At our club, parachutes are never worn by members who fly club owned gliders. The adjustable K-21 seat backs are fairly deeply "concave" to provide room for a parachute. As a byproduct of that, a variety of cushions are used for comfort. Most of these
cushions require fiddling before each flight and are still sub optimal for comfort.

Has anyone modified their seatbacks to somehow fill in this void and then provide a cushion that is somewhat fixed in place on top? If so, would love to see what you did. I have some ideas, but welcome proven solutions.

Obviously, it would be preferable if the modifications were durable, but removable in case the glider was sold in the future, etc.

Gary

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On 04/02/2023 13:49, Gary Emerson wrote:

At our club, parachutes are never worn by members who fly club owned gliders. The adjustable K-21 seat backs are fairly deeply "concave" to provide room for a parachute. As a byproduct of that, a variety of cushions are used for comfort. Most of

these cushions require fiddling before each flight and are still sub optimal for comfort.

Has anyone modified their seatbacks to somehow fill in this void and then provide a cushion that is somewhat fixed in place on top? If so, would love to see what you did. I have some ideas, but welcome proven solutions.

Obviously, it would be preferable if the modifications were durable, but removable in case the glider was sold in the future, etc.

Gary

You can use a Parachute as a Cushion, even if time-expired - it might
open; but cushions used as parachutes rarely open.

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You can use a Parachute as a Cushion, even if time-expired

Your friendly FAA inspector will not take this view...

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On Monday, February 6, 2023 at 5:15:36 PM UTC-5, Tony wrote:

You can use a Parachute as a Cushion, even if time-expired

Your friendly FAA inspector will not take this view...

Our club has a very nice thick firm seat back cushion about the size of a parachute that fits the seat back very nicely.

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With no other suggestions, I'm eager to try and fill the void in the seat backs with a 2 part foam.

I'd prefer to end up with a very firm foam plug that I can secure to the seat back with some velcro and then put a softer cushion on the front surface. I was thinking of a piece of the 1" thick comfor foam with a durable fabric cover.

The internet has plenty of options on 2 part foam, but it's hard to tell which product or density would be best in this application.

If you have experience with a 2 part foam that would be suitable. Very firm and durable, please post a link. I estimate each seat back will need a finished volume of foam around .75 cu foot.

Thanks

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On Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 6:14:18 p.m. UTC-5, Gary Emerson wrote:

With no other suggestions, I'm eager to try and fill the void in the seat backs with a 2 part foam.

I'd prefer to end up with a very firm foam plug that I can secure to the seat back with some velcro and then put a softer cushion on the front surface. I was thinking of a piece of the 1" thick comfor foam with a durable fabric cover.

The internet has plenty of options on 2 part foam, but it's hard to tell which product or density would be best in this application.

If you have experience with a 2 part foam that would be suitable. Very firm and durable, please post a link. I estimate each seat back will need a finished volume of foam around .75 cu foot.

Thanks

I had a pair made by my automotive upholsterer. Using advanced CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) a corrugated template of the interior cavity guided his creation of 3" thick formfitting cushions for $20 each. They're covered in automotive upholstery vinyl and
have a zipper for removal.

No more pain across the back from the hard ridge or awkward folding of a too-large cushion. And, I've had added tail number embroidery on top to discourage their migration to other club gliders.

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