Thunder Seat Installation

THUNDER SEAT INSTALLATION

Undo the bolts holding in the original seat and keep them. You'll need those to install the new seat. Remove the backband, and the hip pads, and then remove the original seat.

If you want to raise your paddling position, place two foam blocks as shown. These would be 3" wide, by the thickness you prefer, and located in line with the side drop down plastic parts (we call them hip pad tabs).

Before putting the seat in the kayak, measure 4" from the back of the seat, and make a mark on the seat.  Measure 5" forward of that and make another mark. And finally measure down from the top 3" and make a cross mark on your original.

You can then cut vertical slots 15mm (0.75") long using a dremel, or alternately, use a 0.75 hole saw and drill a round hole. Clean up the cut so there are no sharp edges to cut the hip pad webbing.

Locate the seat in the boat so the back of the seat is almost touching the foam wall, and is centered on the hip pad tabs. This is neutral. Move it forward or back according to your preference from this starting point. 

Place a +30lbs weight on the seat, nice and centred to have positive pressure downwards on the hull pan, make sure everything is centred and lined up (visually), and then drill one hole through the seat and through the hip pad tabs as shown/ Make sure there is NOT a velcro rivet behind where you are drilling. Adjust as needed. Insert the first bolt on one side and tighten. Now do the first bolt on the other side, making sure that the seat is pushed down to the same extent as side 1 (you can measure this if you're not comfortable doing it visually).

Once these are done, now do the second hole, measuring again if you're not comfortable doing it visually so they're the same side to side.

Cut the sewn tab off the hip pads, and burn the webbing with a lighter. Unthread the webbing from the buckle.

Thread the BOTTOM hip pad strap buckle through the rear hole, and the webbing through the front hole. Reach behind the seat, thread the webbing theough the buckle and tighten it. The top webbing wraps around the hip pad tab above the seat.

If you like you can get sticky back velcro from a hardware store and stick this to the seat for additional hip pad stability.

This is how the hip pad looks installed.