Hobie Outback Seat Mod

The outback is stable enough to stand on so I suspect you are wrong in your armchair QB assessment that a seat a few inches higher will make the boat significantly unstable. And i'm willing to try it. Something tells me you're butt is gonna remain snugly and smugly in your stock seat. If your back doesn't hurt yet, you're obviously too busy flaming people's ideas from the couch rather than fishing.

I'd be delighted if Hobie improved the comfort of its kayak seats, and I hope that frequent public complaints about Hobie's current kayak seats will encourage Hobie to develop better seats.  But because a kayak seat is mounted on a kayak, not on the deck of a motorboat or on a dock, I think the seat needs to keep the kayaker's butt as low as possible, in order to maintain the stability of the kayak.  That opinion is based on almost thirty years of kayaking experience in a wide variety of kayaks.

I'm not interested in kayaking equipment which is acceptable only for use in flat water near shore.  I want kayaking equipment which I'll feel comfortable in if I'm far from shore and the wind and waves come up, the temperature and visibility drop, and it starts sleeting.

Rory, you're probably not the type of guy that's suited for open ocean fishing for things like Halibut.  ;-)

Will you be bringing one of those seats with you next weekend?  I want to see if it'll actually fit before I waste $20  (though it would make a good duck hunting chair either way)

I call people like you "auto-haters".

The outback is stable enough to stand on so I suspect you are wrong in your armchair QB assessment that a seat a few inches higher will make the boat significantly unstable. And i'm willing to try it. Something tells me you're butt is gonna remain snugly and smugly in your stock seat. If your back doesn't hurt yet, you're obviously too busy flaming people's ideas from the couch rather than fishing.

Back pain impacts the enjoyment of fishing, which is, after all, why we're out there. If you wanna be a tough guy, ain't nobody gonna stop you. But if you read thru the comment threads on the original links, hobie seats are pretty widely unpopular.  And hobie hasn't done squat about it (they really need more competition in the pedal kayak space) so it's forced the community to take their own initiative. This guy's idea may not be perfect, but it has some promise.

You found a video with a dude huli-ing in the surf. Is that supposed to be worse than chronic back pain? The guy didn't look any worse for the wear after dumping in 3 feet of water.

HAHAHA - Auto-haters. I'm using that!

I've never sat in an Outback. I've spent a few minutes in a Revo and as many as 4 hours straight in my Oasis, and I've never had any issues with back pain or strain, but I agree that comfort is a safety issue too. When you are uncomfortable or strained you will fatigue more easily and probably not be as sharp mentally. I do think that mere inches could make a big difference in stability, but with stability to spare (eg: the Outback) it may very well be worth the tradeoff if it keeps you fresh and sharp all day.

As for me I guess I should just count my blessings that kayak seats don't bother me much... a win for the under 6 foot crowd!

There's a long and interesting thread on Hobie kayak seats on the Hobie forum at http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=50839 .

Can anybody find at walmart.com the seat Texan sis is using? I would give it a try this weekend. I haven't sold my yak, so I reluctantly and constrainedly have to go fishing.

Anyone here tried this seat out with the Outback?  If so, how do you like it?  I need a seat upgrade...

http://www.amazon.com/ALPS-OutdoorZ-Turkey-Hunting-Realtree/dp/B001G7QXA2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1399530587&sr=8-6&keywords=browning+camp+chair

Ok how did this mod work out?  Just thinking about the old hobie seat I have makes me angry. I can't believe I still put up with it. I bought the new locking peg conversion so maybe I'll try that first.

Ok how did this mod work out?  Just thinking about the old hobie seat I have makes me angry. I can't believe I still put up with it. I bought the new locking peg conversion so maybe I'll try that first.

Pretty bad.  The turkey hunting seat is too cheap and too high.  The mods to shorten it also weaken it even further.  I've seen other seat mods on the hobie facebook group that looked promising.  One guy modified a jackson seat to work on the hobie.

I actually gave up on the project and sold my outback.  I'm saving for a 2015 ob which the local dealer should be here in march.   

Ok how did this mod work out?  Just thinking about the old hobie seat I have makes me angry. I can't believe I still put up with it. I bought the new locking peg conversion so maybe I'll try that first.

I actually just finished doing the Browning Seat mod. I need to get on the water with it now to see what I need to change next.  Just sitting in it on the ground it feels fairly comfortable and sturdy.  I did reinforce  the legs where I had to cut them.

The only issue so far is that the cross bar for my pontoons needed to be removed for it to fit in.  I'll have to work on that once Carp season gets closer.

Nice Justin, looks solid.  I've been thinking about doing this for a while now so I'm interested to hear how it works on the water.

Glad you pursued this, Justin. I'm sure the inevitable stability and center of gravity comments are coming. ...but I'm pretty sure this is not your go-to seat for surf, etc.  Gonna look into this for fishing lakes and Lake Willamette, lol. Nice job!

I'm going to be using this for flat water obviously.  It really depends on how stable it is.

I took it out for a couple hours today. It works pretty damn good.

Stability?  Either I'm upgrading or mcgyvering a good seat for my older outbacks. There seems to be a few out there. Cool it worked for Ya!!!