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Futile Camp Chair Question

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Penacook, NH on a back road
Even before back surgery the regular camp chairs that I have, probably 5, of still hurt my back. What I find is that the butt part sags/is lower than I find comfortable. Anyone have any suggestions on something that is foldable/fairly compact that would have a "straighter" butt part of the chair? I really don't have a way to carry a conventional lawn chair, to big and bulky and I don't want to pack a cushion of some type to put in a camp chair. I have thoughts on building something that would break down into a kit that I could stow in a bag. I know it's a long shot but thought I'd ask.

dougd
 
I have the original Helinox chair. It is unbelievable after a long day on the water. The only negative is it can be a little difficult to climb out of because it sits rather low. Take a look at the camp chair. It is one of their new models. A little pricey but stands taller. Much easier to get in or out of and no seat sag. I tried one out at the local outfitters over Christmas and could not believe it. There are a couple even more luxurious models with head rests and such. Helinox is a division of Big Agnes.

Mike
 
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Doug, maybe one of those ultralight butterfly chairs. I suggest the two legged version, so your unbalanced arse is only 3 inches off the ground before it topples over when one leg sinks in the sand.

No?

I saw a couple folks with these on a group trip last fall. A trip on uneven ground, where three folding Walmart camp chairs irreparably bit the dust. Poor Tom had to explain to the wife that he had taken two of her camp chairs, and left them both in a dumpster in NW Pennsylvania.

https://www.steepandcheap.com/alps-mountaineering-leisure-chair?CMP_ID=PLA_GOc005BR&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PLA&k_clickid=3674b024-2770-bfc8-c3df-00005cce6367&rmatt=tsid:1042825|cid:1056320552|agid:54437764520|tid:pla-378055492069|crid:250416115597|nw:g|rnd:2321000589442892035|dvc:c|adp:1o3|mt:|loc:9007844&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIh76e0fOU2wIViVuGCh0rDwPpEAQYAyABEgJYdfD_BwE

Those ALPS folding chairs are heavy, 13 freaking pounds. With a 300 lb weight capacity, which is the equivalent 2.5 DougDs.

The design and construction is far superior and wayyyy more years-of-use durable than a Wallyworld folding camp chair. Well worth another few dollars and another few pounds for my no-portage uses.

The whole chair is very ruggedly constructed. And, to your specific seat pan desires, no sag; the seat fabric is held very rigid, unlike big box stuff that ends up sagging into a hammock arse depression over time.

We have, and have had, many too many cheap folding camp chairs, and every one of them failed, either at the seat pan stitching or at the cheesy pop rivet front leg X connection. For a few bucks more the ALPS chair will last much longer.

I've been very happy with this: https://www.camptime.com/collections/chair

The 19 inch chair height allows me to sit with my knees bent at a 90 degree angle. This eases getting up; bag chairs seem to have my butt so low I almost need a handhold to get vertical.

Willie, I believe I have helped Grab my hand pulled you out of some low slung chairs. And you me. The biggest issue with cheap bigbox chairs is folks using the armrests to help lever themselves upright and mobile. The winky 3 16 ths inch aluminum pop rivet connecting the front leg X is prone to catastrophic failure under that front leg stress.

With the big box cheapos I drill out that flimsy rivet and replace it with a quarter inch bolt, washer and nylock, which lasts until the stitching fails.

Tripod stools? Dayum Willie, you are made of tougher stuff than I. We have a couple variants of those three legged stools, and every single one crushes my low hanging, old man balls. Plus there is no backrest to lean into, and no armrest to help lever myself out of the chair after a few beers.

Nope, screw that tripod stool stuff. I am not milking a dang cow around the campfire; gimme arm rests, and a back rest to lean into so I can Just resting my eyelids nod off in comfortably.
 
I have some chairs from Sports Unlimited, that are similar to the one Cliff Jacobson recommends in his book Campings Top Secrets. The backs are high enough to lean on to rest my back. which is a big relief for the soreness I get from portaging and paddling. They are a little narrow and I can see where a big guy could tip over but I haven't seen anything new on the market that I would upgrade to.

Unfortunately Sports Unlimited website doesn't show them anymore.
 
Thanks Will. Seems to be what I'm looking for. Does the butt part of the chair sag over time or is it pretty sturdy? Many thanks.

Mine hasn't sagged and I've got about 10 years on it. It is not pancake flat like a wood chair, but is fairly level given that it is fabric you are sitting on. Mr. McCrea's eyesight is failing. This chair has 4 legs, not 3. And it is rated to handle a 250 lb guy. My favorite features are the ease it provides to go from sitting to standing and the back rest is quite effective at providing support. A Lazy Boy it is not, but there is a lot of comfort in this small package
 
Just a couple more possibilities. We have a second mini beach chair that is more compact but I could not find it. The cane seat is low but for sure the seat does not sag.
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Last year I was shopping for a camp chair at LL Bean. I sat in one and I couldn't get out, it was to low. I had to roll on the floor. but I looked around to make sure no one could see me - coast was clear I rolled. I decided to look for a chair higher off the ground and I found one online. It is by Kingcamp. I used it last summer and It worked well and was low priced.

Here's a link - https://www.ebay.com/p/KingCamp-Ult...m=192395769132&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
 
A wise man goes to Bean at two am.
I did the same but the demo chair was at an REI
and next to the registers
Hubby had to help me out
glad the REI was in Utah. No one knew me
 
I chose a Helinox Chair One, mostly after yellowcanoe spoke of hers.
Hands down the most comfortable pack chair I have ever used.



Boy was I the brunt of too many jokes as my buddy compared his $35 Helinox clone to my genuine Helinox chair.
Same size, same weight, same construction, even the same color! For 1/3 of my price!!

A deal too good to be true...at least until he sat in it for 20 minutes. 1st one leg bent, then broke as he tried to straighten it.
30 minutes later, creeeek, there goes the other leg!

The gang no longer ridiculed my purchase.

see if you can pick the clone from the genuine article:

View attachment 9GGAP3JAXuvbXW-Sll0KWvRz7qGEJgjdQpze-oz9PTKScnawauD3MUhpSKTvtTctMAxVY00M4QUJDCwSFkP98WzMtu7xfDc8hH1N
 
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Just fold the chair up, put it away, and wait about 10 years. By that time, your butt will probably have sagged enough to fit the chair seat.
 
Just fold the chair up, put it away, and wait about 10 years. By that time, your butt will probably have sagged enough to fit the chair seat.

Maybe not Dougs still skinny Grandpa arse. My butt has grown with age to fill even big boy folding camp chairs. I do not mind the lowered seat sag as much as the personal extraction difficulties from that stretched out nylon fabric butt cup.

Inexpensive big-box folding camp chairs, all designed much the same, suffer from several construction and material defects. Namely:

Nylon fabric, which stretches and sags.
Four poorly reinforced plastic corners that suspend the seat pan, which wear out and cause even more sag.
No side rails and sleeves to hold the seat pan stretched laterally flat.
Cheap, poorly executed stitching.
Weak 3 16 ths inch pop rivet connections on the folding leg connections.

Especially the flimsy pop rivet at the front of the folding leg X that takes most of the sheer forces. Once the seat pan has worn down the crappy corner reinforcements to produce a deep slung depression the easiest way to extract oneself from the now suspended seat is to lever upwards using the front of the arm rests. Which exerts undue sheer forces on that front pop rivet.

That levering force produces eventual bent & wanked death on that critical front pop rivet. I replace that flimsy pop rivet with a 3 16 th or quarter inch bolt, washer and nut, and carry spares for companions failed chairs. (In a pinch a bent nail or tent stake, duct taped in place, will suffice)

But the nylon seat fabric still sags overtime, and the corner reinforcements still wear out and make the seat sag even worse, in a nightmare of planned obsolescence.

The ALPS chair is heavy, and not portage friendly. And it is slightly wider when folded and stored in the carry bag than a standard big box folding camp chair. But it is ruggedly constructed with polyester fabric, sleeved taut inside aluminum side rails, and well stitched. The design shows no sign of sag or wear and has already lasted longer than the big box junk.

For my no-portage, big boy, high-volume solo canoe applications, and other tripping truck and base camping uses, that ALPS chair does the job.

Having suffered catastrophic and un-repairable chair failures mid trip I will happily accept the ALPS size and weight. Sitting on a log or a rock just does not cut it for the remainder of a trip, and I will pay the weight penalty for some never-fail solution.

Plus I could not get out of a 4 inch high butterfly chair, legs and ankles unhappily displayed in ground hugging stable fly proximity, without a chain hoist.
 
I've had one of these for a few months now, but very impressed so far. Only used it a few times but the large feet are a huge plus in these parts, ENP beach sand, sandy loam:soils, and swamp biomass that I frequent. Its very sturdy too, seems a bit more so than the helinox chairs I've fiddled with at big box stores. The feet are what got me to go with it over the helinox and equivalent camp chairs with those pointy legs, which would sink to my arse instantly in most places I would want to use it afield. I'm about 200lbs or so depending on the humidity, big foot chair shows no signs of struggling with my weight and floats over sand as advertised and packs very small. Time will tell on how it holds up but so far I like it a lot and will be buying another soon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IRVUC2O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Helinox for me. Spent several days on Everglades beach windbound. There is now a groundsheet system for the legs that prevents sinking
 
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