Boat Building Forum

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please sit down
By:Paul G. Jacobson
Date: 10/24/2002, 12:23 am
In Response To: S&G: Seat problems - ideas? (Mike M)

: . . . I am realistic enough to know
: that I will never make my own molded fiberglass seat so that leaves trying
: to find one that could be fit into the Pygmy boats

That is not realistic. It is much easier and faster to make the seat than the rest of the kayak -- and you have already made the kayak!

Making a mold for a kayak seat is as simple as adding water and sitting down.

For a mold material you can use the expanding foams, but they are rather expensive, and get uncomfortably warm as they set up. There are cheaper alternatives. The one I suggest most often is what I call the Chicago Swimsuit: Concrete. A bag of Sackrete sand mix is about $3 at your local hardware homecenter. A plastic garbage bag is a few pennies.

Place the open garbage bag on the ground, mix up a fairly dry batch of sand mix concrete (don't add too much water, jsut enough to barely dampen the mix) and dump about 30 pounds of it into the plastic bag. Remove the air from the bag and use a metal twister to close the bag.Then sit on the bag. Wriggle around a bit, and stand up.

Now leave the bag alone for a day or two while the concrete hardens, giving you a perfect impression of your butt, and providing a fine base for laying up a plastic seat which matches your anatomy better than any storebought seat ever could.

If you want a mold which also matches the bottom lines of your kayak, just set the boat on a firm surface, put the plastic bag in the boat, add about 20 pounds of sand mix to the bag, and sit down for a few seconds.

Let the concrete mold harden and dry, then apply scraps of fiberglass cloth or tape saturated with resin. apply it so the cloth is 2 to 4 layers thick. Let that harden for a day and remove it from the concrete. Now clean the back of this and try placing it in your boat. Trim any overhanging glass and resin while it is still "green". If you overtrim, don't worry.

Add more glass cloth scraps to the back until you are happy with the strength of the seat. At this time you can also fix any overtrims. If you want, you can stuff foam rubber or minicell under the seat, too.

A few fill coats on the surface to conceal the weave of the cloth and you are done.

It goes faster than it sounds, and it is easier than you think.

Just ask those who have done it!

PGJ

Messages In This Thread

S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Mike M -- 10/23/2002, 11:48 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Mark Reveaux -- 6/26/2003, 8:27 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas? *LINK*
Jay Doorly -- 6/27/2003, 10:41 am
Re: FIRESTAR! FIRESTAR! PICS Puhleez!! *NM*
Jim Kozel -- 6/27/2003, 12:25 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Dave H -- 6/26/2003, 11:17 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems THANKS!!
Mike M -- 10/26/2002, 12:58 pm
Re: heretical idea (ducking and running)
Craig Bethune -- 10/24/2002, 9:03 pm
Re: heretical idea (ducking and running)
Mike M -- 10/24/2002, 10:07 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Mark Woodhead -- 10/24/2002, 3:48 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Brian Nystrom -- 10/24/2002, 12:49 pm
Re: Replace with a VCP or NDK seat?!?!
Shawn Baker -- 10/24/2002, 3:04 pm
Re: Replace with a VCP or NDK seat?!?!
Brian Nystrom -- 10/24/2002, 3:34 pm
Re: Replace with a VCP or NDK seat?!?!
Shawn Baker -- 10/24/2002, 4:11 pm
Re: Replace with a VCP or NDK seat?!?!
Brian Nystrom -- 10/24/2002, 5:02 pm
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Rob Macks -- 10/24/2002, 10:14 am
Re: Custom glass seats *Pic*
Shawn Baker -- 10/24/2002, 11:20 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
LeeG -- 10/24/2002, 11:00 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Rob Macks -- 10/24/2002, 10:38 am
Check out the archives
Dan Ruff -- 10/24/2002, 10:00 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Ed Falis -- 10/24/2002, 8:56 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
Tom -- 10/24/2002, 12:36 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
LeeG -- 10/24/2002, 1:45 am
please sit down
Paul G. Jacobson -- 10/24/2002, 12:23 am
Re: please sit down
LeeG -- 10/24/2002, 10:54 am
I'm up, what to do with the concrete?
Rick Allnutt -- 10/24/2002, 8:52 am
Re: KayakWiki link: Making_a_Seat
Shawn Baker -- 10/24/2002, 11:23 am
Links ! :b
Rick Allnutt -- 10/24/2002, 11:37 am
Re: Links ! :b
Shawn Baker -- 10/24/2002, 11:56 am
Its all there - thanks Teach! *NM*
Rick Allnutt -- 10/24/2002, 12:16 pm
Re: please sit down
Mike M -- 10/24/2002, 2:27 am
Re: S&G: Seat problems - ideas?
LeeG -- 10/23/2002, 11:56 pm