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Camp Chair

Yellow Canoe, Haven't sat in it but just looking at the add:
1. Low to the ground and probably hard to get up out of.
2. Those little feet would sink into any soft ground and probably poke through the tent floor too.
Rob
 
I agree with Rob's observations. It looks like a Monarch Butterfly chair made on higher legs.

Chair satisfaction depends upon your goals. The goal of this chair is light weight, probably for backpackers. It would be of no interest to me for the type of canoe camping I do. But you really can't know if you like it unless you can sit in it.

So order it to try it out. There will be no shipping charge. And you can return it at any time for any reason in the future to any REI store you will surely pass on your journeys.

On edit: I just watched the video and realized that, like a tent, you must assemble this chair with folded poles and then clip on the mesh fabric. I wouldn't want to be bothered with that hassle. I like a chair that I can just open up quickly at lunch stops, rest stops, and that's the first thing I do with my full size chair when arriving at camp. But YMMV.
 
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It looks like just what I'd want for most of my Boreal forest trips. Weight and size on the portages are an issue so a 1 3/4 pound chair that fold up nice and small but still lets me lean back would be great. I seldom camp where the feet would dig in too far. Heck in Georgian Bay I have to tie rocks to my tent instead of tent pegs. Would I spend 2 minutes putting together a chair that allows me to fully relax and read a book at the end of the day - you bet! I've tired everything else that I've found and found all of them lacking.
Buy it and let me know ;)
 
I did not buy it and won't. Had to go to Massachusetts for grandsons hockey tournament in Northboro. On the way home I whined to stop at an REI. Lo and behold it was there...way down there... I sat in it but its a low sit. I don't know where they came up with 13 inches high. I could get up..with embarrassing assistance.(And there were seven REI reps in front of me..) The only plus was your butt IS off the ground and you don't have to balance on two legs. The shape of the seat is disconcerting. Its shaped like an ice cream cone..Ever sit in one of those? Its not real comfy and when you wiggle there is no wiggle room and the legs are kind of shifty.. I think on sand it would be a useless piece of furniture..the legs are barely bigger than tent poles.

I will continue with the Roll a Chair for most uses and the Kermit where weight is not an issue. Or the old Gamma lid bucket with the Crazy Creek chair.

I just had to test sit. Glenn I go by the Norwalk REI a fair bit; six or seven times a year. But because I forget exactly where it is, I am never in the correct spot to exit.
 
Here's my favorite chair of the many, many, of all sizes, I've used -- the GCI Unifold Recliner. It's the most comfortable bag chair I've ever sat in. Drum tight seat, no sagging, real chair seat height, three recline positions, and solid arm rests for relaxing, reading and getting up.

440


Chair choice depends on what kind of canoeing you are doing. Only a very small percentage of my paddling includes long carries. I can take this 9 lb. chair on everything else: day paddles, river trips, big lake circumnavigations, and portages using wheels. There are no portages, for example, on Georgian Bay, so why would I be worried about chair size or weight?

I take this chair on all my local day paddles to a favorite reading spot on a rock promontory, where I spend a few hours with a book before paddling back.

It's also a great car camping and lawn chair. I even use it in my bedroom.

Here's the REI link, which includes a review by me. Only $40.
 
Good report YC, thanks. Like you it's back to a stadium seat on a barrel when canoeing and a stadium seat on rocks when kayaking.
It's not unusual for me to have 4 to 6 portages a day when canoe tripping locally. Up north when it comes to canoe tripping by float plane, 9 pounds is a very big number.
I only sea kayak when on Georgian Bay or Lake Superior as the weather, waves and winds make canoeing problematic. Just got tired of being wind/wave bound using a canoe there.
I tried big folding type chairs but they take too much room in the kayak hold and I don't like strapping too much stuff on the decks. Stuff strapped on kayak decks can make for "interesting" times in cross-winds and waves.
Like Glenn says, it's all about where you're tripping. So, for me at least, the search for the perfect canoe and sea kayak tripping chair continues.
Ted
 
I received a REI Flexlite chair as a gift today and I do think that it is going to be nice.
 
Here's my favorite chair of the many, many, of all sizes, I've used -- the GCI Unifold Recliner. It's the most comfortable bag chair I've ever sat in. Drum tight seat, no sagging, real chair seat height, three recline positions, and solid arm rests for relaxing, reading and getting up.

Chair choice depends on what kind of canoeing you are doing. Only a very small percentage of my paddling includes long carries. I can take this 9 lb. chair on everything else: day paddles, river trips, big lake circumnavigations, and portages using wheels. There are no portages, for example, on Georgian Bay, so why would I be worried about chair size or weight?

I take this chair on all my local day paddles to a favorite reading spot on a rock promontory, where I spend a few hours with a book before paddling back.

We have the ubiquitous folding camp chairs from big box stores, and I’ve managed to keep them going with sewing and other repairs for years.

The weak point on those chairs is the flimsy pop rivets, particularly the one that holds the crossed front legs together. On soft sand or uneven surfaces it will bend, especially if you use the arms to lever yourself upright.

I’ve replaced that pop rivet on all of our chairs (often in the field after it bent to failure) with a machine screw, washers and nut, and repaired various seams that began to come loose.

I’d like to find something more durable and less maintenance heavy. I found this look at the GCI chair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=773MhsXYGO4

While I would certainly appreciate the ability to hold a wine glass on each arm, a bottle of bourbon and a cell phone all within easy reach the Unifold Recliner seems to a lot of plastic hinged and pop riveted parts similar to big box folding chairs.

Has it proven durable? Have you used it in soft sand?

I’d want to add the usual windshelter head rest extension and Ridgerest insulation for breezy winter trips.

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a593/CooperMcCrea/P1050467_zps84a1579a.jpg

I have a paddling pal who uses one of those wee two legged folding chairs – I’d need at least two people to help me get out of the thing. If I every managed to get into it.

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag66/Mike_McCrea/PA160425_zpsae0f5c11.jpg

I need to get to REI to pick up some Permethrin; if they have that GCI chair I’ll have a look. It might be just the place to lay the yearly dividend.
 
Mike, just a suggestion; check out Gempler's for large sizes of liquid Permethrin. I just bought a gallon ( .5%) much cheaper than the Sawyers or REI. I expect that quantity to be all I'll ever need. I've been doing some reading about ticks and their diseases. Not cheerful stuff.

Y.C. saw your chair the other day at REI, there sure seems to be a disconnect between the guy who designed it and actual usefulness in the field.
Hope you're still with us, that alligator didn't look anything like the nice one in Pogo.
Best Wishes, Rob
 
Cheap folding chair fix

Cheap folding chair fix

We have the ubiquitous folding camp chairs from big box stores, and I’ve managed to keep them going with sewing and other repairs for years.

The weak point on those chairs is the flimsy pop rivets, particularly the one that holds the crossed front legs together. On soft sand or uneven surfaces it will bend, especially if you use the arms to lever yourself upright.

I’ve replaced that pop rivet on all of our chairs (often in the field after it bent to failure) with a machine screw, washers and nut, and repaired various seams that began to come loose.

I took a look at one of the field repaired chairs and decided that I needed to beef up the 3/16” stainless machine screw I put in with something beefier, it looked a might wanked.

Good thing, because the screw snapped when I tried to back off the nylock.

The OEM 3/16” pop rivets are far too frail for that front crosspiece that bears the brunt of the abuse. I’ve used bent nails as well as the 3/16” boat repair machine screws I carry, and the nails actually faired better.

I’m going to skip the 3/16” stainless and use a stronger ¼ machine screw. That means drilling out those two front-leg-cross 3/16” OEM pop rivet holes to accommodate a sturdier screw.

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a593/CooperMcCrea/January Shop Days/P1250588.jpg

That oughta hold it.
 
Who ever invents the perfect camp Lazyboy is gonna make a fortune. I've seen broken and abandoned chairs in parks everywhere. Sad really, seems they were worth the effort to pack in. I have a couple sling/flop chairs - whatever they're called, at home. Before every trip I stand in front of one and interrogate it : are you gonna work? Are you gonna fail? Are you gonna carry your end of the deal?(more like MY rear end of the deal). They always get left behind. Last year I tried a MEC Senate Seat (stadium type seat). They were fairly comfortable. Just make sure you have your Merlot/Scotch/coffee within easy ground level reach, cause there are no Fred Astaire moves that will save you from looking like a drunken tuna, when you try to gracefully stagger to your feet. This chair is pretty comfy perched on a log, and the adjustable side straps help with the amount of recline you may choose. I give it a 4 out of 5; at least until I invent the first campfire Lazyboy.
 
No Lazyboy, but the Camp Time Roll a Chair is useful. Light and packs small. Has an 18 inch sit height. It does not sink far in sand either! But lacks some creature comforts like a reclining position and cup holders...:)
 
Cup holders! That's just what I've been missing! I'm sliding all the way into canoe glamping now...Our grownup kids can read me like a book, cause when they see me leave the house with my camel pack (dromedary type back pack) for a bike ride, they insist on "sniffing" the sippy mouth piece for signs of Merlot. Seems I've been known to allow occasional bouts of cycling to interrupt my very serious picnic plans. It's all a case of one's priorities, is it not?!
I'll google your chair. I'm not worried about the lack of reclining option, I can just about do that anywhere.
 
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