We've spent a lot of time on our Mastercraft Baja RS seats so far. Now it's time to highlight the Sportsman seats.
The Sportsman seat has been a mainstay in the Mastercraft lineup for many years now. It is a fixed-back seat with side bolsters that are tall enough to keep you in place, yet low enough for easy ingress and egress. The Sportsman seat is also compatible with five-point harnesses.
The Sportman is very similar to the Rubicon seat, the difference being that the Sportsman angles back a little further. The greater rearward tilt makes the seats more comfortable, but it does mean they're an overly tight fit in standard-cab mini trucks such as older Toyotas. There's plenty of room for the Sportman seats in the second row of our 4Runner.
Like all other Mastercraft seats, the Sportsman can be ordered in a variety of colors, and with options ranging from seat heaters to built-in Camelbak drinking systems to Schukra adjustable lumbar supports. Since they're the second row and won't be occupied as often as the front seats, we were more conservative with our options, and went for a custom color scheme and an adjustable headrest. The two-tone adjustable headrests were a nice touch and show the attention to detail that's standard-issue at Mastercraft.
Looking at the seat from a worm's-eye view, the suspension part of a suspension seat is easy to see, consisting of straps that "give" and mil-spec cords that do the same. This suspension lets hard jolts be absorbed by the seat instead of being transferred into your spine.
We're moving forward with the seat mount and will post an update next time.