Lounge Seat Problem

[Pun]

I've got a 16" sunray bowrider and the floor isnt flat where the seats were mounted, part of the seat base is on an angled part of the hull. I've found lots of lounge seats online, but none in this configuration, which leads me to believe I'll have to cut the bases to fit my boat. Therein lies the problem. Most of the new lounge seats available are of plastic construction, which is great in most cases, but if I cut them, they would certainly lose the strength to support two people sitting on them. One idea would be to reinforce where I made the cut with wood and fiberglass, but damn that sounds like a lot of work. Another option would be to find some lounge seats that are wood construction. But for the life of me I cant seem to find any. <br /><br />Has anyone else run into this problem? What can I do? Where can I buy wood construction seats? etc.<br /><br />Thanks in advance! <br /><br />Vince

 

[breton26]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

west marine

 

[AMD Rules]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

I'd love to see a photo of that seat arrangment. Maybe it will help to see exactly how they fit. I'd also like to see a photo of the whole boat ;-)

 

[dajohnson53]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Look at Cabelas and Overtons - they have so many options for lounge seats, I'd be surprised if they didn't ahve any wood frame ones. IF you're not sure from the product description, call customer service, they'll actually go look at the product if they don't know off hand.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

If you cut only the bottom and it fits the hull where are you going to lose interity? I was going to do the same with my boat as the seats are like halfway up the sides of the hull.<br />Just make sure you measure 5 differnt ways before you cut the bases!!!

 

[Pun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Realgun, what I mean is, the seats I've seen, the plastic relies on it's ability to be a box for it's stability and strength. If you cot the corner out, it's not going to have that strength. I'd check into it before I ordered plastic based seats.<br /><br />Here is a pic of the angled part I'm talking about and a few other pics thrown in for AMD Rules. AMD - You're the only person I've ever run across that owns a Sunray besides myself. Oh and AMD does rule, by the way! Got a whole room full of em here.<br /><br />

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[AMD Rules]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

You COULD mount the two seats closer to the keel, side-by-side which would then allow you to snuggle with your passenger. Seriously though, I think you are going to have problems finding off-the-rack seating that has that perfect angle built-in. Better to look for wooden bases, or a means to midify plastic bases.<br /><br />Boat looks terrific so far. Looking forward to seeing it completed. If you have any links to Sunray related info, I'd be most interested. Can't find much on the net so far.

 

[Twidget]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

I have the same problem with my boat. The wooden seats wont help too much, they are not constructed to be hacked up either.<br /><br />I was thinking of building a small platform to mount the seats to. My rise on the edge of the boat is only a couple of inches, so I dont think it will raise the seats too high.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

I dont think you get what i said either. Your not cutting the box at all, your cutting the side close to the boat so that it will be the hull height when the other side is on the floor. you will just cut the front and rear parts that contact the floor and hull to match. All your doing is cutting the bottom to match what you have. the base does not need to be flat on the bottom only on the top.<br /><br />Let me try this.<br /><br />Say the seat is 30L x13W x8H.<br /><br />You floor is flat for 30lx10wx8h<br /><br />You side where the box meats it is 30Lx 3w (+1.5 inches higher than floor) x 6.5H<br /><br />Thats assuming the side is flat and the same high full length of box.<br />So you will cut the bottom hull side the full 30 inches and 1.5 inches high so that will meet the hull side.<br />The front and rear will be cun at 10inches in and at a diagnal to the rear at 1.5 inches from bottom corner.<br />Then all edges will meet hull and floor.<br /><br /><br />Top of box<br /> <-13"-><br />|........................| <br />|........................|<br />|........................|<br />|......................./<br />|....................../ ^<br />|...................../ 1.5"<br />---------------------- v<br /> <-10"-> <-3"-><br />Bottom of box<br /><br />The whole box bottom mates with the floor or hull.

 

[Pun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Oh I completely understand what you said, but the problem is the bases to the ones I've seen are molded in one single piece like a rubbermaid bin. I think they're done that way to promote water resistance. The entire integrity of the base depends on the fact that it's a single molded piece. If you cut a corner out (my cut would have to rise about 2 3/4 inches high and angle in about 6 inches), you have compromised the strength of the base. Now, I'm not saying this can't be done. What I am saying is that the seats would have to be reinforces in some way in the area of the cut. Pieces of wood and L-brackets, perhaps. Which might prove to be a lot of work. On the other hand, if I used some seats made of a plywood base, it would just be a matter of making the cut and screwing it down. Either way its somewhat of a pain in the arse. But the wood based ones seem easier to do to me.<br /><br />Surely someone else has run into this in the past. Id love to hear how some others solved this problem...<br /><br />On the other hand, maybe I could just cut the plastic ones like realgun said and fill the bases with rocks for strength. (sorry realgun, couldnt resist )

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Pun, I do not think it would be an issue to cut the plastic seat bases the way you need to. The ones I have seen would retain their strength, however you may lose the cross members that are usually screwed to the floor to attach the seat bases. An alternative to assure strength of the bases and to attach them to the floor is to mount(I glass them in) two pieces of two by four lumber (on end) to the floor of the boat, inside the perimeter of the base. Now you can drive stainless screws through the seat bases into the two by fours to secure the seat bases. the two by fours will support the base of the seat where you cut it away and hold the seat bases to the follor of the boat.

 

[Eggkr8]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Hey Pun,<br /><br />I just bought a pair of back-to-back lounge seats from boatersworld.com. The bases are plastic but made in about six pieces, the four sides and two cross members. They are currently all stapled together. Should the staples ever fail (or WHEN they fail) I see no problem in re-assembling the sides using L brackets on the inside corners and screwing directly to the plastic. I think they will handle being cut. <br /><br />Another approach could be to build up a level base under the seat and then mount it to that?

 

[TexomaAv8r]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Just build your own bases out of plywood/glass. Use card board to cut templates and "fiddle arround" with the layout first.

 

[agrazela]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Pun,<br /><br />I was faced with a very similar problem to yours when putting new back-to-back lounge seats in my 15' tri-hull.<br /><br />Assuming you are planning to buy pre-made seats, you must build up the floor to make a flat, level platform for your seat bases. If you chamfer off the outer bottom edge of the seat base/box (as you have considered doing), the leg on the extendable portion of your lounge seat may not fit properly down into the box.<br /><br />B&M Marine makes a special narrow-base back-to-back especially for small boats. The box is about 2" narrower and 2" shorter than standard, so you can inch the base toward the keel side and still have decent aisle space. Also, these seats have plastic bases and plastic frames (rotproof...very nice). Got mine at West Marine. These particular seats come in limited colors, though...but if you are doing a full interior re-do, you can get the matching B&M vinyl by the yard through WM.

 

[Pun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Thanks, fellas. I ended up getting these. Made by Wise, (who are meant to make some pretty nice seats) set up with shorter pedastals than the normal seats, which will allow me to build them up a bit to compensate for the angle of the floor. Heck, they were only 100 a piece, so even if I butchered em, it's not the end of the world.

 

[Eggkr8]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Hey Pun,<br /><br />I was logging to recommend those seats to you! Don't even ask me why I didn't think of it earlier. My interior was set up in the same way as yours, with the notched front of the base (well according to the fossil records of the seat base remains still cast to the floor). I bought those very same seats a few weeks ago. When I still had the floors in my boat I did a quick mock up and it looked like they will fit without modifications! They are also a good firm seat and open very easily (when mounted, it is like wrestling an octopus when they aren't mounted)

 

[Pun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Thanks, Eggkr8! Do you have any pics you can share?

 

[agrazela]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Pun,<br /><br />Good choice there.<br /><br />Make sure in your planning/layout/build-up/installation that the "butt" surface of the seat is between 14" and 16" high (measured from the plane of the floor). Any lower and you'll be crouching, any higher and you might be knocking your knees on the steering wheel.<br /><br />Also, make sure you carefully locate the seats so that you've got enough room in back to fully extend the lounge, yet leaving enough room in front for decent legroom (I know on my tiny boat I only had about 1/2" of "play" in any dimension to get the seats in with enough room all around, even with the "small craft" seats!)<br /><br />One more hint: if these bases have a one-piece molded plastic base, consider drilling some small drain holes in the rear corners of the box. Before this dawned on me, my seat bases would fill with water whenever I went out in the rain or rinsed out the boat (ruined some stored equipment that way).

 

[Eggkr8]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

Hi Pun,<br />It looks like you are about one or two weeks ahead of me on the restoration. I will be cutting out the last edges of my floors tonight. The seats aren't mounted anywhere. But if you want pics of just the seats, I don't mind taking them out of the shed and snapping a few photos. If so, what are you most interested in? I am guessing the inside of the base? Feel free to email me directly esandahl@aol.com<br /><br />Cheers<br />e

 

[Pun]

Re: Lounge Seat Problem

I was hoping you had your seats in actually, Eggkr8. I guess maybe it's me that's gonna be posting pics for you, the way it looks. I did the final trimming of the floorboards today and laid down a coat of epoxy to seal. As soon as it dries I'm gonna flip em and do the other side. I plan to do 2 coats on the bottom of the floor where there's no cloth going down. Hopefully I'll have the floor in and glassed by next weekend. So much to think about right now. Damn, better start looking for carpet!