BWCA Wenonah Aurora tandem to solo conversion Boundary Waters Gear Forum
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Michealgrabosch
member (5)member
  
05/11/2020 09:11PM  
Installing a solo seat with hangers after removing tandem seats for tandem adventures.

Question 1 = on everyone's preference.
Solo seat placement = I cant figure out on the water if it's more comfortable 7 inches back vs 11 inches from center. Seems to me that it only matters on the placement of your two packs as the barrel gets lighter and to put stuff from the bag in it. If it's not riding smooth then I could just slide the front pack up to the tip or back a little to trim it better ... right?

Question two = How low would everyone suggest to put the seat? A bit lower than the other two seats were? Because I'm solo and have more area for high wind gust due to it being a tandem to tip me rather than an actual solo canoe = a little lower would help that as well?
 
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ashlandjack
distinguished member (145)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/18/2020 07:57AM  
This is really going to be a personnel decision. Your height, weight, age (flexibility), equals trial and error.
 
justpaddlin
distinguished member(540)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/18/2020 08:35AM  
Just some food for thought.

The factory center seat in my tandem is at the same height as the other seats. The Aurora is relatively deep in the center and if you hang the seat extra low you may end up banging your paddle into the gunwales since a lower seat will make it harder to do proper strokes with a vertical paddle. On the other hand if you're willing to do some trial and error you can hang it low and then shorten the seat drops if it feels too low when you try it.

As far as front to rear placement you may run into handling problems if your seat is too close to center. Wenonahs can get tail happy (hard to control) when the trim gets too far forward. In a Rendezvous solo the boat is uncontrollable with significant weight up front (I had to replace my rear thwart with a kneeling thwart to make my Rendezvous controllable when paddling with a dog). On one forum a guy put a center seat in a Spirit 2 close to center and said it handled like a round sled (just spins in circles) and had to move it back more. If you are in a high wind and the boat becomes hard to control you need to shift weight rearward and if you're struggling in wind that may not be the best time to reach behind you. It seems better to shoot for level trim in an unloaded boat or err on the side of slightly stern heavy trim since it's easy to push a load forward to achieve level trim or slightly bow heavy trim for speed/efficiency in calm conditions.

Just my two cents
 
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