I took some very porous foam (the manufacturer of which claims will dry quickly and not be prone to mildew and the like) and tried putting it on top of the existing "canvas" seat of my Catrike.
The immediate problem I encountered in doing this was that it hiked my reclined position up and toward the front of the trike. This threw off the, until then, correct positioning of the boom and pedals. I no longer could get a "straight stroke" on the pedals (I was essentially pedaling from an angle -- imagine sitting on a regular bike's handle bars and still trying to pedal -- although not that extreme) and my knees also ended up being bent more than they should on the outbound stroke. This wouldn't work without some adjustment to the trike boom and who knows what else.
The Catrike canvas seat is "wrapped" around the frame and connected in the back with plastic snaps (like what you might find on some backpacks or fanny pack belts). There is a space (the width of the frame) between the front seat and the rear of the canvas.
I cut the foam pads I had to fit between the frame bars
and within that space -- one on the bottom, going slightly up the back, and the other going from the top by the head rest down the back to meet up with the bottom one (that way the "gap", if any, between the pads met somewhere in my middle to upper back instead of directly under me).The pads make the canvas seat stick out a bit (looks puffed up like a small pillow), but not enough to throw my location off (thereby not affecting the boom length and how I reach the pedals).
I took it out on some bumpy Tucson streets and felt a marked improvement in the comfort of the ride. Granted, large bumps and dips still jar me a bit, but overall, my teeth didn't chatter as much.
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