cockpit

In this view of the cockpit you get a good view of the Hammer's 'standard' seat which I think is as good as any rodeo option seat I've seen. Of course it isn't very flexible to different body sizes, but Riot has 3 different seats for the boat. However the cockpit itself is very narrow at the seat - making a larger seat perhaps unusable anyway? I found that the seat fits well enough that I don't need any hip pads, but is perhaps is just a hair too narrow for me, as my but aches after about 4-5 hours in the boat. Not needing hip pads makes it more painful to carry on my shoulder, but I've found the boat short enough to carry it with the back band on my shoulder, and the nose does not hit the ground. The backband it comes with is decent though a bit thin (and has no release system for stowing gear). You can see molded into the seat a waterbottle holder that is at right angle to the pillar. Also behind the backband connected to the seat are two loops of yellow polypro line for clipping in gear.

You might also be able to see that there are no thigh braces extending into the cockpit. Instead your knees 'hook' up into the hull of the boat off to the sides. This area is well padded with foam, and althoug it feels strange at first, provides very good control once you get used to it. Again with the sculpted seat, people who have thick thighs (cycle alot?) might have problems fitting them between the seat and the boat. The cockpit itself is of relatively small size, and you have to choose a skirt carefully. I've found my Mountain surf small keyhole cockpit (which was very tight on my Hurricane), fits pretty well. Others have had luck with Snapdragon skirts. The cockpit lip is nice and recessed, providing excellent protection from sheets of water, and is low enough that it is not rubbed at all by the paddle shaft when resting the paddle in your lap. There are two drains to on the side of the cockpit (which work, but are not very fast while playing), and two exist points front and rear of the cockpit spanned by the metal safety bars.