1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Thanks for the thoughts mustang and lil buggy. I do want these to be removable so the hinge idea doesn't work. I've discovered that my coolers a too high to comfortably design these seats to fit those underneath. Because of the curve of the stern, a thick ledger board sufficient to support the seats can bend along that arch. Because of the thickness of the vinyl which will cover the bench seat, the ranch casing that I'd hoped to use is not thick enough to securely support the seats. Sooo...ok...here's where I am with them...

I patterned the stern using brown wrapping paper and cut 2 pieces of 3/4 plywood to match the curvature of the stern. One seat for each side meeting close to the middle. The back of the seat follows the curve of the stern and the front of the seat is squared across the deck. I measured the distance out from the stern of 19 inches at the center of each board. Because of the curved stern, this gives me a seat of about 22 inches in depth in the center of the boat tapering to about 16 inches of depth where the bench meets the outside corner.

I will attach the seat to the stern using 2 (maybe 3) of these...

...and to support the front of the bench, each seat will have two of these...

There are no really good storage locations for these seats on-board. I can lay them in the V-berth when not in use.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I visited my local Marine supply store over the weekend and scored a 10 foot long, 5 foot wide roll of padded ribbed white vinyl for $20 and sufficient 3 inch thick closed-cell foam padding to make the bench seats. The Admiral also found 2 white vinyl bolsters with nice stitching and and inset section of ribbed vinyl for $35 each...sweet!!!! Each bolster is about 4' long. I cut the bench plywood to match that length. Taking a line across the stern from gunnel to gunnel, I've got a span of a little over 9 feet. What this leaves is a center gap between the seats of about 12 inches. This space lines up with my access to my swim step. Once I've got the benches installed, I'll measure that gap dimension and cut some plywood slightly wider to span this gap, cover it with foam and wrap it in the same ribbed vinyl. I'll use 2" foam and some additional batting to bring the level of this insert up to the level of the two large bench seats on either side. Voila...sun pad!!!!

I'll take photo's of the progress.

The legs are about 13" tall which will provide some under-bench storage. I may add some white "cargo" netting to the underside of these benches to keep things from sliding around. The bolsters will be attached to the stern with a couple of short lengths of webbed strap with a snap on the end.

As I go from a naked stern to sweet bench seating, I'll take photos.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

ahhhhhh,,,, i got it,,,lol.
i like your attatchment plan with those clips. the bracket left over will be minimal,,,,great find!!!!

sweet score on the bolsters, and the materials

i am stoked to see how it turns out
cant wait for the update

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Pictures comin', lil buggy. I really hate, at times like these, that I've got such a drive to get to the boat!!! I really think that these seats are going to work out great!

 

[r.j.dawg]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Love your ideas BSnB. Great rebuild. I just thought I would share the stern seating arrangement we have on our Doral. It's not for everybody but it works for us and folds down flat against the transom when extra room is needed.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

sweet ride there dawg
not sure but it looks like your transom is a lil curved as well. if it is shoot us a pic from underneath where it attatches

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Love your ideas BSnB. Great rebuild. I just thought I would share the stern seating arrangement we have on our Doral. It's not for everybody but it works for us and folds down flat against the transom when extra room is needed.

Thanks, dawg, that's a similar look to what I hope to achieve. My swim step access is in the center and so I'll have sort of a split bench in the back. I really like how dropping the bench seats down opens the deck up

I looked for a way to hinge it and drop down, like you describe, but I thought the curve of my stern would caused the hinges to bind. Also, I've built the depth of my bench (front to back) at the center to be about 23 inches and they taper to a depth of about 18 inches at the outside corners. I forget the height of my stern, but hinging it high enough to drop the front edge down to the deck also doesn't allow me much space for the height of the seat-back bolsters I picked up.

As with most of my projects, I tend to get them in place and functional and then find that I have to tweak them. That' will probably happen with this deal too. I REALLY wanted to set my bench seats up to be drop down like yours.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

sweet ride there dawg
not sure but it looks like your transom is a lil curved as well. if it is shoot us a pic from underneath where it attatches

I agree lil buggy, that Doral set up is sweet.

Dawg, I would be interested in how that bench is connected. I really have no seating in mine. It's set up as an open deck Express Cruiser. It has a captains seat at the helm and an identical mates seat across from it. That's it! It's configured to seat 2. Additional seating is provided by 2 canvas folding deck chairs. It's more like a fishing Charter set up than a cruising boat. I like the fishing charter clear deck look. The Admiral wants some sun. Guess what? The Admiral gets seating. :redface:

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

^^^^^^ bahahaha,,,,gulp,,,,, they always win.

i actually think you'll be ok BSnB,,,, raise the bolsters up,,, like dawgs,,, that will allow more dropdown room for the bench. i like your idea of both corners,,,,with the center inset
you can set it up the same kinda way, with the thick rail behind it,,, or make your mount for the downriggers on a shelf that matches the width of the bolsters,,,,i can see it now,,, cup holder, rod holder, downrigger,rod holder, cupholder on both sides(best of both worlds), heck that area will look good and fill up fast. i really like how this is sounding,,,lots of ideas 4 ya

i get what you are thinking of binding, but if the piano hinges are mounted on a flat board even if the sterns angled as long as the mount of the hinge is flat you should be ok,,, the piano hinge doesnt have to be mounted at the back of the bench,,, if there is a 2 or 3" tapered gap between the bench and transom when folded down, i am sure you can find someting usefull to put there,,,(leaders, rigs or somethin) it will keep em handy when in fish mode,lol,,,,, and you can put em away when in admiral mode,,,lol,,,,,,

so worse case senerio,,, in fish mode the folded down bench longer in the middle with a gap in between,

again spitballing,
hope it helps

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I like those ideas Mark. Like I've said, I always seem to do a project and then look at what I've done and decide to make improvements. I expect that's gonna happen here too.

I got the seats built and will be installing them in the boat tomorrow. I'll post pictures of before and after so ya'll can tell me what I shoulda done ... I'm working with a blank canvas here. Please keep the ideas comin'!!!!!

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

OH...quick question...when running last week I noticed again that the port engine runs at around 160 degrees plus and the starboard at closer to 145. I'm guessing two different thermostats? I've read that in fresh water it's better to run the 160's for efficiency. Should I change one?

I'm going to be in the engine compartment anyway tweaking the carburetors and maybe changing my fuel filters if I get time. My primary plan is to burn some fuel and find some fish.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

yep thats what i'm thinking also,,, thermostat.
not sure which one yours calls for but i got the 140 in mine?
the 140 will run a lil warmer at planing speeds for instance mine runs around 165.

anyway thermostat is a great place to start. once you get into them, if they turn out to be the same,,,, switch em to tell if its the tstat,,,or replace them with new.

enjoy your time on the water,,,have fun,, burn some carbon,,,, and get us some pics of the fish you get into

almost forgot,
also, i'm sure the bench will turn out nicely, dont cut yourself short. and for the love of,,,, pete,,,, give us at least a teaser pic

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I got the seats installed. There are a couple things that I'll want to tweak, which I'll tell you about after.

First, here's what my deck looks like...

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

A couple more.....



As you can see its all open. I've used the canvas deck chairs for additional seating and store my coolers under the helm seats. In rough water, those deckchairs are not the most stable and tend to tip and rock or slide across the deck.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

In previous photos, I showed you the bracket that I planned to use to attach the bench seats to the transom and the legs I planned to use to support the front of the benches.

I got lucky! In this picture you can clearly see the screws that are already there...


In the following picture you can see the mounting brackets fit in those locations. Even the location of the 4 screw holes was identical...

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

After mounting the receiving brackets to the transom, I measure and mounted the legs to each bench seat. I mounted the outboard legs in toward the center about 12 inches. Doing so places that leg closer to the center of weight on the seat. The inboard leg is about 6 inches in from the inside edge.

I then placed the angle bracket piece into the receiving bracket I'd already mounted to the transom and positioned the seat to rest on them. Because the transom is not square I wanted to determine where the bracket would naturally line up under the seat. So positioned, I crawled under the seats and secured the angle bracket to the underside of the seat with stainless screws.

The end result is a decent bench/sun-pad, I think

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Storage space remains underneath the seats for miscellaneous storage...



and they can be removed if I want to open up the deck...

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Now for the tweaks...

As you can see, the gap between the seats is centered on my access point to the swim step...

That gap is a little narrow, but sufficient to walk through. To make things a little easier, I plan to round out the forward inboard corners using about the same arch or radius that you see on the bolster. This should make walking toward the swim step easier and more inviting.

That radius corner will also allow me to clean up the appearance of the folded corner of the ribbed vinyl. I didn't want any vinyl edge bead running around the seat and down the corners, but prefer the appearance of the ribbed vinyl kind of falling over the edge of the seat and wrapping underneath. The sharp corner and the thickness of the vinyl made that corner fold look a little rough. By cutting that corner off into a gradual curve, the vinyl will fold around that radius more evenly.

I'm still debating what, if anything, I might use to fill the gap between the seats. Most likely, I will cut a piece of plywood to size, cover it in the same vinyl and mount some kind of a sliding support extending from underneath each large bench for it to rest on.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I also am considering mounting another set of receiving brackets where the upper set of screws is located...



I could then re-position the benches up high (with some longer legs) for a true sun-pad.

I also considered mounting receiving brackets slightly higher than those lower positions, to allow me to slide my coolers under each seat. As they sit, the benches are only about 12 inches off the deck. This "tweak" is the most likely. The coolers would not be as accessible under the benches, but they would clear the deck and be secure.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

well that is a good looking job there sir.
it turned out great.
i will first the second set of mounting channels to give options.
not sure how high your coolers are but i like the ability to stow away in rough water.
i gotta say tho, the underside of that couch and the bottom of your helm seats are screaming out for the rgb's(get r done).

and lastly i like the walkway inbetween the couches.
i know ya laid down on them allready,,,,,, so is the ,,,crack,,,,, uncomfortable?,,,,,,,lol
if not i think i would leave it there, but thats just me

again great addition, they look shaweet