Chip,

When I carved my seat, I took it to between 1/8 and 1/4 at the thinnest point. And, to make sure that I didn't carve through, when I was getting close, I drilled through the seat with a 1/16" bit at the point where it was going to be the thinnest and stuck a 1/8" long piece of dowel through from the bottom. When I got to where I could start seeing the dowel it was time to really slow down. I've been going to put a couple of dabs of aqua seal on the holes to keep any water in the bottom of the boat from soaking through to my shorts, but this has never really seemed to be a problem as I'm usually wearing neoprene anyway. (And, I really like the foam seat. I did a 20 miler a couple of weeks ago and was comfortable for the ~6 hr duration.)

-John D.

: I'm trying to switch gears from builder to paddler. I never really took the
: time to fit out my first boat and learn to paddle it well. Here is the
: minicell seat so far. The two blocks above will be the hip pads on each
: side. They will get cemented to the blocks that are already in there. My
: goal is to make it like a motorcycle helmet for my butt. I still have a
: lot more carving to do. My question is: how close to the bottom can I
: carve before it starts to weaken/fall apart 1/4"?

: The hip pads will overlap the bottom piece and also fill and cover the gap on
: either side of the back. I figure they will be in there snug enough to
: hold the back and bottom in place without cementing them all together. I
: think it will be easier to dry the cockpit if I can take it out in four
: pieces.

: www.ChipSandresky.com