Best chair for Oshkosh?

Sam D

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Sam D
Full size, collapsible one with cup holder? I need to pick up a couple this weekend.

P.S. Don't bother suggesting the gasoline powered recliner. I couldn't fit it in the Lance! :D
 
Full size, collapsible one with cup holder? I need to pick up a couple this weekend.

P.S. Don't bother suggesting the gasoline powered recliner. I couldn't fit it in the Lance! :D


Best chair for Oshkosh? The "Jim's Memorial" blue recliner featured at the center of Jay and Mary's HOPS party on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, Jim will be there to use the chair this year.

:goofy:


Jim
 
Best chair for Oshkosh? The "Jim's Memorial" blue recliner featured at the center of Jay and Mary's HOPS party on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, Jim will be there to use the chair this year.

:goofy:


Jim

You sure you're going to want to sit down after all that driving? :D
 
Full size, collapsible one with cup holder? I need to pick up a couple this weekend.

P.S. Don't bother suggesting the gasoline powered recliner. I couldn't fit it in the Lance! :D

They dont have cup holders, but our best purchase was helinox chairs. We got a set of Ground chairs at Cabelas for $80 each and they weigh under 2lbs. They are great to carry in a small backpack (they fit in my camel back) and use on the flight line for air shows.

http://www.helinox.com.au/camp-chairs.php

We are thinking of buying the camp chair or sunset chair for all around camping since they are only 2-1/2 pounds each compared to the 10 lbs for the regular folding camp chairs we were taking in the plane.
 
You sure you're going to want to sit down after all that driving? :D

Actually it's not all that bad. We leave Monday the 13th, drive two days @500 miles/day, get to Kansas City. Spend 4 days cleaning up Cyndi's old house after the Great Summer Flood, then drive Saturday evening for six hours to Davenport until midnight, sack out at a truck stop for six hours, drive another 6 hours on Sunday morning to Oshkosh.

By Wednesday after three days of walking the grounds, doing my editorial and forum thing, a chair that doesn't move for four hours is going to look awfully good.


Jim
 
They dont have cup holders, but our best purchase was helinox chairs. We got a set of Ground chairs at Cabelas for $80 each and they weigh under 2lbs. They are great to carry in a small backpack (they fit in my camel back) and use on the flight line for air shows.

http://www.helinox.com.au/camp-chairs.php

We are thinking of buying the camp chair or sunset chair for all around camping since they are only 2-1/2 pounds each compared to the 10 lbs for the regular folding camp chairs we were taking in the plane.

That looks like a very nice chair, but I cant swallow the price. I could buy 4 of the typical folding camping chairs for what one of those cost, and they are pretty comfy.
 
I just bought 4 of these:
71EvE1HsTLL._SX355_.jpg


http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Carseon-...436387787&sr=8-5&keywords=camping+stool+chair

They weigh less than a pound each which is incredibly useful for me in the Arrow we're taking + 4 (light) people. I guess in a Lance weight might not be nearly as much of an issue for you :dunno:
 
EdFred had something amazing at Gaston's. Even came with an umbrella sunshade.
 
We just took a couple of Wally World $10 specials and they were fine. Cup holder and arms and a sleeve with sling to carry. You need a sleeve/sling if you plan to carry it around.

Shipping weight says 5 lbs. but they didn't seem that heavy. Maybe they're including the box and packing material... :dunno: I'll weigh 'em next time I'm at the hangar.

I highly suggest a walking stick unless your 20 and a marathon runner. I like a walking stick because it helps steady you and oddly enough it kind of makes people get out of your way. What I use as a walking stick is actually a camera monopod. It doubles as a walking stick and camera holder.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/DNP-Legal-Issue-Ozark-Trail-Deluxe-Folding-Camping-Arm-Chair/23864494
 
I have had a few,like the foldable ,with beer holder and spot to hold the portable radio. The three legged stool fits the airplane ,but not so comfortable for the air show.
 
I hate to say this, but after 33 consecutive trips to Oshkosh I feel qualified to state that there is no chair worth carrying around the grounds all day.

It's not for lack of trying. At one of our first OSH's, we bought tiny, collapsible STEEL folding chairs. They were heavy, expensive, and uncomfortable. After 2 years, they went in the dumpster.

Since then, we've tried every chair iteration, from the little cane/umbrella things, to the giant recliner styles. Obviously the bigger chairs are more comfortable, but the weight penalty is awful. Even the smallest chair is a PIA after 10 hours (and 5 or 6 miles) on the field. The comfort of occasionally sitting is more than offset by the discomfort of hauling the damned things around.

So, since about 1999 (the first year the kids didn't need to be dragged around in a wagon) we have usually gone chairless on the grounds, preferring to leave them at our campsite in the N40.

What someone needs to do is design a folding chair with real, backpack style straps that don't cut into your shoulders. Better yet, integrate it into/with a backpack -- which we already carry on the grounds all day, every day.

I bet you'd sell a thousand of them at Airventure alone.
 
That...is...AWESOME. :)

Back in my drag racing days, we all built (often nitro burning) "pit toys" like bar stools, coolers, recliners... that would get broke out after the crowds were cleared at night. Sometimes the tracks were cool and let us race for times. A 13 second barstool is a serious challenge to sanity.:lol:
 
Back in my drag racing days, we all built (often nitro burning) "pit toys" like bar stools, coolers, recliners... that would get broke out after the crowds were cleared at night. Sometimes the tracks were cool and let us race for times. A 13 second barstool is a serious challenge to sanity.
I wouldn't cross the street for a drag race -- but I would pay good money to see THAT.
:)
 
Jay what we need to invent is a simple sleeve for a fold up chair with rollers on it like those rolling luggage bags.

You could clip it to your belt and let it trail behind you hands free.:dunno:
 
Jay what we need to invent is a simple sleeve for a fold up chair with rollers on it like those rolling luggage bags.

You could clip it to your belt and let it trail behind you hands free.:dunno:
Hmmm. Maybe we need to crowdsource this project? ;)

I still think a chair with real backpack straps and some sort of integral, backpack-like storage compartment would be the hot set up for OSH.

Trouble is, to market such a chair you now need to accommodate the 300 pound American -- and that won't ever be very "portable"...
 
Hmmm. Maybe we need to crowdsource this project? ;)

I still think a chair with real backpack straps and some sort of integral, backpack-like storage compartment would be the hot set up for OSH.

Trouble is, to market such a chair you now need to accommodate the 300 pound American -- and that won't ever be very "portable"...

Depends, carbon fiber for the poles and Kevlar for the webbing would be strong and light. The price tag would be similar to an F-35 though...:lol:
 
Depends, carbon fiber for the poles and Kevlar for the webbing would be strong and light. The price tag would be similar to an F-35 though...:lol:

Henning - Are you going to OSH this year?
 
Hmmm. Maybe we need to crowdsource this project? ;)

I still think a chair with real backpack straps and some sort of integral, backpack-like storage compartment would be the hot set up for OSH.

Trouble is, to market such a chair you now need to accommodate the 300 pound American -- and that won't ever be very "portable"...



You can take a regular setup and pad the sling some way I would think. Even if you just wrapped some lamb's wool around it and zip tied it.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I bought my son and I passes to the VIP aviator's club to see if that helps with the need to sit down out of the rain and in the A/C and have some pretty thing bring us beers. Maybe we won't have to carry chairs... :yes:
 
The chairs are back at the airplane/campsite, which is where the beer has been icing down since early morning! :)
We watch the Airshow under the wing of the Skyhawk while enjoying cool ones, eating lunch, and monitoring Airshow frequencies. Side benefit is watching launch/recovery on 9/27 at the same time as the Airshow.
 
I still think a chair with real backpack straps and some sort of integral, backpack-like storage compartment would be the hot set up for OSH.

Here's a better idea, a good quality, comfortable backpack and a chair that will actually fit in it. I found this little stool on Amazon that I'm tempted to get. Has good reviews, light weight and folds totally flat and compact. I could easily slip a pair of these into the laptop sleeve of my backpack and still have 90% of the bag available for drinks, snacks, stuff you buy, etc.

at $9 they are a hell of a lot cheaper than most others, and if they suck I wouldn't be too ****ed about throwing em away.

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00363WY...olid=Q4CMVNRRVX4R&coliid=I2NU66JVYYW5L0&psc=1
 
the best chair is an empty chair. i could find them all day long. people set them up and use them maybe less than half the time. you meet the nicest people while sitting in there chair. so go out and buy a new chair so someone like me will be there when you return.
3A5D62E3-CDC0-4B8E-BDAC-791A0B823CE4.jpg
 
I weighed one of our Walmart $10 folding arm chairs in it's sleeve and they are right at 3 lbs.

The shipping info on the website says 5 lbs. so it's the box and other material.

We carried them all over last year with no big problem.
 
What someone needs to do is design a folding chair with real, backpack style straps that don't cut into your shoulders. Better yet, integrate it into/with a backpack -- which we already carry on the grounds all day, every day.

I bet you'd sell a thousand of them at Airventure alone.

Went chair shopping this morning, and found these for sale at Academy. $30
 

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A lot of it comes down to how much weight you want to deal with. You can buy very comfortable, big, heavy chairs with sunshades, cupholders, etc. Or you can buy tiny little stools that weigh nothing. My mission requires light, but comfortable chairs.

I've used something like this for 15 years. I don't think you'll find anything ligher that isn't either 5x the cost or extremely uncomfortable.

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-2000...104087&sr=8-8&keywords=aluminum+chair+camping

And I just bought one of these, which seems to be 50% heavier, but possibly more comfortable. Also, it folds into a tighter package.

https://www.amazon.com/KING-DO-WAY-...&qid=1468104125&sr=8-2&keywords=king+do+chair
 
Oshkosh, car camping, plane camping, it's all grouped together in my mind.

Just get a cheap tent/chair/whatever from Walmart.

Unless you hiking mountains or doing hard core backpacking don't spend much money on this stuff, you're not hiking it far enough to ever get the benifit for the $$

If you don't mind sitting on the ground, cozy creeks have always been a proven easy light duty camping chair.
 
Honestly ? If we're really being honest this would be my all time favorite Oshkosh/Sun-N-Fun chair. I could cover more ground and truly relax and enjoy the whole show ;
 

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