Jim Seagraves-Other Otter Owners-Help

I have an Otter XT900 to use for the winter. I’ve never been a portable guy but enjoyed my first outing for the most part. The one problem, and it was nasty, is that the seats leaned forward and actually made the tub lean about 3-4 inches off the ice on the back side. I read a previous post that said a couple washers under the front seat bolts would tip the seat back or even thought about just a 1×2 piece of wood under the front of the bracket. Anybody else have this problem? My back is stiffer than heck trying to keep the whole shack tipped backwards all afternoon yesterday. It almost felt like a rocking chair. I tried being sure it was level underneath but that didn’t help. The top of the cross bracket the seats fit on is perfectly level with the top of the tub (hope that is correct), I even thought of trying to lower that cross bar but raising the front should do the same thing right? Time to go out to the garage putz with it, i’d like to go out this afternoon again. Being a wheelhouse guy I’m having trouble only carrying the necessities too but I learned a lot yesterday. Any help would be appreciated from other Otter owners.

Limited posts online about the leaning seats, but what posts there are sound like this is a very, very common problem. There has to be a cure, you IDO staff guys used these for years, did you find a cure?

I wedge a folded hand towel between the seat brace and sled.

I just tried the 1×2 which would do the same thing in the garage and it still tips. I’m going to build a brace to the ice. Seems crazy the weight would be out over the center of gravity that far.

Sounds like you need to get your seat lower and/or back more. Are you sure the seat is pushed all the way back in the seat brace? There’s a slight bump molded into the plastic brace that the seat pushes past? What size house? My pro cottage will roll, but only if the sled is empty and I don’t purposely sit back all the way in the seat; using the hand towel wedge noticeably helps with that house.

My sled is kind of empty and the seat is back. The 1×2 would do the same as the towel, right? I thought about lowering the seat but the front of the tub slopes in for pulling mobility so the distance to the ends would prevent the bracket from being lowered I would think. That would be a set distance?.?

It is a known issue. The problem is from installing the cross bar little too high. Unfortunately your options are limited. Otter should make people more aware of this during installation. Either have to reposition the cross bar or try something to hold the seat fronts up slightly.

Tried the front w/ the 1×2, still tips.

Front brace just makes a touch of difference, not enough.

I put the front wind pole in and my problem was solved on my Cottage. And it’s the older 900 thermal. Love that shack !

3rdTry do you have the thick plastic seat sliders in yours? I had that in my Cottage when I got it and when we ordered a second seat it was designed different not being plastic and slid back farther so we ordered a second slider and if you slide the seats all the way back it helps a lot with the tipping but the wind pole pretty much eliminated it.

Yes, I have the big plastic ones. I noticed Clam has a slider seat too, and a much lower tub. Are the new style available as a retro bolt on or different altogether. Otter was great when I called them. They asked for a bunch of pictures to see my setup and will call me back with advice. I was very impressed, still waiting for the call though. My seats can’t go past the bump, the seats hit the big bracket. I screwed them so they can’t come forward. The next day I shoveled under the entire house. That with the seats back did help but shoveling with this much crusted snow isn’t practical.

When i get my otter set up I either shovel a couple inches of snow from back side or I lift the front and kick a couple inches under the front. Then you put the spreaders and poles in. This slants the sled not the seat. Works for me.

3rdtryguy wrote:

Yes, I have the big plastic ones. I noticed Clam has a slider seat too, and a much lower tub. Are the new style available as a retro bolt on or different altogether. Otter was great when I called them. They asked for a bunch of pictures to see my setup and will call me back with advice. I was very impressed, still waiting for the call though. My seats can’t go past the bump, the seats hit the big bracket. I screwed them so they can’t come forward. The next day I shoveled under the entire house. That with the seats back did help but shoveling with this much crusted snow isn’t practical.

Yes they were bolt on and the seat slides so much easier than the plastic slide. I usually just leave the slide on and remove the seat so it fits under my tonneau cover.

Yes they were bolt on and the seat slides so much easier than the plastic slide. I usually just leave the slide on and remove the seat so it fits under my tonneau cover.

x2 what Glenn D wrote. On my third otter and haven’t had that problem…yet. Only issue I have is that I have to make sure I sit center or left of center in my pro cottage or it tips sideways, either that or have something in the tub on that side that makes it seem like I have lost about 20 pounds.