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Austria, Vienna
1 Level
727 Review
41 Karma

Review on Ultimate Comfort on the Water: GCI Outdoor SitBacker Adjustable Canoe Seat with Back Support by Jay Kowal

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Not perfect, but good enough!

I bought this seat cushion to use on a 3 day whitewater canoe trip and when we all got to the bus trip half of us had the same seat in different colors. There doesn't seem to be much competition in the soft canoe seat market. So if you are reading this, you will probably go for this one. In general it works fine; It's light, comfortable, and has a metal frame that won't buckle despite the rigors of vigorous rowing and a few somersaults. It has two heavy-duty plastic clips that attach it to a standard canoe seat, while wide nylon straps keep it in place. Those belts are superfluous anyway. They never came off the seat while I was using it. There's a mesh pocket on the back that's good for a koozie or maybe paddle gloves if you're into. The carry strap comes in handy when carrying your boat, but who am I, Burt Reynolds? The main downside is the strap on the back. This is a piece that runs from the base of the seat through the backrest rails and around the other side. You can tighten it with a plastic buckle on one side that controls the seat's recline. This is a nice feature, but in practice the buckle is slow to slip and I found myself constantly pulling it up to maximum verticality before each fast water section. It can be engineered to do this rather than break under heavy loads. In this case, that minor inconvenience is better than a broken seat. For what it's worth, I later tried it in shallow water to dry with no issues. So if this is your game, you should be good to go. All in all, it's the best you're likely to find anywhere near this price point. And it definitely performed better than the aluminum Cincinnati Bengals stadium seat my friend brought, which lived up to its name and instantly folded in half under load. Suitable for rear seat, front seat only. The back is too narrow for loops.

Pros
  • Boating
Cons
  • Minor repairability