Saddle mods for a kid?

[ohioboater]

I'm trying to figure out ways to modify the front station in my Caption to make it easier for my 9 year old son to stay in better contact with the boat. The adult-placed thigh straps are basically useless for him.

I'm considering rigging up some foam thigh hooks kind of like a mini bulkhead, though I don't want to render the position useless for an adult, so they would have to be somehow removable. Also wondering if padding the floor 3 or 4 inches might let him get proper contact with the straps.

Anyone have any personal experience with this?

[John Coraor]

One thing I've done to modify adult outfitting for kids is to add new center hull anchors for the thigh straps that are closer to the seat (i.e. a few inches closer to the stern than the adult-sized strap anchors. If your strap adjustment is sufficiently flexible, this allows you to tighten up the same straps enough to accommodate a younger paddler, just by moving the lower strap attachment from the "adult" anchors to the "kid" anchors.

This modification is probably a little easier to implement if the outfitting in question has a kneeling thwart or some other kind of suspended seat that gives you a wider range of options for strap placement than a pedestal; however, I've done it successfully with a pedestal, too.

Another option that was built into a used canoe that I purchased is to make the "seat" adjust forward rather than the straps adjust back. After-all, positioning the kid further forward in the bow will help trim the canoe better than leaving him in the "adult" seat position and will tend to result in less distance for the kid to reach out over the gunwale when paddling. In my used canoe, this was accomplished by having two anchor points for the kneeling thwart that matched two entirely separate knee cups and strap anchors. This was a composite slalom OC-2 with paddlers positioned fairly close together in the center of the boat and the "kid" seat anchors about 18-24" further forward. However, accomplishing the same effect with a pedestal might be possible depending upon the design of the pedestal in question. A moveable pedestal attached via vecro has been described previously on this board and would certainly be one option. However, if you just want to move the seat forward just a few inches to ensure good contact with existing adult straps, you might be able to create minicell foam insert that could be added to the existing seat that results in the child being pushed a few inches further forward into the adult braces. This could be either a permanent modification contact cemented to the existing pedestal, or a removable one that could be added or removed as needed, possibly using velcro anchor points.

Good luck!

John

[Silent Bob]

You might try something along the lines of Mohawk's thigh retainer. It's sort of a lap strap type affair that ends up functioning like an adjustable bulkhead. Very simple, only requires 2 d-rings, shouldn't get in the way of your other outfitting.

[clarion]

I'd check your son's leg positioning. With short legs on an adult-height saddle, his thighs are probably almost straight down with nothing for thigh straps or a lap belt to hold on to. You may have to cut the saddle down first before either option will work. You can always add minicell for adults.

[ohioboater]

Here's what I ended up doing:

1. Velcroed a second set of thick knee cups on top of the existing knee pads to compensate for short legs/tall saddle (lowering the saddle would have put him too deep in the boat to do effective strokes). This effectively raised the floor of the boat about 3-4 inches.

2. Glued a small set of bulkhead-style wings onto the saddle. I tested these before gluing to confirm that they wouldn't interfere with an adult's legs.

My son loved the setup - comfortable and secure, he said. I'll post a picture at some point.

[canotrouge]

Cool. Picture would be really appreciated!!