09-14-2009, 11:47 AM
[quote albinotrout]Looking at it you might not even need the frame. Just set it on the seat and then bungee it to the backrest. Looks very similar to the Leigh 95 striker that I have.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Even more than providing additional height, and a bucket seat, is the consideration of what something like that will do to the center of gravity.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The old round tubes and the first U-tubes had seats that kept the tuber way down below the center of gravity. Almost impossible to flip one or to slide out if you leaned too far forward.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]"Modern" tubes, with inflated or foam seats, put the tuber much higher. Some, like the "Day Tripper" have you sitting way up there. Those things have numerous recorded incidents of tubers flipping or sliding forward out of the seat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The overall balance on Fat Cats is fine. Very stable. To raise the seat even a few inches could very well create a safety issue. The higher you sit the wider your base needs to be...and the longer. Pontoons have the correct ratios. Modifying a compact float tube into a pontoon might be inviting a dunking.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good idea in theory. Maybe not in practice.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Even more than providing additional height, and a bucket seat, is the consideration of what something like that will do to the center of gravity.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The old round tubes and the first U-tubes had seats that kept the tuber way down below the center of gravity. Almost impossible to flip one or to slide out if you leaned too far forward.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]"Modern" tubes, with inflated or foam seats, put the tuber much higher. Some, like the "Day Tripper" have you sitting way up there. Those things have numerous recorded incidents of tubers flipping or sliding forward out of the seat.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The overall balance on Fat Cats is fine. Very stable. To raise the seat even a few inches could very well create a safety issue. The higher you sit the wider your base needs to be...and the longer. Pontoons have the correct ratios. Modifying a compact float tube into a pontoon might be inviting a dunking.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Good idea in theory. Maybe not in practice.[/#0000ff]
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