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Dry box seating conundrum

12K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  Dr.AndyDVM 
#1 ·
Hi all,
Just got a new raft, a 16' Maravia diminished tube with single tube NRS frame and 10" towers. I ordered a 44x16x16" box for it and was planning on sitting on it to row. It's 5" above the cross bars.

However, I live near Boise and do 2-3 day runs per week down the Payette River. I like to keep the box packed with all the kitchen and camping stuff. It keeps it all together and not spread out all over the garage. When I go camping or do overnights, it's easy to just grab the box and go. However, I don't really want to drag all that stuff along for day runs. In my old 14, I had a Salmon River frame and rowed from a box too. For day runs I had a bench Cy at Cambridge made me that lifted me 4-5 inches and sat over my drop bag. This was the setup I used 90% of the time.

I was thinking of a DRE mesh chair over the new box or an NRS flip seat that I tweaked to use with or without a box. I wouldn't mind a bench/buckboard like I have on the other boat either. You guys that row from boxes. What do you do on day trips? What do row from when you're not using the box?

Here is my old setup. It has a cushion and two loop straps holding the buckboard down. The buckboard was lashed to the cross bar in back so it could swing open for access to my drop bag.
View attachment 11217
Here's a better look. With the frame off the old raft.
Vehicle
Auto part Machine Tool accessory Vehicle

And swung open.
View attachment 11220

Here's the new raft without the box.
Vehicle Yellow Inflatable boat Boat Automotive exterior

Grass Recreation Play Leisure Floor

Inflatable boat Vehicle Auto part

Thanks.


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#4 ·
Id look into the DRE seat they also make a flip seat bracket that you can bolt a tractor seat on. Id have it built to fit over the box. With the added heigth of the seat you might need taller towers which in that case Id get the DRE towers. Ive never liked the NRS towers comparied to the DRE towers
 
#5 ·
It still amazes me the money people are paying and buying part of a frame all pieced together and none of it works well at all. Raise the towers , oh put the lawn chair on,raise the towers more. Hey mom I just spent 8 grand on a messed up erector set. I assume your a Veteranarian from you screen name, probably make way more than me. How did you get conned into that frame. No disrespect meant but you should kick the shop in the balls that sold you everything but the raft, that raft is sweet
 
#6 ·
It still amazes me the money people are paying and buying part of a frame all pieced together and none of it works well at all.
Well it looks like the OP has an Piece together frame. I have the same type. For me it is because my "piece together" frame is a great frame. It's light, rigid, versatile, and infinitely adjustable. Maybe not quite as much a welded frame, but not far either. There are some folks out that will counter that but that is mostly because they are trying to put down other frame makers in hope of selling their own... But you wouldn't know anything about that.
 
#10 ·
^^^^beat me to it. Get an action packer. Keep your car camping kitchen complete in it, and leave the dry box in the boat. Row from the dry box, have your raft set up one way, and spend 5 minutes loading from the action packer when you do overnighters. I like having the dry box in the boat to stow straps, throwbags etc. out of the sun, stuff PFD's in there for the drive home, etc. I really don't like rowing from that high of a seat, once you put one on a flip bracket over a dry box. Riverbound, you're an assclown.
 
#12 ·
Elkhaven, actually it wouldn't be more difficult on a welded frame. Once again this has all been figured out but people refuse to acknowledge it because they want to protest buying stuff that works to be jerks. I remember why I quit posting here, came back 8 months later and still the same issues going on. pro-river-gear mountainbuzz can get all pissed if they want but call and ask someone who knows what they are doing. Scroll down to NRS latch in kit. You can have any accessories you want built to latch in and out of your NRS frame including a lightweight bench or a box at the required height. You just have to buy the correct box from the get go. Hope that helps, I have sat in the tall mesh seats and they are miserable (for me anyway).
Buzz will probably erase this because everyone can mention any other brand but this one for some reason they intentionally stifle , and you wonder why no one shows any of their sweet gear.
 
#14 ·
I adjust my bars slightly and replace the dry box with a cooler for day trips. You always need a cooler - even on day trips. Ideally you get a cooler which can rest on the bars, like a Canyon, Yeti or the Big Sky (RIP), but any will work. My Big Sky 80 has the same bar span as my dry box, and sits the same height above the rail, so I can swap out as needed and row from the same height.
 
#16 ·
I have a seat mounted strait to a dry box. No bracket no nothing. I used to switch it out with a seat bar. Now I unload it and run the dry box for the same reasons a lot of others have stated, nice place to store things to and from river. Hell I usaly take a small cooler and set it in the dry box.


Of course I have a tinker toy frame and my box is crappy and I did not consult with PRO before I bought my frame. I wish I new enough that I had to have some one tell me what kind of welded fixed for ever frame would totally satisfy my every need.

Oh wait I do have a welded totally fixed forever frame but it is a play frame for a cat. That is where they have a purpose. Not on a raft that you switch back and forth for multi day and day trips.

Sorry Dr. Andy for hijacking your thread. But I hope my first paragraph helps. The Rest is all BOUND for the RIVER
 
#17 ·
I think many folks lose sight of what rafting rivers should be about. To them It's about drinking too much and sexy powder coated frames and such. Nothing wrong with some of that, but really, do they remember much about the experience? It least when they're getting hammered out of their minds they can measure dry boxes and dicks. And then wake up, rinse and repeat...


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#18 ·
Here are couple pictures of the bracket and seat. There are slots so the seat can be moved forward or back and cutouts along the sides to get the bracket down over the crossbars as low as possible. The holes in the front and rear of the bracket are for pins that fit through the bracket and crossbars which are drilled correspondinly.
 

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#19 ·
Thanks for the replies. It doesn't sound like there are any really great solutions.

The reason I took the dry box out in the first place was due to an injury to my wife's foot. We were running the Alpine Canyon of the Snake River near Jackson. She was riding on the tube in the stern behind me. We went through a rapid and the floor dropped briefly. She was bracing against the box and her foot slid under and became entrapped between the floor and the box when it returned to normal position. I heard yelling behind me but didn't think anything about it because we were in the middle of a rapid having a great time. Then she started hitting me on the back of the vest and I turned around and saw how much pain she was in and saw her foot was entrapped. I stood up on the floor of the raft and pushed it down and freed up her foot. It was trapped for about 5-10 seconds. Her foot was very painful and swollen. It had been crushed between the aluminum box and the drop stitch floor. She had difficulty walking for several weeks and it continued to cause her pain for about a month and a half. She did not want to get back in the raft until we took the dry box out. AND SO THAT DRY BOX HAD TO GO! FAST! Now it's full of camping gear and as I explained previously, I kind of like it. I did put a drop bag under the buckboard, so I still had storage.

I called the DRE people today and they said I'd have to add 1/2 inch spacers on the front and back of the box as well as change the tab height from 5" below box top to 3". I don't want to screw up my box with the required modifications. If I do get a DRE seat, I'll never use it on top of the box. I'll take it off to use the box. IF, I end up going that way. Maybe, I'll just have another buckboard made. Maybe, I can figure out a way to turn it into a 2nd table. I like that idea.

Maybe I'll get an action packer and sit on the box all the time. I'm just worried about a repeat on my wife or one of my kids. I use the box on multi days. It's not a problem then because the back is full of stuff and no people are behind me.

If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.

Here's how the build is progressing. View attachment 11234


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#25 ·
Unfortunately I think the stuck/smashed foot or leg between the dry box or cooler and the floor is pretty common. It has happened to a couple people I know, although not to that level. Maybe a frame floor in the areas she sits would reduce her drybox anxiety level.
 
#21 ·
Riverbound,
Thanks for your reply. In regards to your question of why I don't call the guy from Oregon, I did consider it. But I have rowed a custom frame that came with the 1st raft I bought used, 2 years ago. I've been rowing on it for 2 years and I don't think it fits me well. It was made for another much shorter guy. The thing is, I know I don't like this frame or at least I think I don't, but I don't know what I do like. I just don't have enough experience. I've only rowed that one frame. For all I know, it could be awesome and everything I try from here on out could be down hill. I want to figure it all out. That's why I went modular. This way I can play around, change things up and find what I like and don't like. Once I get that figured out, then I might go back to a custom.
Thanks,
Andy


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#22 ·
I am stuck in the same position except my cooler is my seat. When setup for day trips I rarely use a cooler at least not a big cooler. I was working on ways to modify my frame to work for me then decided to keep an eye on CraigsList for a cheap day frame. That way I would not need to be hauling around a bunch of extra frame that I don't need.
 
#26 ·
I should have noticed that. What about breaking down your buck board that you have.. that would give you two of these brackets and buying a high or low back seat you could trade between the two. Or just get one for each.. you already have the harware. You may be looking for a better option but seems like a solution for now..

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#27 ·
Unfortunately, the brackets are custom made to fit the size of the hole. My first dry box was 13". The new one is 16". But, I could order some new ones and do it again. I like my idea about trying to marry the brackets to this, the one that is 16"x48":
Tables

I would love to have a second table. The only problem is I'd love it most on overnights... when the box is on the boat and the buckboard/table seat is at home. How to combine the bracket to the table so the legs can open.
 
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