butt above heels, SES vs. V14

So, I did a little measuring of my V14 and my SES. Butt above heels, V14 = 1/2", SES 3/4". Who is coming up with the idea that the seating position in a V14 is closer to a K1 than other elite skis? I never measured my Epic Legacy M K1 that I owned for two weeks but if I remember correctly my heels were resting on the inside floor of the hull and my seat/butt was raised about 1" at most.
In my opinion the V14 is less stable, but manageable, because the profile of the hull is very round bow to stern. The SES, which is much more stable than the V14 even though it is skinnier, is more stable because the hull from the seat towards the stern is flatter on the bottom.
I'm open to suggestions of what I may be missing.

Wow, that's really surprising

May I ask how you measured the difference.

I recently had a bucket seat insert made the same shape as my seat and experimented with seat height. I got to around 6cm higher than the standard seat height and was still able to paddle at my max in flat water

Unfortunately it also reduced the bucket width to the point I couldn't comfortably remain in it

I made a caliper by bolting two yard sticks together at their mid points and then attaching shorter, equal lengths of yard stick to opposite ends of one of the full length sticks so that I could clear the sides of the ski and touch the ends to the place where my heels rested on the inside of the cockpit and on the outside of the bottom of the ski. I made sure the caliper zeroed out and all parts remained in position. The caliper looks sort of like a number eight with each end of the eight being a triangle which you can open and close by manipulating the center bolted pivot. You could also say it looks like an hour glass. The V14 hull is 1" thick where my heels rest and 1 1/2" where my butt sits. The SES is 3/4" thick at the heels and 1 1/2" at the butt.
I think I got all of the measurements correct but could do it again if someone seriously questions my accuracy.
I'd like to know these dimensions for a Nelo Ocean Ski but there are evidently none around the Seattle that I can measure.
I had a S1X for a short time when I first tried paddling a surfski and when I added 1" height under my butt I loved the more comfortable body position but there was no way I could keep it upright. I think I could now and it seems like that would be a much more powerful although less stable paddling position.

I tried to measure my V12 and came to the result that there was no difference between heel and butt. Now that can't be right, so I wrote Epic. They told me that the numbers where 1.2 cm for the V12 and 2 cm for the V14. One of my favorite K1 is the Citius 51 and that has a difference of 6-7 cm, so 2 cm seems very far of the mark. I have been obsessed about leg drive, so I had my V12 adjusted so that I could almost extend my drive leg. Big mistake Not only does the boat become very unstable, but one also get a very crappy paddle position. So I had to go in the other direction and now I paddle it with fairly bent legs, to get over "the catch". After this adjustment things are finally starting to work for me. I am a newbie to this sport(2010) and paddle flatwater.

And of course you did all the measuring with the ski in the water with someone sitting in the skis to get the pitch and balance of the ski correct?

Ranga wrote: And of course you did all the measuring with the ski in the water with someone sitting in the skis to get the pitch and balance of the ski correct?

I used a waterpass, a ruler and the floor. I put the boat on the floor and the waterpass over the bucket horizontal and made sure it was in water, then I measured the distance to the floor and thereafter the distance to the bottom of the bucket up to the waterpass. Subtracted the values and that gives me the thickness of the hull. Same thing over the footwell. So I figured that by subtracting the 2 final values I would get the difference between bucket and footwell. In my case they where both 2 cm, so no difference.

Kemi i think the flaw is measuring with the boat on the floor. A weighted boat in the water will not neccessarily sit that way.

zachhandler wrote: Kemi i think the flaw is measuring with the boat on the floor. A weighted boat in the water will not neccessarily sit that way.

I am not trying to say that Epic owes me 1.2 cm So I knew I screwed up somewhere and left it at that.

Interesting findings. So we're saying 1.2cm for the V14 (Epic claims 2cm, so for argument's sake, we'll call the 1.2cm a solid 2cm) and 2cm for the SES? To compare, I have measured the difference in heel height and the lowest point in the bucket of the Vajda Hawx multiple times using a level and first measuring to the floor to ensure equal height at both points. I find lowest point in the bucket is 3cm higher than where the heels sit in the footwell. So a 3cm difference in the Vajda Hawx, compared to the 2cm for the SES and 1.2/2cm for the V14. For comparison my Vajda Infusion II K1 measures a difference of 6cm at the lowest seat setting.

I think this measurement stuff is meaningless without having the boat in the water and weighted with 85 kg or so diveded appropriately between the bucket and where the heels contact the floor of the footwell. Think about it. I could add very narrow 10cm deep ridge under the bow of the boat. It would barely affect how the boat sat in the water. But it would throw off your floor test by about 5 cm.