Charles ans Risto,

I installed my carved-foam seat with two 2" wide strips of Velcro parallel to the keel. This allows me to relocate the seat forward or aft just by ripping and sticking. My seat back has adjustable buckles that allow adjustment forward and back. I can adjust the seat to match conditions, but I don't. I have located the spot where I like it and just leave it there.

I always just day paddle and don’t pack gear so that does not throw off the balance point.

It is also too difficult to move while under way. It would be interesting to to be able to, especially in following seas, but since it is too difficult to do I have opted to locate it to make the kayak wind neutral.

If you really want to get trick you could make a sliding seat and back that also move the foot braces. More gizmos and more weight.

: Hi Risto,

: It looks like you've came upon the same thought that I had ... an adjustable
: seat!! If a minor weight shift, fore or aft, of an inch or two can make a
: noticable difference, then it seems to me that you would have to keep your
: load perfectly balanced (fore and aft) each time you went out in order to
: achieve the same performance from the boat that you would get when the
: storage areas were empty. In efect, you (the paddler) would become the
: ballast. Of course, you'd have to make sure you didn't seriously overload
: the fore storage area because the seat wouldn't move backward as much as
: it could move forward. All this sounds good (at least to me) but in real
: life, its probably the way cartoons got started.

: Any way...in reading whats been said so far on the subject, I may have an
: idea of something that I did wrong when I made the seatback for my wife's
: Guillemot single. I made it a little wider than what Nick showed in his
: Book. Yea, I know. You already know whats comming next! I can't place the
: seatback as far to the rear of the cockpit as a narrower back would go
: because it hits the coaming on both sides as soon as the coaming starts to
: curve in at the rear... which then pushes the seat bottom forward...which
: places the paddler forward...which pushes the center of
: mass,weight,buoyancy ,and whatever else there is, FORWARD!!! All this can
: be summed up in one line ... the boat doesn't act QUITE the way it was
: designed to act. All because of one, seemingly insignificant change in the
: seatback.

: But don't get the wrong idea. My wife loves the boat just the way it is and
: if I get everything where its supposed to be, I wouldn't be a bit
: surprised if she slid the blasted seat forward again!

: Not only that but when she tried to get the boat back from our
: daughter...well I thought I'd have to do a lot of sanding to get the claw
: marks out!

: OK. I'll calm down now. Blame it on a short night, really strong coffee, and
: a few spokes missing from my wheel!! Anyway, hope you guys are right about
: "an inch or two", cause thats about what I can gain by cutting
: that cute little seatback down to size. Kinda makes it look like Nick DOES
: know whats goin on, huh.

: Keep those posts commin' guys. They keep us all thinking! Happy Building.
: Charles.