good morn Ken,

Everybody has a different level for what is minimal comfort. I have only sat on these seats for a short time at demos. I have also gone through an entertaining sequence of production seats,modifications,and custom glass or minicell seats.

My two cents is to go with what comes with the boat right now and paddle it for a while, use a thermarest sport seat or pieces of mini-cell or even rolled up towel to find out what it takes if improvement is needed. Those seats fit some people,don't fit others. I have found that any seat can be improved with a thermarest sportseat if point pressure needs to be relieved,its about 12"x16"x1.5". Sit on it, then let air out until sit bones just hit.

I think getting a particular seat through recommendations might be like getting shoes by the same method, but I've gotten very picky.

The process of getting a comfortable seat when paddling in a position that is new to you, sitting down -legs forward and rotated, can be like finding comfort when starting to ride a bicycle for long distances for the first time. There are more comfortable seats, but training your postural muscles is at least half the picture.

If the happy bottom is the one that is like a one piece foam that has integral hip braces I think that fit smaller butts, the other one bigger, but I've seen folks like them that didn't fit that description.

Just to complicate your decision making, I think the best affordable solution is getting a slab of 3" minicell,18" long and wide enough to fit between the hip plates, carve away to your satisfaction. Surform and sandpaper to carve the stuff, who knows you could get creative and glue some kind of synthetic fabric onto it if you wanted. Seats, everybody's got one.

ps. related tangent, not from experience but from someone I know and mentioned on this board, if you have a heel brace as well as foot braces to brace against that seems to take some strain out of the calves. heel bone connect to the .....etc.

I have found that a lot of the comfort in relieving point pressure off of sit bones comes from getting support around the fat and muscle of ones butt, not a squishy seat, under thigh support helps me, other folks are fine with those glass seats that end right past the sit bones. Back rest, I find very low back support helps, other folks go for the above the coaming stiff seat backs.

The long and the short of it is that if you design the seat from your paddling experience then the seat will be as needed.