Crazy Creek Chair III - Update

It's not that long ago that I reviewed this seat, my only niggle was that after a year the brass snaps that secure the seat to the kayak were corroding rather faster than I would have liked. This made them somewhat difficult to operate at times. The solution was to simply to source replacement items, though I'd hoped this could wait until the summer months.

However, this wasn't the case!. Whilst fishing in Essex the other week I was relaxing, leaning back into the seat, keeping an eye on the rod tips. With a bang I was thrown to the left, not enough to lose my balance and capsize, but enough to wake me up good and proper!. The seat had gone limp and looking into the footwells revealed a broken brass seat snap (see photo).

I cant say I was too pleased!, luckily there was nobody in the vicinity to hear just how displeased I actually was!. Fortunately I had a length of rigging chord with me which was used to secure the seat for the remainder of the trip.


Whilst looking through the garage a day or two later, I stumbled upon the original Big Game seat from Ocean Kayak. The snaps are also brass (left in above photo), though the build is far more substantial, the quality better, with the tolerance on the locking mechanism not as tight. All four where duly swapped over and the seat is now fully serviceable, what's more it's better than new, it's just a pity it didn't leave the factory that way.

Great seat, rubbish hardware!... upgrading the hardware will be required at some point in time.


Please feel free to comment.

Crazy Creek Chair III

When I purchased my Big Game it came with a seat as standard. It's actually not a bad seat, though I found that after 5-6 hours fishing I'd been shuffling around a bit due to 'numb bum syndrome'. Christmas was just around the corner and that was the only excuse I needed to purchase something more upmarket. I decided on the Crazy Creek III chair as it had received some good reviews, both here in the UK and over the pond in the US.

The chair was purchased from H2O kayaks for around £35 and duly arrived within 48 hours, good service. The quality is good, well put together using 600D nylon for the covering material. The base must be 4-5cm thick making is very comfy, though bear in mind this will raise your centre of gravity on the yak. Not a problem for me on a Big Game but it would be noticeable on other less stable kayaks.

The swivels clips are brass items, though plastic ones are also included. Fitting was a bit of a fiddle taking a wee while to get it positioned and adjusted correctly.

 

With the seatback vertical paddling is a comfortable experience, it's easily adjustable on the water if required. It's possible to recline the seat basically by sliding your bum forward so relaxing is achieved with ease. It's so comfy that I've nodded off to sleep on more than one occasion, one time for over two hours!.

On the rear of the seatback is a zip pouch in which can be housed a 2 litre hydration pack. I purchased one for for around £5, though it's yet to be used effectively due to the non-existent summer this year.

 

The chair can be removed from the kayak, and with the backrest clipped to the base it can be used as a seat, on a campsite for example.

I've now had the chair fitted for a year and it's proving very comfortable and durable. The only sign of wear is some light corrosion on the forward brass hinge clips, shown below. The seat is thoroughly freshwater washed and dried post each trip. Despite this light corrosion the chair should easily last several seasons before they require replacing.

It's turned out to be a good purchase which I thoroughly recommend.

Please feel free to comment.