altering Fralick 25SSH lake racer to have a seat.

[mcb394]

I have been building a couple of 25SSH's for awhile now, I haven't been able to dedicate much time to it so I'm still not very far into the build. I have developed some slight knee problems and I was curious if it would be unsafe/unwise to modify the plans to give the boat a seat rather than riding on my knees?

I imagine I would need to move the steering back... but otherwise I haven't really thought it through.

How would you recommend making this mod? Has anyone tried such a modification?

[jeff55v]

Knee problems

What kind of knee problems? I gotta tell ya, I've had a lot of knee problems myself. Very sharp pain that can just about knock me down with the pain. It's brought on occasionally by: going up steps, climbing a ladder, or pushing a lawn mower uphill.
Why am I boring you with this? I was very concerned driving a race boat on my knees would be painful. It was not. I don't know why, but racing didn't bother them in the slightest.
Now, pulling the boat out of the water on the boat dolly, THAT bothered my knees!
I think just about everyone on this site is gonna think putting a seat in a kneeldown boat is a sort of blasphemy. (sorry)
Whatever you choose to do, I hope ya git r done and go have some fun with it. Have you been to any races in your area to watch and mingle with others? Lake racing is fun, but after a while it gets kinda boring. Now racing with others... that kind of fun lasts forever!

[KG4]

I dont think a seat would work because of the body english required to drive it.Mabey look into a mini gt boat or something similar.Good luck

[pops67g]

Have a seat...

If you are talking about just putzing around the lake on a lazy summer afternoon why not just sit in the boat? The thing that I wonder about is whether your back would get jolted worse than your knees unless you lean the seat back sufficiently. I personally move around so little in my D boats that I would have no problem sitting as opposed to kneeling. Make the seat position adjustable so that the best balance can be established. JUST DO IT!(you can always change it back if you don't hack the boat to bits to try this)

[mcb394]

My knee problems are mostly arthritis working its way in. Squatting like a catcher in baseball is a problem.

The mini GT boats on the net sort of look like what I'm thinking of trying to accomplish. obviously I don't have a tunnel hull or quite as big of a boat. In thew mini GT class are their legs strait out in front of them(like sitting on the floor) or is there some room to bend them?

The body english was one of my main concerns. I have never driven a boat like this so I don't really have a feel for how they run. I suppose it is different for everyone.

Unfortunately the only racing we have around here is the slightly larger boats. Although there is one other household that has a few A boats. Otherwise we will be racing against ourselves and jet skis .