C-Forum

Hey guys nice site. I have a question about the best placement for the saddle on a viper 11. My girlfriend bought me a used vioer but it didn't have any outfitting, so I'm putting it in now. It's a north wood saddle. I've read that you eeant your hip bones to be exactly at the center of the boat when you are sitting vertical, is this accurate?

Thanks and sorry for any typos I'm using my gf's iPad (her present )

Matt

Some may comment on different ways to determine this. you may want to look at Mohawkcanoes.com. There are measurements for this.

http://mohawkcanoes.com/outfit_saddle.html

You can verify this by putting the boat on a 2X4, balancing it at mid point (right on the H in "Mohawk") and getting in. A little bow light is probably OK but you should be able to get the bow down when leaning forward a bit. Hope this helps.

Oh, I see you have a different saddle. Measurements may not apply but 2X4 technique may help.

Is this a wood and cane seat or a minicell type saddle? I went to the North woods site and see no WW saddles.

Check this recent thread too:

http://cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php? ... trim#70480

One rule of thumb is to have the seat back (where your back contacts the seat) 7 to 7.5 inches from the center of the boat. To do that, you draw a line at the center of the boat (center from bow to stern), and position the seat so that the seat back is 7 to 7.5 inches from that line towards the stern. With the seat in position, draw around its outline to mark that position. Then go to a still body of water (a pool is great) and get in the boat, position the seat within the outline you drew, sit upright on the seat in the standard kneeling position, and have someone on shore check the boat's trim. Bow and stern should be about the same in where they emerge from the water. Some folks like their boat to be a little bow light, but be careful not to make it too much ... it should just be enough that you can notice it and no more. While you're in the boat, you can move the seat a little fore and aft and have the person on shore report on how the movement changes trim. You might even have them take pictures with a digital camera so you can look as well. When you have the seat where you want it, make final marks.

Sorry I meant north waters, must have drank too much nog. This saddle http://www.northwater.com/html/products ... addle.html

So I'll try to do the 2x4 test and get that kind of balance. I'm using shore adhesive hopefully that will work. Out of curiosity when people talked about making their thwarts an inch shorter, is that an inch shorter in relation to the standard width of the boat? Because where you put the thwarts would change the length or am i missing something.

Thanks
Matt

They are shortining the thwarts to pull in the sides of the boat to increase performance. I haven't experimented with this yet. Just bought a Probe 11 with adjustable thwarts.

I used shore adhesive to glue my saddle together, but I can't speak to its effectiveness adhering minicell to vinyl.

Just be careful when you use it, it is nasty stuff.

Even with a respirator, after twenty minutes working with this stuff, I started having all sorts of crazy hallucinations about becoming a professional whitewater canoeist...

Changing the thwarts will change the boat in many ways. Pulling them in will reduce rocker but may increase speed, it may change how flat the bottom is, and how sharp the chine is. If you find after pulling the boat in that you need more initial stability try going wider, if the boat feels a little sluggish pull em in.

I use a product called Sikaflex to bond minicell to vynll or glass. Works very well and is removable if you want to readjust. It is marine adhesive/selant, buy the long cure type (24 hr)

It also depends on the saddle type: straps or bulkhead. I've a bulkhead in my viper11, and it feels like a bit bow-heavy with the mohawk saddle placement. But then again, there is more weight in front of the saddle then there is with straps.