Tempress NaviStyle High Back Boat Seat

This seems to be a great seat, nice and cushy, well made, etc…but I haven’t had it long enough to make a judgement about it’s longevity, so time will tell with respect to how it holds up. My only apprehension is that these seat have absolute straight backs, and they do not lean back at all. I purchased two seats, one for the back deck fishing position, and one for the bow fishing position. I placed these seats on Atwood Power Pedestal Mounts, so you can adjust the seat position higher or lower depending on your height, and your desired comfort level for your legs and knees. The seat back is absolutely straight up, and doesn’t lean back at all. But, I’m not sure that a seat back that is straight-up isn’t a better sitting position when fishing or not. That is certainly a reasonable preconceived notion, that a straight back seat would be uncomfortable, but… It seems to me that there are a number of boat seats that are designed this way, straight up, and from a variety of different manufacturers. These straight back seats do buck the preconceived notion that a straight-up seat back would be uncomfortable. But, these seat companies have been around a long time, and one would think they’ve thoroughly researched seat position for fishing, and that they’ve concluded that the straight back is preferable when fishing, opposed to leaning back in the seat, as you might for a joy ride in the boat. Plus, from a engineering perspective, these companies could have engineered the seats so that they would lean back a little bit. It wouldn’t cost them any more to do so, yet they choose to make them absolutely straight backed. So, it could be they know more about the ergonomics of a seat intended for fishing than is obvious to the casual observer. I decided that perhaps these companies have all done sufficient research to determine that the forward sitting position for a seat back is preferable to it leaning back when fishing. I mean, fishing isn’t the same as sitting in your living room in a lazy boy watching television. So, I’ve decided to give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt with respect to the straight-back design, giving them the benefit of the doubt based on their years of design experience, compared to what the reasonable preconceived notion suggests, which is that a straight back seat is going to be uncomfortable when fishing. But, that having been said, on one of the seats, I installed a small stack of stainless steel washers (about 10 of them) under the two front bolts. I purchased slightly longer stainless steel bolts from the local hardware store, 2-12″ long I think, and I installed the washers between the seat and the mount, so the seat tilts back about 10-12 degrees. That does tilt the seat back just slightly so you’re not sitting absolutely straight-up. I don’t know if this will put too much stress on the seat’s plastic base or not. Only time will tell. And, I don’t know if the seat will be more comfortable in the slightly back position or not. But, if I find that an absolutely straight back is preferable when actually fishing, I can always change it back to the straight back by removing the washers. This small fix allows for the best of both worlds. The final assessment will be reached after sitting in both of the seats and actually fishing from them.