Otter Seat

[druthrbfishn]

I bought a new Otter Magnum 2-3 years ago but couldn't afford the seat. Any ideas about seats other than the $150 factory seat? I'm sure it is comfy and compact but that is more than I spent in the first 25 years I ice-fished. Thanks

[PUNISHER]

What have you been using for a seat for the past 2-3 years? 

I just got the otter den with the cushioned folding seat.
It's comfy and nice but it's width does take a lot of the storage room away from the sled.
And with the smaller den I have limited storage space to begin with.

I wish I could slide the seat back and forth on the support bar.
The way they make the support bar adjustable would limit the sliding range, but some adjustability would be better than none IMO.

I almost think that the small "square" seat with the fold up back rest that you see on some bucket/cooler combos is a better option.

One thing I've been thinking about is doing a "mod" to my sled.
Putting in a deck w/ some hatch compartments and either mounting a seat to that, or putting in one of those bucket/cooler with seat combos.
Or maybe just leaving a seat out altogether and sit on a boat cushion or folding stadium seat right on the work deck mod.
Check out:
http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB30&Number=1174136&page=1&fpart=4
or
http://www.mattjohnsonoutdoors.com/mod2.html
They show the kind of square seat I'm taking about and shows the kind of mod I'm talking about.

But I haven't had the chance to actually get my den out on the ice and fish from it yet.
So I'm going to hold of doing any mods to it for a while until I can actually get out and see how I want everything set up.

I would think with a few small pieces of angle iron (or the heaver gauge utility angle w/ all the predrilled holes) and some 2x2's, glue and some plywood you could fashion a support bar and mount a seat to it in similar fashion to the ones otter sells.
Been throwing around the idea of doing this to make a small work deck area, beer and rod holder that could be easily adjusted or removed instead of putting in a full blown mod.

[druthrbfishn]

I have been using a folding lawn chair, works OK. The legs have to straddle the sled, a little awkward. I like your idea about a steel frame but I have a tendency to make things heavier than necessary. The bench seat does look a little bulky. They do make single seats for the sled and I think they slide? Thanks for the post. let me know what you come up with.

[PUNISHER]

I have the single seat in my Den.
The back of the seat folds down like a boat seat.
It does slid side to side on the sled but doesn't have the ability to slide along the bar, which would be nice.
It's just that it is quite wide.
When the tent is folded down and the seat is pushed all the way to the front, theres only room for one bucket in the sled.
There's still some room for shorter stuff under the folded tent and seat/support bar, like the flasher, bait bucket and beer.
As always it's a trade off of space and weight when you're hand dragging.

I was doing a little more thinking, and thought maybe using some square tubing and the utility angles might be a better option than the wood.
Going to have to get out and do some fishing before I can figure out what it is I want to do.
And for that I need the ice to thicken up some more, only got 3"-4" of sketch snow coverd white ice.

Check out the links I posted and do some searching for portable mods on the forums and you'll find alot of good ideas.