Futile Camp Chair Question

[Odyssey]

I thought I was a genius, having bought a pair of those saggy bottom chairs for the jobsite. Sitting outside in the sun on a newly built back deck should've been glorious, but it wasn't. Not in those hip pinching back maladjusting things. Hearing a commanding voice from the distant past "SIT UP STRAIGHT, eyes to the blackboard. Good morning class" echoed in my ears as I constantly fidgeted in my seat. My work friend refused to use them after day 1. He chose instead a step we'd been using as a workbench. Solid and straight unlike the saggy chair I was wrestling to find comfort in. Eventually I sat on overturned plastic paint buckets placed up against the wall. Solid and straight and comfortable. It's funny, I used to think those slouchy chairs were comfortable, I've used them for I don't know how many backyard BBQs and concerts in the park, fireworks and picnics...They are now gathering dust in a shed.
I'm scanning chair ideas for the bicycling picnics my wife and I go on. It would be nice to plunk a chair down wherever we choose, when we don't feel like spreading a blanket or relying on picnic tables. And if I opt for a pair of chairs portable enough for a bike ride then for sure they'll become canoe trip worthy too.
Keep the good ideas coming ladies and gentlemen.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Crazy Creek. If you assume the doggy position your wife can use your back for stand up assistance. Then she can help you up

no Not THAT doggy position

 

[Odyssey]

We have a pair of those stadium type chairs. Surprisingly heavy for just fabric and reinforcing. They fit well into portage packs, my wife and I have used them for years now, but I would like a model with long legs. The chair.

 

[dougd]

After some serious thought and some research I decided on the ALPS chair. Heavier then I really wanted and a bit bulky but for what I'm going to me doing, mostly base camping, it will fit the bill. I like the sturdy build and it's more than comfortable and it has a can holder that actually FITS a coozie and it is high enough off the ground I don't have to roll out of it to get up! That's one thing I really disliked about the Helinox chair. When I am up for a trip again involving portages and daily packing up and moving I still have the other camp chairs to take. No trips like that this year though. Thanks for all of the suggestions!

 

[yellowcanoe]

Helinox makes a number of chair models now. The higher you go with the seat the more your wallet bleeds
.https://www.bigagnes.com/Gear/Camp-Furniture/Chairs

 

[dougd]

The higher you go with the seat the more your wallet bleeds.

I like that Kim! Made me chuckle!

 

[Odyssey]

I think I recall someone here once upon a time having made reference to gear items having intrinsic value relative to how often and for how long they're used. That makes sense to me. Buying something I'll use rarely and costing me dearly seems less vital to my tripping compared with an item frequently used at whatever cost. But maybe that is oversimplifying things. Trying to apply rational thinking to my cheapskate spending habits more like. I don't begrudge any item I trip with, but there have been "what was I thinking" purchases over the years, thankfully few of them. I'd hate a pair of chairs (his and hers) to be the latest edition of "it seemed like a good idea at the time". And at the wallet bleed prices (ha, thanks YC) I'm all the more hesitant of parting with my brass.
But I suppose we could buy 'em and use 'em all the time. to try to justify the bloodletting. Take them to every family BBQ. "Oh geeze, here's Brad with his novelty chairs. Won't let anyone sit in them. Just mutters something about getting his bloody money's worth."

 

[Guest]

After some serious thought and some research I decided on the ALPS chair. Heavier then I really wanted and a bit bulky but for what I'm going to me doing, mostly base camping, it will fit the bill. I like the sturdy build and it's more than comfortable

After zero consideration I bought a second ALPS chair; that $35 price from Steep & Cheap was too good to resist. Having recently seen the pending failure and saggy seat condition of the best of our big-box folding camp chairs I wanted at least one more ALPS for family trips.

About the heavier and bulkier, it is, how much heavier and bulkier is in the eye of the beholder.

I am a weighty fellow, with broad shoulders. I will kill a basic $8 folding camp chair in short order, and my shoulders do not fit between the backrest poles in any case. So I have bought the $20 XL big-box models, which come with thicker tubing and better reinforced corner connection. Compared to those XL folding chairs the ALPS is not that much heavier or bulkier.

Even with the XL folding camp chairs I drill out the flimsy pop rivet at the front leg X connection and replace it with a quarter inch bolt and nut.

Even so after a few years the stitching is failing, the corner reinforcements have worn wide open, the back of the armrests will not stay in place and the seat is so saggy that I need to lever myself out using the armrests. Just nope.

If packing space or portage weight was an issue the ALPS would be a terrible choice, but for base tripping in a big boy boat or car camping it will do just fine.

The flip side to that is seeing companions on glamping trips using ultralight gear, with frail UL tent zipper failures, blown out sleeping pads and teensy little chairs that hold their arse 2 inches off the ground. Also just nope.

 

[flyingbison]

After zero consideration I bought a second ALPS chair; that $35 price from Steep & Cheap was too good to resist. Having recently seen the pending failure and saggy seat condition of the best of our big-box folding camp chairs I wanted at least one more ALPS for family trips.

About the heavier and bulkier, it is, how much heavier and bulkier is in the eye of the beholder.

I have the ALPS Big Cat chair - also on S&C: https://www.steepandcheap.com/alps-...MI6-DJq8qr2wIVgrjACh1UQQKdEAQYASABEgJCa_D_BwE

These are the specs, according to the ALPS site:

Dimensions: 31" w x 17" d x 36" h
Total Weight: 11 lbs.
Weight Capacity: 500 lbs.

Seat Height Front/Back: 17"
Fabric Seat: 20" w x 17" d
Back Height: 36"
Total Width Back/Arms: 31"


Specs on the "Leisure Chair" model
Dimensions: 27" w x 16" d x 38" h
Weight: 13 lbs.
Weight Capacity: 300 lbs.

Seat Height Front/Back: 20" F / 16" B
Fabric Seat: 22" w x 16" d
Back Height: 38"
Total Width Back/Arms: 27" A

 

[yellowcanoe]

Ooh. Thinking of that on the Dickson Bonfield portage

its good our tripping styles vary

it would would be nice if Algonquin Outfitters offered rent a Sherpa

 

[flyingbison]

Ooh. Thinking of that on the Dickson Bonfield portage

its good our tripping styles vary

it would would be nice if Algonquin Outfitters offered rent a Sherpa

Yeah, those are definitely not chairs for traveling light!

Another comfortable chair for larger folks (like me) is the REI Camp Xtra Chair. It is a bit lower to the ground than the ALPS chairs, but the seat and back are wider.

 

[snapper]

Doug - Kim alluded to it but if you can get up and down easily enough, a Crazy Creek chair, or something similar, could be the ticket. There will be no sag in the bottom and you can adjust the back to what you need. I have two Crazy Creek set-ups. The lightest one is made up of two pockets of nylon that slip over my either end of my folded sleeping pad. You then adjust it with side straps. The second one is a full sleeve that slips over the entire sleeping pad; which stays in the sleeve; again with straps that allow you to adjust the back to what you need/want. Both have worked incredibly well for me and even after my knee replacement, they're still comfortable enough that one of them goes on every trip. While they're not as fancy as some of the chairs out there, they eliminate taking another item since your sleeping pad is part of the system.

That's all for now. Best of luck in your search for the perfect chair. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[Guest]

if you can get up and down easily enough, a Crazy Creek chair, or something similar, could be the ticket.

With old man bad knees I do not get up and down off the ground that easily anymore. That difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that, while I may spend much of a base camp day in a chair looking and listening, reading and writing, I tend to do so 20 minutes at a time.

Sit down, have a quite look and listen, think about something I want to do, get up. Sit down, read or write for a spell, get up, futz around, sit down, get up. That is not happening off the ground.

Plus I have become enamored of the Wind Chair backrest extension, especially during blowy off season trips. More on that and the ALP later.

 

[Guest]

I have the ALPS Big Cat chair These are the specs, according to the ALPS site:

Dimensions: 31" w x 17" d x 36" h
Total Width Back/Arms: 31"

I had the chance to see, and sit in the ALPS Big Cat chair.

I liked that the Big Cat had webbing straps and ladder locks to adjust and hold the back of the arm rests in the desired location, unlike the failed plastic grommets in invariably slide down on most camp chairs.

The name is deceiving; it does appear well made but I was expecting something XL sized and it is the same size as a standard folding camp chair. Outside armrest to outside armrest is 31 inches, but the spread between the poles in the backrest is only 17 inches and hits me right between the shoulder blades.

 

[flyingbison]

I had the chance to see, and sit in the ALPS Big Cat chair.

I liked that the Big Cat had webbing straps and ladder locks to adjust and hold the back of the arm rests in the desired location, unlike the failed plastic grommets in invariably slide down on most camp chairs.

The name is deceiving; it does appear well made but I was expecting something XL sized and it is the same size as a standard folding camp chair. Outside armrest to outside armrest is 31 inches, but the spread between the poles in the backrest is only 17 inches and hits me right between the shoulder blades.

It's a little pricier, but I bet you'd like the REI Camp Xtra Chair. Much wider that the ALPS one, and more comfortable (but also bulkier when folded up).

 

[Guest]

It's a little pricier, but I bet you'd like the REI Camp Xtra Chair. Much wider that the ALPS one, and more comfortable (but also bulkier when folded up).

It is not the width of the seat, even my plumpy arse fits in a standard camp chair. It is the width, and height, of the danged backrest.

For funsies I got one of the big-boy comfy ALPS Leisure chairs, and measured the distance between the backrest poles.

4 inches wider at the backrest poles than the Big Cat. But, more importantly, the backrest is extra tall, so the tops of the poles are not digging in and attempting crude acupuncture on my shoulders blades when I lean back.

We shall see; I have had that ALPS Leisure Chair for less than a year of use and abuse. So far, so good. If it ever does begin to fall apart it is worth some stitching/screwing/bolting/pop riveting repairs. I like the rigidity of the design.

We are now good now on camp chairs. I would not touch the Missus chair on a Double Dog Dare. She has babied that thing for years, and we understand that no one sits in mammas chair.

But we do have 3 fully equipped wind chairs for the boys and I. Or at least for me.

Some test fitting and seating was required.

P5280823 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I made up the usually ID key tags for the chair bags, and thought about identifying the chairs as MIKES CHAIR and MIKES OTHER CHAIR.

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/forum/general-paddling-discussions/diy/58487-stuff-bag-tags

I opted for ALPS CHAIR #1 and ALPS CHAIR #2. And found some overlooked stuff that still needed ID tags.

 

[BWCA66]

I know it's bulky but it's extremely light and easy to get in and out of. Fits great in the bottom of the canoe acting as a barrier between my duluth pack and a wet floor and slides under the front seat when I portage or sometimes I just strap it on the duluth pack. Everybody laughs at me when we take off and then fights to sit in it at the campsite.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I know it's bulky but it's extremely light and easy to get in and out of. Fits great in the bottom of the canoe acting as a barrier between my duluth pack and a wet floor and slides under the front seat when I portage or sometimes I just strap it on the duluth pack. Everybody laughs at me when we take off and then fights to sit in it at the campsite.

Sometimes I wonder if we are really improving things. This is one of those times.

 

[latremorej]

Sometimes I wonder if we are really improving things. This is one of those times.

Agreed!

Jason