> We are just about to put the seat in a Chesapeake 16LT. Based on a few
> previous comments on this post, we are wondering how the location of the
> seat can best be determined. It seems that it can be located anywhere plus
> or minus 6 inches. How do some of you determine best location?

> Stan Heeres

A simple suggestion:

Pick the boat up. Find where you have to hold it so that it balances. This is the center of balance. Mark this point with a feww pieces of masking tape. Obviously, if you put the seat at this point, your legs and torso will put YOUR weight in front of the center of balance of the boat, so:

Place a closet rod (or a similarly sized wood pole or stick) between two chairs and sit yourself on it. (Avoid accidents -- find one strong enough to hold your weight.) Sit up straight. Lift your legs so they are straight out in front of you, parallel to the ground. Adjust your position on the rod so that you balance yourself on that rod. The crease the rod puts in your thighs will be at YOUR center of balance. Your butt will be behind that crease mark.

You want to set your seat so that YOUR center of balance and the BOATs center of balance line up. That means the seat will be located aft of the boat's center of balance. Get a friend to measure, or estimate, how far from that rod crease your butt is. What ever that distance is, use it as the starting point for where your seat goes. This should be pretty close. of course you'll want to paddle the boat a while and probably shift your seat, or use ballast ( or gear) to adjust the trim to whatever seems optimum for the conditions you are in.

Hope this helps.

Paul Jacobson