Seating Options
There are many possibilities for seating on a River King cataraft. These suggestions apply to all our models which use the same basic design and interchangeable frame components.
First, because of the large flat surface areas of our upper and lower decks, you may not need to purchase any seats for your cataraft at all - depending on how you intend to use your boat. The two 14 inch wide Starboardtm upper decks that run the length of the frame on each side over the tubes are handy places to sit, especially if you are using an outboard. If this works for you, some inexpensive indoor/outdoor carpet, laid down on strips of double back carpet tape, will be a little softer to sit on and will also keep the deck cool in the hot sun.
We build most of our catarafts with black Starboardtm upper decks to reduce glare and also to make the boat easier to camoflage as a duck blind. If you are located where the sun really beats down, such as the US South, the indoor/outdoor carpet would be a good idea anyway as it will keep the black deck surfaces from getting too hot to touch. You can also order your boat with a lighter colored Starboardtm such as gray, white or sand at no extra cost - but this could take some extra time for us to get the material in. You can check out the available colors at the King Starboard website.
The flat cedar lower deck provides a convenient place to tie down your coolers - or anything else that needs to stay put. Standard outfitter type buckle straps can easily drop through the gap between the lower deck slats and back up again to secure these items anyplace along the deck. Coolers make great seats because you usually need a place to store things anyway and a cooler can double as a seat which saves room on board. I usually have at least two cooler seats on my boats; one for food items, liquids and ice - and the other as a dry box for extra clothes, camera, etc.
Going one step further, with an electric drill and few stainless steel screws, nuts and washers - you can attach almost any fishing style seat to the lid of most coolers. The oarsman's seat on the large white cooler in the photo below is our low-back tractor style seat. A good choice for passenger seats is the Action Seat (or something similar) also visible in the photo below mounted to the aft cross brace and with the back rest tilted forward. These are usually available in the sporting goods department at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. We can provide these too as a convenience but our price on these will be higher than you can get them for yourself.
Tip: Note that almost all fasteners on our frames use 5/16"-18 thread size - which translates to a 1/2" wrench or nut-driver size. If you stay consistent when you add anything to the frame, like attaching a seat to a cooler lid, then the same 1/2" size tool will work for attaching / removing / adjusting whatever you add. You don't need to take a whole tool box with you on the water. A 1/2 inch nut driver, a 1/2" box/open end wrench and a flat and a phillips screwdriver will cover everything on the boat including the rowing system components like the Oar-sleeves and Oar-rights which will need the screw drivers for fine-tuning the oar setup for the convenience of those who might like to take a turn at the oars.
When purchasing a cooler get a sturdy unit with strong handles that you can tie down securely and with a thick lid that can support some of weight - like the white Igloo cooler in the photos here. Much of the oarsman's thrust from the oars will be transmitted to the frame through this seat.
In addition to mounting to the top of coolers with screws through the lid, perhaps backed up by some thin plywood on the other side, Action Seats can be mounted to any long cross brace on the frame. In the photo an Action Seat is mounted to the rear cross brace with the hinged seat-back folded down. We provide a bracket for this purpose that you can screw solidly to the holes on the underside of the Action Seat - that clamps around any of our cross braces. (Screws and hardware provided.)
Action Seats come with or without pads and with or without a rotating base. The padded seat and back is nice but I don't recommend the swivel base for seats used on a cataraft set up for river drifting - although these would be OK for lakes or ponds. Especially don't use the swivel base under the oarsman's seat as the oarsman's butt needs to be very solidly connected to the frame through the seat. Also, the oarsman's seat, if you use one at all, should have only a low back support, like our low-back tractor seat, to allow complete freedom of movement of your upper body at those times when you really want to crank on the oars. The higher back on the Action Seat can inhibit full oar strokes.
I usually recommend that new cataraft owners start off with a couple of good sturdy coolers, perhaps the kind with removable seat pads. After using the boat a few times with those you'll get a feeling for if you even need to add more elaborate seats. On some flyfishing rivers you'll spend very little time in the boat and use it mostly to get to the next pool where you'll secure* your boat and wade fish from there. You can always add fancier seats later if you need them.
Safety Tip: Carry an extra line to tie your boat off to a tree or large bush when you pull over to the side of the river to wade fish - rather than depend on the anchor(s). The steady pull of the current plus the repetitive wave action can sometimes pull your boat, a half inch at a time, out into deeper water - where the anchors become useless. If you have any doubts about the boat staying put, wade only downsream from your boat and not very far.
