Saddle Heights!! Help

[Kevin]

I recently re-outfitted my Dagger Kingpin 6.2 which is quite a narrow boat. I found my self rolling and rolling oneafter the other, it felt increadbly edgey, more than usual.... i don't have my boat here to measure my saddle height, but what do you guys suggest for a normal saddle height in a edgy spud boat?

[Bill W.]

I think most tall guys run a 7.5" saddle and some flexible short people can get by with a 5" saddle. Try to get as low as comfort allows. You can try knocking off a half inch at a time and checking comfort as you go. If your upper calf and lower thigh get pretty red behind the knee after 15 minutes in the boat, don't go any lower.

I've been on one of those constantly rolling runs before. I was wearing extra insulation which wouldn't let my legs all the way into the bulkhead and this made me very stern heavy. I was getting dumped before I realized the stern was grabbing. I'd check trim before hacking away at the saddle.

[Sir Adam]

Open boats generally have higher saddles. Amongst my C1's I run from about 5" to around 8.5". In general I like a 6" saddle though (5" or less are squirt boats ). I'm 5'9", and about 155. When I was 170 I found I needed a higher saddle .

[Jan_dettmer]

Only for creeking I would go below 6''
I like 6.5 or 7 for playboating since it makes initiation easier.
My Delirious has 7.5 and it is great and stable.
My s6x has 6.5 but I only had it on flatwater so far.

Your boat is just under 25'' wide and agressive. So I'd say 6.5 inch
is a good first guess.

Hope it helps, Jan

[Mike W.]

I don't go under 7.5". I'm a fat guy & need the hight. Sure lower is more stable, but that takes the fun out of it . In my Big EZ I had to slow down the roll so that I wouldn't go back over. I also had to set up with the blade slightly behind perpendicular to the boat so that I wouldn't come up on a bow stall .
I've got a buddy who's seat is 5.5" After about 10 minutes in the boat my butt finally gets down to the seat. After that it's real stable...for about 5 minutes. After that I can't walk .

[sbroam]

I don't believe in being uncomfortable - 8" is a good minimum. It makes me develop my balance and my ankles stay on speaking terms with the rest of me.

[Guest]

I've got a 7" saddle on my kingpin 6.3, but I'm also 6'2" and 205-210 lbs.
make sure you've got something to keep your knees spread to the sidewalls, my kingpin was really unstable before I put in a knee spreader
if I can get a hold of a digital camera, I can take pictures of my outfitting for you to look at if you want

[Kevin]

i just measured it and it's at 6". but my back rest is like this HUGE couch that is quite high and makes me sit super straight and not slouch which i think it makeing the difference from my old outfitting, my ankles are right at the chine of boat of the sides. Im in a 6.2, and im 155lbs and 6 feet tall. my next time paddling in my c1 is at the Palmers Rapids festival here just outside of ottawa in a week or so, as im oc1 on the petawawa, so i might just not cut it down yet, see how i feel after a day at palmers during the fest, and bring my hacksaw with me, if i still feel really tippy, and rolling alot at hass hole, and right at palmers running rapids, i might take half an each off if im still having problems.

[James]

I had a 5 inch seat in my old ultrafuge, which helped a bit. Boat was so easy to initiate that the lower height wasn`t a problem that way.

Currently about 6 inches in my playboat, similar in my creekboat.

My first run of the season had an enormous amount of stupid rolls going on, my balance came back pretty quickly though.