I have a back problem (that I can neither spell nor pronounce, spond...?) and so I am very sensitive to my kayaks seating arrangement. I am finally happy after 5 re-designs; I just did a 7 hour paddle with 2 short beach breaks (Norwalk Islands) with no complaints all day, except sunburn.

The original seat was standard Pygmy. I modified the plexiglass, foam, and shock cord back-rest into a fixed, low, minicelled, adjustable air bladder lumbar supporting, Autozone neoprene car seat covered hip hugger. The original (flat) Thermarest seat was replaced with a contoured adjustable SealLine Touring Seat. And, After an hour or two of paddling I slip a SealLine Discovery Kayak Thigh Support Cushion under my knees and let it self inflate. The thigh support is very comfortable and also holds my knees against the underside of the deck which greatly reduces the effort required for leaning.

The down side is cost: $46 for the seat and $40 for the thigh support. I am sure that I could have made an acceptable seat out of minicell for less $. But it would not be as adjustable and there would have been some amount of pain and time getting it right.

Here's the SealLine link, Pygmy sells thier stuff at "www.pygmyboats.com".

: Baidarka,

: Hi,

: I just built a Rob Macks 17' Fire Star baidarka. Performance is excellent but
: I'm having
: a curious problem with one of my legs going numb after a half hour or so.

: I bought a good kayak seat and fabricated a very acceptable back rest. I then
: put a self-inflating mattress pad (about 5/16 thick) on top of the existing
: seat.
: This helped somewhat but find I still need to shift leg positions in order to
: regain
: a feel in my leg.

: If you should learn of any solutions in this area, I'd appreciate a lead.

: Thanks..

: Mark