Well, the head guy at Waterskeeter just called me on the phone. Before I even had a chance to start in on him, he informed me that he'd never heard of that problem with one of his boats before and that the thought of it made him sick. He also informed me that a new seat was on the way via Fed Ex, and that if I would be kind enought to let him know exactly what what and reel I'd like,he'd be more than happy to order them for me and ship them to my house. He said that replacing my rod/reel was the least he could do and he assured me that I'd never have that problem with the seat again. What a cool guy. No lip, no B.S., just service. The screwed up seat and the loss of my rod sucked, but these guys are going to make it right, so its all ok now. I'll let you guys know how the boat performs in the future.