aluminum bench seats

[andyrmilwaukee]

Ok I have a boat with aluminum bench seats, I would like to attach seats to it, I was thinking i could get the swivl eze deck base that you can get in aluminum. I would then drill a hole for the peg part that extends down, i was thinking i could pop rivet the base right to the seat? any reason why this would not work? and will the seat mount go right into the deck mount? I dont want to a post.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: aluminum bench seats

If you don't want the seats to be permanently mounted, then why not just use a standard swivel base mounted to wood and then clamp the wood base to your aluminum seat. If you have access the the underneath portion of your seats it should be easy enuf to fabricate a method for clamping the base to the seat.

I'm just sayin...

 

[JupiterJoe]

Re: aluminum bench seats

If you are trying to mount the seat permanently they make seats with swivl bases.
If you are trying to have swivl seats that are remonable than yes your plan should work.
Either way I would through bolt them not rivit. (just my opion )

 

[andyrmilwaukee]

Re: aluminum bench seats

I do not have acess to the inside of the bench, well not without a lot of work anyway, they are filled with foam, my thought on the pop rivets was i figured they are what is used to hold the benches in place figured they would be strong enough to hold the base in place. I want to be able to move the seat so thats why I am not going to mount a normal swivl base. The clamp on ones that just sit on the seat always seem to get loose and are more of a pain than its worth to me.

 

[jstromsk]

Re: aluminum bench seats

I would not use pop rivets. I doubt if they are strong enough. You don;t want that seat base to break loose in rough water. Here's what I did. The seat bases I used required a large center hole. I took four small pieces of 1/2" plywood and drilled holes for SS tee nuts in them. The plywood pieces were small enough (~1"x2") to insert through the hole I drilled for the post. My bench seats had foam in them and I wedged the plywood pieces between the foam and the inside of the aluminum bench seat. They were secure enough that I was able to catch them with SS bolts through the seat base.

 

[18WCmerc]

Re: aluminum bench seats

A small jon boat i once had had wood bolted ontop of the aluminum bench seats, they just used longer then factory bolt that went through the seats to the tabs that mounted the bench. it also had the clamp style swivel seats mounted to a 2x4 that was mounted to the wood bench. lol if any of that makes sense.

it was a sturdy design after all.

 

[jstromsk]

Re: aluminum bench seats

FWIW I used a SS base similar to the Sea Sense models. There are holes for 6 fasteners. I only used the four corner mountings. The "pin" mating portion mounts on the cushioned seat. This works great since my boat sits out in the elements. I can easily remove the seats and take them indoors.