getting more hip clearance by replacing it.

I have the opposite problem to Dave's wife:  I need to pad the sides to get
a decent fit, else I slide over and capsize when attempting the extreme
edging necessary to get this boat to turn with any alacrity.

It really isn't that narrow a boat, at 23 inches.  Stability is reasonable,
at least for me, at 5'6" and 145 lbs.  I don't notice any "tippy" feel to
it, until the boat is getting towards 90 degrees.  Then, it is a matter of
ballast (me) shifting that does me in!

For Dave's problem, I would suggest replacing the cockpit supports that run
up the sides with thicker, laminated ones, shaped to give his wife more hip
room.  Thicker because the curved supports wouldn't be as stiff in the
standard 4 mm thickness.  It might be possible to just shorten the supports,
and bond them to the hull one strake higher, and thus wider.

The cockpit opening in this boat is big, so it would probably work OK to
share it with a 2 year old.  A double hole spray skirt would be the hard
thing to arrange.  Getting the kid to stay still might be even more difficult! 

A friend of mine has a 3 year old who is quite good in a canoe, so they can
learn.  However, she does get bored easily, being just a passenger. She
likes to "help" paddle, but the stern paddler gets tired of this sort of
assistance pretty fast.

Rob.


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