A few notes on taking the curve from the boat's bottom, so a new foam seat will fit, and on setting the seat into the boat: First, the very obvious fact that the inside of the seat will be much easier to carve if you do that part **first** and then fit your blank into the boat. There are several ways to fit the newly carved seat into the boat. It's easy with a hard chine boat, a bit more difficult for a rounded chine. For the hard chine, just set a piece of wood or cardboard inside the boat from one chine to the other and measure the "deadrise", the distance from the chine-line to the keelson line, vertically. Draw these on cardboard and you should have a perfect fit. Don't forget to cut out little curves at the chine edges of your template and at the keel, to accomodate for the fillets. A variation of the same technique can be used to take the curve from a round chine boat, though a "Draftsman's curve" works well enough in my experience. I haven't tried solder for this. Anyway, if the solder or draftsman's curve isn't working, use a "lofting technique": Set a stiff piece of something inside the boat so it runs from one side to the other, at the level where you want your seat to fit into the boat's bottom. Now take vertical measurements, or as near to vertical as you can manage (use a 90 degree level if you're really compulsive, but it's not necessary), at intervals from your transverse baseline to the bottom of the boat from one side to the other. Intervals of 1 inch would be wonderful, but 1.5 inches or maybe even 2 inch intervals would probably be good enough. Now transfer those dimensions to your cardboard template. Draw your transverse line on the template, drop your verticals, make dots at each dimension, then draw the resulting curve. Obviously if the boat's bottom curves more toward the chines, make your intervals more frequent at those points, less frequent toward the keel. For most boats - Don't forget that you'll probably need to take a curve from the place where the forward edge of the seat goes, and another curve from the point where the rear (aft) edge of the seat will go. Make your templates, try them in the boat (be careful to mark *left* and *right* sides as you measure, again as you mark, etc). If they're not as exact as you like, shave tiny bits from the template or tape a sliver of cardboard to the template, as needed. I don't think the fit needs to be exact, but it shouldn't be hard to get it nearly exact. When you're satisfied with the fit of your templates, mark the front and rear edges of your minicell blank (==>keep track of L and R, front and back, both on your templates and on your minicell !!) and cut along the resulting lines at the front and back of your template. Draw lines along the sides of your minicell joining your front and back cuts, and cut along those lines too. If you're not confident of your carving ability, angle your cuts outward a little, then use one of the carving techniques described elsewhere on this list to join the two cuts. This whole procedure is a lot more complicated to read than it is to do. It does not take a lot of time, or a lot of skill. If it did, I couldn't do it. But I can do it. Finally, my preference has been to set the new seat in the boat with Velcro and then paddle the boat for a while. That way I can move the seat forward or back, to get the best balance and therefore the best handling from the boat. Probably the ideal thing would be eventually to glue the seat in place permanently. In practice I've found that the Velcro, if properly cemented in place in the begining, will last for at least a few years, and I just leave the seat fixed with that. Bill Hansen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 09:28 AM 4/11/01 -0400, Bill Hansen wrote: >Finally, my preference has been to set the new seat in the boat with >Velcro and then paddle the boat for a while. That way I can move the seat >forward or back, to get the best balance and therefore the best handling >from the boat. Probably the ideal thing would be eventually to glue the >seat in place permanently. In practice I've found that the Velcro, if >properly cemented in place in the begining, will last for at least a few >years, and I just leave the seat fixed with that. This also has the advantage of having an easily removal seat which makes cleaning the cockpit a lot easier, and you've got a custom fit seat for sitting around a camp. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Bill Hansen wrote: > > A few notes on taking the curve from the boat's bottom, so a new foam seat > will fit, and on setting the seat into the boat:[snip] > Finally, my preference has been to set the new seat in the boat with Velcro > and then paddle the boat for a while. That way I can move the seat forward > or back, to get the best balance and therefore the best handling from the > boat. Probably the ideal thing would be eventually to glue the seat in > place permanently. In practice I've found that the Velcro, if properly > cemented in place in the begining, will last for at least a few years, and > I just leave the seat fixed with that. Thanks for the lucid description of your technique, Bill. I have also made use of Velcro to fix the foam to the hull, but discovered that it takes more than four 2-inch squares to hold firmly. During wet exit practice, I dislodged a foam seat and managed to get it stuck forward with my fat feet. Could have been a serious problem in a true emergency. I recommend eight 2-inch squares or more. Actually, I am trying a new technique: "dots" (about 1/2 inch in diameter) of 3M's ScotchWeld (3532) two-part polyurethane adhesive near the corners of the seat. I figure I can easily slide a single-edged razor blade under an edge to remove the seat if I need to reposition it . When I'm sure the seat is done, I will use more of this stuff. It's really a terrific adhesive. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave said: <snip> Actually, I am trying a new technique: "dots" (about 1/2 inch in diameter) of 3M's ScotchWeld (3532) two-part polyurethane adhesive near the corners of the seat. I figure I can easily slide a single-edged razor blade under an edge to remove the seat if I need to reposition it . When I'm sure the seat is done, I will use more of this stuff. It's really a terrific adhesive. --------------- 1. If a seat can come out with reasonable provocation, one's vesel is not seaworthy, IMO (based on experience). 2. I'll have to look into that ScotchWeld adhesive. Sounds superior dude. I wonder if Scott of So Cal uses it. He says he never comes out of his kayak. Must be using the old CrothWeld adhesive. 8-) DL *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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