(Paul Tomblin) wrote in
:

In a previous article, "Michael Daly" said:
On 27-Aug-2004, (Paul Tomblin) wrote:
What about the back of the seat? It seems very low to me. Is there
a way to replace that? It looks like it just straps in.

The backband is to keep you from sliding off the back of the seat. It
is not a backrest. If you're paddling correctly, your spine is sloped
slightly forward.

I notice it when I stop to rest. Since I paddle with my wife, I stop
to wait for her a lot. Maybe I'll just glue some microcell along the
back of the coaming, but I'm worried that would interfere with the
skirt.

I've got a Skerray (an old fiberglass version) that I had to rebuild a seat
for. The original seat was made of rubber and finally cracked and
deteriorated to the point that it basically fell apart (the boat itself is
15 years old). I built a seat using minicell foam and the backband using a
piece of plastic from a garbage "can". The plastic is padded with minicell
foam and beveled toward the cockpit. It gives me enough lower back support
when I'm paddling but when I want to lay back my back doesn't hit the
cockpit rim.

On the last boat I built I put the rear bulkhead just behind the cockpit rim
and glued a "ramp" of carved minicell foam for lower back support instead of
a traditional backband. It's quite comfortable. As Michael mentioned, when
paddling correctly your spine should be sitting with an upright posture with
your spine slightly forward. It's very common to see paddlers sitting in
their kayaks as if they're in a lounge chair. Doing so locks your lower
body to your torso, making edging and torso rotation much more difficult.

BTW, I have been very happy with my Skerray but have thought about selling
it a couple of times since I have two other touring boats but everytime I
paddle it I dismiss the idea. I don't find it exceptionally more stable
than an Avocet but don't find that it tracks much worse than an Avocet
either. There are some things I do like about the Avocet more than the
Skerray (lower rear deck, secondary stability) though.

There are plenty of other boats out there other than the Skerray and the
Avocet though.