Seat swap opinion

Has anyone swapped their seat out to a padded boat seat? I've seen a couple on the web and it looks like one heck of an upgrade!! It also gives you more room down both sides of the seat for rod storage and depending on which seat you install it would give you the extra room to access the center hatch without having to do the sliding seat mod.

I'm thinking of adding a high back folding padded seat to mine. While fishing the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing classic this weekend I noticed some discomfort when twisting around in my seat to cast and retrieve. The plastic seat back was making me sore from having my arm thrown over it when fishing out of the side of the boat. I believe with an after market seat the tapered profile of the back would be less prone to getting in the way. I guess I could also put it on a swivel but I think it would be awkward to have it twisting while trying to peddle. I would think I'll just start with the seat for now!

Anyone have an opinion on this? I would preserve the existing seat rails.

There are several posts and videos of guys that used that mod. So far I haven't seen anything that says anything negative. With that said, if my memory serves me correctly, Hobie will not give an opinion on the mod because they did not test any sort mod on the P14. It can't be certain, w/o testing, if the structural integrity of the deck/hull will be compromised from the mod. I am not sure if Hobie will cover warranties on damages caused by using the mod. Again, all this...I think I have read before on these forums...so don't quote me (disclaimer ).

Personally, I have no problem using the OEM seat. Since I have the H-bar, standing up is easy... I can see, however, the advantage of having a higher seat for standing... That's one of the reasons why the seat on the PA12 is so attractive. If an official Hobie chair is produced for the PA14, I will be all over it...as will every other PA14 owner around the world.

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2011 HPA
2006 Wildy Ride 135
2019 Hobie Compass
2020 Hobie Outback

Ok Hobie, please listen to redgrappler. He will be right behind me buying the seat when the seat come available.

I tried a standard padded folding boat seat with swivel base that I picked up from Bass Pro. It didn't work out well because it had no means to adjust the angle of the seat back. The seat angle of te boat seat is intended for a flat hozontal mounting surface while the PA frame is tilted lower in the rear. So the boat seat back ended up angled back too far; too reclined. It was very uncomfortable. Might have been fixable by shimming up the rear mounts of the seat until the seat bottom is flat, but I didn't think it was worth the effort, so I went back to the stock PA seat.

The swivel was a bad idea too because itwould cause the PA to list when the seat was not facing forward.

Good luck!

Bob

Yeah, I figured the swivel part would be bad. I was actually worried about the swiveling action would possible damage rods or gear stored along side the seat. Not to mention it would be awkward with the constant swiveling while trying to peddle. I like that the sear back on a padded boat seat is tapered towards the top. This would be more comfortable when fishing out the sides of the boat and having my torso twisted around.