: HAS ANYONE USED THE LAUGHING LOON PLANS FOR MAKING A SEAT OUT OF MINICELL
: FOAM? IF SO, ARE THEY DETAILED WITH PHOTOS OR DRAWINGS OR JUST TEXT? 2ND
: SUBJECT: HAS ANYONE USED THE LOTUS EFT BAG FOR HYDRATION? THE SYSTEM LOOKS
: LIKE IT MIGHT SAG. DOES IT? OR HOW ABOUT A CAMELBAK SYSTEM ATTACHED TO THE
: OUTSIDE OF YOUR PFD?

A hydration bag on your PFD raises you centre of gravity markedly and also addes weight (therefore pressure) to your seat. Several local (NSW, Australia) paddlers put hydration bags in the cockpit, then push the hose and bite valve through a hole in the deck, or up the sprayskirt body tube.

I sewed a bag of shade cloth (with half inch minicell foam as insulation from the sun - it's 100 F in the shade today) to fit my 3 qt Platypus bag. I sewed on some webbing and buckles to mount it on permanent fittings on the deck behind the cockpit, beside the day hatch. This is much lower than it would be in a back-pack and seems to have no effect on stability (I paddle a 20.9" wide Baidarka).

The hydration bag sits comfortably on deck with a similarly made spare paddle bag and sail bag. Once you buy some shade cloth, you may want to make these things, plus a deck bag for your sunscreen and nibblies, and a cockpit cover that lets air circulate!

I recommend 70% shade cloth. 50% is a little too weak and 90% holds too much water in the weave.

Andrew