Has anyone ever experienced any trouble with the Mike Yee OC-1 saddle and it's lack of ancor to a thwart like the Mohawk saddles? Such as do you get any play or 'bending' of the saddle? I have one of his saddles and foot pegs and am thinking of buying the rest of the outfitting kit from him for a boat that I'm looking at purchasing and just wanted to know if you guys had any problems with the way the saddle sets up or for the rest of his outfitting for that matter.
Thanks,
MS
Mike Yee outfitting question
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MotorCityOC-1
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the trouble with MikeY
No trouble! I think the idea is to keep the saddle well froward of the rear thwart so that in a stern first pin, you might more easily flush off of the saddle and not be pinned to the thwart.
That said, I have noticed a slight to moderate wiggling of the saddle, mostly when I'm really getting knocked around in big, squirrely water. It really doesn't bother me a bit, but I figure it might if I were bigtime into playing.
I have occasionally had a problem with one knee coming out of its knee strap. The one tug adjustability of the knee/thigh straps is great, except that when you lose a knee strap you then also lose a thigh strap. Hard to roll with one half of your lower body out of the outfitting (but not impossible).
MAKING SURE YOU GLUE IN ALL THE ANCHOR PATCHES PERFECTLY SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT!
In my case that was hard to do, partly because I have short legs and especially short thighs, and partly because I am a half-bright OC-1er who has trouble following directions. It is possible to set up the knee/thigh straps so that they are fixed and independent of each other. Mike wouldn't want to hear about that though.
I still think that Mike Yee's outfitting system is one of the best on the market, and I will probably use it in my next boat. It's very lightweight, reasonably priced, well thought out, comes with good directions, easy to adjust quickly, and very easy to get in and out of. Mike is also a great guy to deal with.
However...
I am keen to try out the bulkhead system that's in the Prelude. Unfortunately I can't fit my knees into the bulkhead of a demo, cuz the holes are way to freakin' small for my aparently oversized knees.
Northwater also has a fixed knee and thigh strap system that I'd like to try, although it looks a lot heavier than MikeY's
My $.02
That said, I have noticed a slight to moderate wiggling of the saddle, mostly when I'm really getting knocked around in big, squirrely water. It really doesn't bother me a bit, but I figure it might if I were bigtime into playing.
I have occasionally had a problem with one knee coming out of its knee strap. The one tug adjustability of the knee/thigh straps is great, except that when you lose a knee strap you then also lose a thigh strap. Hard to roll with one half of your lower body out of the outfitting (but not impossible).
MAKING SURE YOU GLUE IN ALL THE ANCHOR PATCHES PERFECTLY SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT!
In my case that was hard to do, partly because I have short legs and especially short thighs, and partly because I am a half-bright OC-1er who has trouble following directions. It is possible to set up the knee/thigh straps so that they are fixed and independent of each other. Mike wouldn't want to hear about that though.
I still think that Mike Yee's outfitting system is one of the best on the market, and I will probably use it in my next boat. It's very lightweight, reasonably priced, well thought out, comes with good directions, easy to adjust quickly, and very easy to get in and out of. Mike is also a great guy to deal with.
However...
I am keen to try out the bulkhead system that's in the Prelude. Unfortunately I can't fit my knees into the bulkhead of a demo, cuz the holes are way to freakin' small for my aparently oversized knees.
Northwater also has a fixed knee and thigh strap system that I'd like to try, although it looks a lot heavier than MikeY's
My $.02
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Jim Michaud
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One advantage to a free floating saddle is that the bottom of your boat will last longer. When the canoe rides over a rock a free floating saddle will ride over the rock also. If the saddle is held down by the thwarts the canoe will flex until the rock gets to the saddle then a great deal of stress is placed on the floor causing cracks right in front of the saddle. When the saddle does get on top of the rock there is more pressure on the rock due to the lack of flexing so the rock grinds away the bottom of the canoe under the saddle.
During my 20+ years of open boating I've always had my saddle attached to the thwart. A couple of years ago I outfitted a canoe with a free floating saddle and I was pleasantly surprised that the bottom of the canoe lasted two years instead of the usual one year.
The downside of a free floating saddle is that the canoe could turn inside out in case of a serious pin and maybe trap you in it.
If you make your saddle real wide at the bottom and a little smaller at the top you shouldn't have any problem with the saddle wiggling.
During my 20+ years of open boating I've always had my saddle attached to the thwart. A couple of years ago I outfitted a canoe with a free floating saddle and I was pleasantly surprised that the bottom of the canoe lasted two years instead of the usual one year.
The downside of a free floating saddle is that the canoe could turn inside out in case of a serious pin and maybe trap you in it.
If you make your saddle real wide at the bottom and a little smaller at the top you shouldn't have any problem with the saddle wiggling.
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sbroam
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I can vouch for Jim's observation - my Viper had a rectangular wear patch on the bottom that matched the footprint of the saddle. This was originally outfitted with the Team Edge saddle braced at the front and back which made it worse... When I re-outfitted it, I converted it to a conventional pedestal and cut the back down about an inch so that the hull could flex, but would still keep the boat from collapsing. That greatly slowed the progress of the wear.
A friend of mine was once in a pin on the Ocoee when his paddling thwart collapsed over his ankles so I keep that in mind when setting up a boat... If there is a thwart near the center, it is braced -- if it is far enough back, I think it is OK not to brace it.
A friend of mine was once in a pin on the Ocoee when his paddling thwart collapsed over his ankles so I keep that in mind when setting up a boat... If there is a thwart near the center, it is braced -- if it is far enough back, I think it is OK not to brace it.
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Jim Michaud
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An added note to free floating saddles: Extend the saddle so that it passes under a couple of thwarts but don't attach the saddle to the thwarts. Leave a few inches of air between the saddle and the thwarts so that the canoe can flex. In case of a pin the saddle will contact the thwarts preventing the canoe from turning inside out.