: Jim,

: My recollection of how Joe made his King backrest was something like two
: U-brackets interleaved and then drilled for a bolt so as to make a hinge.
: One bracket attaches to the bulkhead and one to the backrest. There is
: some kind of limit stop to prevent the rest from flopping too far forward
: and a bungee to keep the rest reclined as far as it will go until you are
: seated and resting against it. Of course it was all elegantly done. I have
: not been fond of rigidly attached back rests, so maybe Joe has found a
: solution.

: As far as your wedge of minicell goes, it sounds like you are worried that
: the cumulative thickness of foam will deform too much under load. Seems
: likely enough. I press on the foot pegs pretty hard when rolling. The
: other problem is reentries. Nothing is worse than ending up sitting on the
: backrest (because it flopped forward) or having it come out when sliding
: in over the back combing. So I suggest something more secure than velcro
: to hold backrest components together. Like Don, I like to be able to get
: to the storage area below the back rest. Having something that conforms a
: little as you squirm around in your seat is a lot more comfortable than
: something that is rigid.

: You can probably modify you back rest to work like Vaclav shows on his
: website. To complement Vaclav's method, I like the carbon seat brackets
: that Ross Leidy made for his Outer Island. I have made something similar.
: If you stick with your minicell column/wedge, the wedge part could be made
: out of wood. However, some part of it needs to be adjustable or
: replaceable to make sure you can get the backrest angle you like. I have
: found an angle of 7 to 10 degrees to work for me.

: Ted

For a flexible backrest ideas check out the latest whitewater plyboats.
WARNING! THIS IS A VERY AGRESSIVE DESIGN ! TRY WET EXIT FIRST ! ETC.
The back is tenssion by bungee to the bulkhead but the adjustment/lock(!)
is by Standart V or Cam Cleat.
The backrest you could make it using a suitable density foam
(no need to be wider then 120 mm) supported by a flaxible (curved)plate.
(my prefered one comes from "Bomber Gear TM")
As for the Cleats materials ... I will leave the choice to you.
Andre