C-Forum

I have a madriver outrage and am thinking of replacing the pedestal seat with a slat, does anyone have any experience with this? i am doing it because in my old c1 slalom boat, the slat have much better control than the pedestal. Any thoughts would be apprecited.

Cheers

Michael

I think a lot of people have gone from a slat(I'm thinking paddling thwart) to a pedestal for the same reason you are going the other way. I was always to loose on a slat.
Bill

I've had a couple boats with a slat seat, and can't really say I have seen any advantage. In fact, they were much more of a pain getting in and out of the boat than a normal saddle. It was hard to get my feet under them, and I worried more about getting my feet stuck upside down.

I'd definitely stick with the saddle if the boat is already rigged that way.

With your other boats with slats, did you have hip blocks or pads? Is that why you had more control? Try adding hip blocks with your pedestal set up.

Thank you all for your prompt and considered feedback, it is sometime hard down here in OC1/C1 purgatory (little water and very few one stickers) (Australia that is).

The reason I liked my slat seat in slalom was it felt that when I dropped my hip, the boat immediately responded, where as with the saddle it seems to not slip but not transfer as quickly.

I shall ponder it some more and maybe do a quick conversion to compare, again thank you so much for your thoughts.

Cheers

Michael

Just a thought... slope the seat / saddle a couple degrees....

A small change there might provide huge improvements in response. I did this after checking out the outfitting on a number of slalom boats (in the Washington DC area - hard core racing crowd) and now do it with all my boats. It feels like it gets me just a tad forward more. You can try it out with just duct taping a shim in to see the angle you like... modifying to get the right fit for you.

Hip pads and knee blocks would be a plus too. Again tape in until you find your fit. Making its so you "wear" the boat...so that any energy you apply is transferred at that point in time..... just make sure you can get out if when required.

Good luck.

mlyons wrote:...
The reason I liked my slat seat in slalom was it felt that when I dropped my hip, the boat immediately responded, where as with the saddle it seems to not slip but not transfer as quickly...

Another vote for hip pads, I use them in some boats... but tend to drive my shortest boats more with my knees.

Years ago used a dropped slat that was angled, but went to saddle for safety and shear comfort... you have more adjustment, freedom of movement, and when used with a bulkhead don't need straps. However like you said, I've used them in slalom and have seen a lot of other slalom guys who still prefer to still use them. Let us know what you figure out.

In the '80s, I was happy with hip pads integrated onto the top of a forward-sloping slat seat, but back then I was used to a 4" high seat in my C1. I find that sitting on a pedestal feels very unstable. I miss my cheek control! Now that my ankle flexibility has waned a bit, I use this in both my OC and C1...

I paddled with a wooden slat seat, with hip blocks fastened to the wood slat, then 1 to 2 inch padding and a aluminum strap around the back for a numbers of years. Needed hip blocks and strap to keep me from moving around on the slat. If I wiggled back my thigh straps would get loose.
I changed my outfitting to a saddle w/back support so the foam won't bend and with hip blocks attached to the side of the boat, I noticed right away I had better control in the new saddle set up and was more comfortable. The control really help me with surfing, I could cut back and surf on my upstream edge better, use opposite edge turns better. I'll never go back to a slat. After a while I went to the double straps with 3 anchor points and found this help also.