I haven't made it to the water yet, but the first thing I notice is that I don't fit in the saddle.
It seems to be a matter of the size of my legs. I don't slide forward enough in the bulkhead to get my butt down on the saddle. So I'm about three inches above it with my spine hard against the back of the seat.
I'm assuming to keep the balance right, the correct thing to do would be to enlarge the diameter of the bulkhead so I slide further forward rather than chop a couple of inches of the back of the seat.
As might be obvious, I've only ever been using thigh and knee straps, so I'm uncertain about adjusting it.
Be great to hear from others with this new Esquif saddle how you've adjusted it.
Looking forward to trying it out soon on some Swiss or French rivers.
I'd suggest you start by trimming the thigh/leg holes to fit you first. If you still need a bit more room after that you might consider trimming the back of the saddle... but in most cases it's just a matter of getting the cutouts for yourself to your size leg.
My ankles were killing me after paddling the other weekend. I've got to do something - level out the seat and/or add ankle blocks. I can paddle my Maxim multiple hours in a row just fine, so I need to figure out what the difference is and make my L'Edge like that...
In my Ledge, I raised the seat an inch and widened it an inch on each side. With winter paddling clothes on I'm going to have to trim a bit at the knee holes. Comfy
Well, I've widened the knee holes and now just make it down to the seat but made a mistake in enlarging them equally. I should have left the front/opening as it was and concentrated on removing foam lower down at the bottom where my knees are coming out. Now I've got too much space up at the top once I'm sitting, so I'm putting a thin tapered layer of foam back on up there
Per Todhunter, even sitting in it for 10minutes working on it makes my ankles hurt - totally unlike my other boat, which I can in all day happily. Wish I knew why. Height of saddle and width of knees I suppose are the two factors involved.
I have short legs so I probably have different fit issues than most of you. But Wendy suggested I remove foam from the side walls of the boat. That has made a huge difference, both in my ankles not killing me and being able to control the boat with my body.
I also raised the seat an inch and took out foam from the lower area of the knee holes. My butt still comes off the seat when I'm upside down so I still don't have it perfect.
