C-Forum

I have to outfit a boat from scratch, and was thinking about taking the front half of the Mohawk Saddle from my old Probe to use as the saddle for the new boat. Has anyone ever done this before? If so, how hard was it and did you run into any snags?

I was thinking I would chop the saddle while it's still in the Probe, down to the vinyl. Then I would use a solvent and a putty knife to detach the saddle, smooth out the bottom, and put it in the new boat. Or is this just doomed to failure?

I'm not saying you'll be unsuccessful, but I think the front half of a Mohawk saddle would make a poor saddle, and make your Probe annoying to paddle too.

Shep

Unless you have an tripple saddle in the probe, I wouldn't do it.

If you're trying to save a few bucks, here's a link for some cheap minicell foam. I haven't found anyone cheaper yet.

http://waldensridgewhitewater.com/store ... 111ea454e4

Good luck on your outfitting.

I removed a double thigh retainer saddle and then cut it down to a regular pedestal and it worked real well but that was using the portion with the back rest. I don't think the front portion would be very comfortable and if you do a lot of rework to make it comfortable you might as well buy some foam and fashion your own custom saddle.

I repositioned the Mohawk saddle in my Shaman, because the factory installed it in the wrong position. A sharp putty knife removed it cleanly.

Good luck!

Watch it with the solvents. Those solvents that dissolve glue might go through the vinyl and soften the ABS. Any thin, flexible blade should work well enough by itself. And, you may find that the glue line connection has largely failed anyway, because when we blunder over rocks, the minicell gets torn loose by shear forces right next to the glue line.

I pulled the saddle in my L'Edge using a hacksaw blade. I didn't saw with it - I just used it as a thin, flexible object to work between the foam and the hull - it worked great.

I think that one can get hacksaw blades with no "set". Such a blade could be used with a sawing motion while causing only minimum scratching of the vinyl.

The next time you empty a roll of aluminum foil, save that little flap of cardboard with the cutting edge on it. Flexible enough to work with, sharp enough to cut foam, you can keep it from hurting the vinyl. And you already have it.

I use nylon string what i grew up knowing as trout line string

I don't like to use hacksaw blades because they gouge the boat with the set of the teeth. Found that a flush cut saw works great for removing foam as well as a flexibleputty knife. Flush cuts saws are at woodworking
stores or Lowes/ Home Depot and also make nice cuts in foam

plastic putty knife=no risk, so you can let the good times roll

Plastic putty knife, while pushing to the side of the saddle, which makes the opposite corner raise, run the plastic putty knife in between the saddle and the boat......no damage to either. It comes off pretty clean if you are careful.