Swivel Seat on a Kayak

[Gfd63]

Thinking about mounting a swivel type of seat on My Hobie kayak. Has anyone mounted one on theirs?

[Smalls]

I think you're crazy if you have the vantage seat. The only possible thing more comfortable than that would be a lay z boy. 

[RoLo]

Does it come with guy wires to the motor mount  

 

Roger

[Darren.]

What Hobie are you talking about?

 

As well, how high do you want the seat mounted, as stability

would be a potential issue depending on how you plan on

mounting it.

 

One of the Bass Pro models had a swivel seat setup, not sure

they sell it anymore.

[Gfd63]

Hey Darrin.

It’s a Hobie Mirage Compass. The seat that comes with it is wide enough but it sits low making it a little tough to reach behind ya to get at the crate. I was looking at a basic pedestal base with a seat post. 

[CountryboyinDC]

There is precedence for a swivel seat on a kayak - Nucanoe has one or more models.  https://www.nucanoe.com/fusion-seat.  The one I've seen in person has the ability to lock the swivel, and to me that would be important, as so much of your ability to propel and 'steer' a kayak is derived from your torso, although I know a lot of people with pedal driven ruddered kayaks rarely make use of this ability.  @Darren.makes a good point about any height adjustment to the seat having a significant impact on the stability of your kayak, and it really doesn't take much raising of the seat to do that.  If I'm in class 2, even easy class 2 rapids, I take the time to lower my seat on my kayak, and the high position is only about 4" higher.  The other thing I'd be careful with is making sure that whatever mounting solution you come up with is not going to tear the deck out of your kayak.  The seat has a surprising amount of force exerted to it.  If you just screwed/lag bolted a bass boat/john boat seat to the deck of your kayak, I'd imagine you'd stand a fair chance of doing just that.  I think that you'd want to spread this force over a fairly wide area on a rotomolded HDPE kayak.  If you go through with it, I'd be interested to see how it turns out and helps you (or not, I guess).  

[Gfd63]

Good points Country ??

[Allen Der]

you'd have to fabricate something that fits to the existing seat mounting points to distribute the load. then attached a small piece of marine grade plywood to mount the locking swivel and boat seat

[Smalls]

19 hours ago, Allen Der said:

you'd have to fabricate something that fits to the existing seat mounting points to distribute the load. then attached a small piece of marine grade plywood to mount the locking swivel and boat seat

I've seen guys bolt a swivel seat on top of a cooler that fits whatever kayak they have. 

[CountryboyinDC]

7 hours ago, Smalls said:

I've seen guys bolt a swivel seat on top of a cooler that fits whatever kayak they have. 

That would certainly raise your center of gravity considerably.  I've seen plenty of people using cooler in place of seats, particularly SUPs, but a few kayaks.  With a swivel and bike seat on top, you're nearly standing the whole time, stability wise.

[Smalls]

1 hour ago, CountryboyinDC said:

That would certainly raise your center of gravity considerably.  I've seen plenty of people using cooler in place of seats, particularly SUPs, but a few kayaks.  With a swivel and bike seat on top, you're nearly standing the whole time, stability wise.

On most kayaks, yeah. But the ones I've seen have been on a couple Hobie PA's that the  seat was stolen from or broke, Nucanoe's and FeelFree's. The FeelFree's looked a little sketchy, but a short cooler might not be terrible. 

[Gfd63]

lots of good insights. I'll have to do some contemplating over a few adult beverages. Thanks for all the input.