Outdoor Concept No. 268123

February 27, 2009 at 4:07 pm | Posted in concepts, Furniture | Leave a comment

Circa 2006:  While at my previous employer, I tried to come up with some drastically different concepts to pitch to product line managers as well as to just satisfy my own desire for additional creative output.  This concept utilizes a typical approach to ‘sling’ seating, but strives for a drastically  minimalist and contemporary appearance.  Needless to say, this concept remained digital, never generating any interest for production.   The rendering alone looks good (Rhino model, Flamingo rendering plug-in) although I need to dig through my old files to find the original sketches…

Kayak Seat

February 12, 2009 at 9:47 pm | Posted in Kayaks | 2 Comments

2009:  The kayak development continues with a seat for the prototype.  The seat borrows an idea from traditional kayaks that utilized ribs for their structure.  The initial thought process formed around creating a one-piece seat that would have been fastened to the inside of the gunwales, providing thigh and sacral support while keeping one off the skin and keelson.  After some consideration, I realized that the one-piece seat idea not only required a non-trivial amount of effort and materials to create, but it would be impossible to install with the skin and coaming in place.

At some point, the idea to turn the one-piece seat into ribs came about, and it did not take long to determine that it would be relatively easy to prototype, install, and test, giving similar support qualities to the one-piece seat.  Because of the hull shape in the cockpit area, only one rib shape was required to span the open area between the plywood stations.

The ribs are laminated from thin slices of pine, and glued with Titebond III – all materials I happened to have on hand, and not necessarily the best materials to use for such a project, but sufficient for a proof of concept.  The ribs are fastened to the inside faces of the gunwales with a single screw per side.  No greater effort was required to mount them securely in place.

The rib seat works wonderfully, and even without any kind of foam padding feels much better than no seat at all.  There is sufficient thigh support, and no longer does the forward plywood station put undue pressure on the back of the thighs causing discomfort and eventually reduced blood flow.  Coupled with a sheet of closed-cell foam and a back rest/sacral support, the rib seat should be a comfortable and viable alternative to other seat styles used in skin-on-frame kayaks.  Expect a final report after more extensive testing has been conducted.

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