seat on ODC?

[hungNtree]

I'm already tired of winter and wanting to get ready for spring. I am really wanting to get my ODC Classic rigged up and ready to go. I've asked Santa for a rod holder but my 5 year old son says I'm on the "naughty" list. lol.

Any one ever raised the seat on an ODC Classic? Or any toon for that matter? I want to raise the seat on my ODC Classic. I don't want one of the standing platforms, I'm not exactly the most graceful of guys and I'd fall off. But I would like to raise the seat about 4 to 6 inches. It would make casting better, but mostly it would keep my backside dry. I've looked at and want one of their swivels and the seat to go with it, which might raise the seat a little, but not enough for me. here is the links.

swivel:

http://creekcompany.com/indivdisplay...&Cat=3&Cat1=10

seat:

http://creekcompany.com/indivdisplay...&Cat=3&Cat1=10

I'm thinking I'll need to build a bracket somehow to get the height I want. The classic has a 375pound capacity and while I do weigh way to close to 300, it is very stable in the water and I don't believe a few extra inches would make it top heavy. At least I hope not. I don't carry alot of gear with me, so I don't think I am over capacity, but my backside does get wet in the seat.

Any thoughts? Do you think I'll have to raise the oar locks too?

thanks in advance,
hNt

[knucks]

hnt

If that swivel will bolt to your odc then Bass Pro or possibly wal-mart or k-mart may have a pedistal that will raise it about 6".


knucks

[Jack Hise]

Jason;

Swivel Seat




Rod Holder.




Be careful not to raise the seat too high. You legs will be in the way when rowing.

The rod holder is PVC pipe slotted with a table saw and attached to the frame with wire ties.

If you get a chance come on down and look at the modifications I've made to mine.

[DarrinG]

hungntree,

I've messed with about everything on a toon at one time or another. I've raised the seats with a pedestal on several solo toons with very limited success.
The problem is, when you raise the seat height, it throws off the entire "layout" of the mechanics of rowing. Every time I've tried to raise my seat very much, it makes the oars hit my knees on strokes. When you raise the seat height very much, the oar towers do not go up in height with the seat. After years of rowing, I found I prefer my oars to be about 4-5 inches apart at the ends of the handles when the oars are locked firmly in the oar locks and the oars are straight out and up near my chest. That's the spot I can get the most power on the strokes and the most comfortable for me too. Positioning the oars at an uncomfortable position will wear you out mucho faster than necessary when you're on the river all day long. I found that if I raised the seat more than 4 inches, it became a real problem. 3" was better but then it became almost a moot point. 3" didnt help all that much in standing up, etc. Plus, when you add a swivel to the seat, that adds about another inch, and a seat swivel is the first thing I add to a new ride. I had a friend who is a expert welder custom make me a 4" aluminum seat riser and used it once and took it back off. My oar handles were constantly banging my knees. It would work if I was willing to compromise and slide my oar stops in further where the handles would clear my knees, but then the oar handles were so far apart that rowing became a real chore and I could not get good power on my strokes. After much study, the only way I found to make a raised seat work and work well was to also modify the oar towers and make them taller as well....which aint very practical on most factory-made frames. My Outcast 2-man cat was made for raised seats and is fantastic, but if the boat design was not made for a elevated seat, it's a compromise to do so without modifying the towers too.

Hope this helps some.

[hungNtree]

Jack,

That looks perfect. Exactly like what I had in mind. If I raise the seat 3 to 4 inches I think I'd get my backside out of the water. I don't think I'll try any more than that because of the rowing issue. I love the rod holder. I made one to go on back that leaves the rod sticking straight up. It works but I worry about overhanging branches and that's a real problem around here. How did you attach the PVC to the frame? I'd love to make mine that way.

I am hopeing to take a day off work next month and come down and see you and Warren. I keep thinking some of the FAOLers up north will get froze out and make a trip down, if some of them do I'd like to come down then and meet some of them too. Until then, keep Warren straight.

Jason

[Jack Hise]

Jason;
First, "Backside in the water"!!?? You should not have your B.S. in the water if properly inflated. I weigh 180 and when I've got the toon loaded the frame is still out of the water. You're a big boy but not that much bigger!!

I also have rod holder that has the rod sticking up in the air. It's great for taking a break but not when you're in the trees.

I'll see if I can get some photos of how I attached the rod holder to the frame. The ones I have are hard to see. I have had a run in with a submerged stump that broke one of the wire ties but the rod survived!!

Come on down. If we can't fish we can always get Warren to give us fly tying lessons!!

[bugman]

ya can also raise the holes where you put the ore pins in... all ya do is take out the plastic sleeves, add a length of pipe in the place of the sleeve then push the sleeve into the top of the length of pipe...

[sagefisher]

hungNtree,

One of the most versatile fly rod holders around is the Scotty fly rod holder. You can get ones that mount on metal tubing but I prefer the ones that mound on inflated tubes. I use it on my pontoon boat and on my WaterMaster raft. You can adjust the angle of the rod a full 180 degrees up and down if you want to and you can adjust the swing of the rod a full 360 degrees. I have used this same style rod holder on salmon, bass and trout. Your rod is safe as you can strap it in if you want to.

I use two of these on my toon or raft, one for my spare rod and one for my working rod. If I want to troll around a bit searching for some fish it is great for that or if I want to hit the shore I can aim the holders so my rods are out of the way of anyone or anything.

The Scotty Fly Rod holder (they also make one for spinning rods so make sure you get the fly rod one) is a fantastic piece of equipment to have.

http://www.troutlet.com/Search.aspx?k=scotty

Troutlet.com is a FAOL sponsor. Check out their website.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[ducksterman]

I really like this one ...easy to use and relatively inexpensive ...the holder rotates & comes out of the shaft for easy storage.

It's a Caddis

[hungNtree]

Jason;
First, "Backside in the water"!!?? You should not have your B.S. in the water if properly inflated. I weigh 180 and when I've got the toon loaded the frame is still out of the water. You're a big boy but not that much bigger!!

You are way to kind Jack.