Re: Replacing Boat Seats on Bayliner Capri
Well, I guess I had better keep my seats and sell them sometime, was going to give them to the cats. I am only going to install (probably) one swivel pedestal after I put in my new floor. Between me and the dog, that is sufficient. I don't want to put in one on the left, because that leaves me about 8 feet for a cot without smushing it in.<br /><br />BTW, I learned this trick from rotdoctor.com. I have ripped out about half my floor now, and with this trick, it is really not so big a deal to replace the floors
. You leave a 2-4 inch rim of wood around the hull, that is as far as you go. Use their CPES product on the wood (both old and new), and what I thought was going to be a winter project, will only be a november project.<br /><br />I have cut out about half the floor, in an afternoon because I went at it real careful (even though I know what is below, well I am a cautious citizen, I tend to cut things in three or four pieces rather than one, to make sure I don't go too far and cause myself grief. It would stink to put a hole though the hull, I will take the extra 3 or 4 hours of careful poking and prodding to avoid that. On my boat, that entire rim (that I will reuse) is solid, except for the right side at the bow where it is a little weak because the top layer of plywood split there (CPES will restore that to original strengh). On the left of the hull and elsewhere the 4 inch shelf of old wood that I am retainng is rock solid, this will work fine for support (although I will still give it a coat of CPES). I found a little water in the gutters next to the stringers
, but not very much
, and it appears that the fiberglass coating on the stingers has keep them away from water, I see no evidence of stringer rot
.<br /><br />Since my floor will be elevated by 5/8 of an inch (cheap *** bayliner apparantly thought the extra $20 for 3/4 ply was a luxury)
, I will have to put a spacer between the stringers and the new floor. I am planning on just cutting a 3 or 4 inch wood the length of the stringers, and laminating that to the underside of the floor over the stringers. I won't attached it to the stringers themselves. Bayliner did not, in fact the only place the floor is attached is the hull. I am sure they had a reason, so I will follow their lead.<br /><br />I am sold on the CPES
, you don't need marine ply if you use that, and you would use it on marine ply anyway. They have run tests on wood treated with that, and it holds up for several years even when fully exposed to the elements. Which is longer than ply normally would, which is one rain storm. Marine ply won't hold up like that either, so you save a lot of money just treating exterior grade play with the CPES.<br /><br />The seat pedestal just get sliced off. I have used a reciprocating saw, a circular saw, a jig saw, a drywall cutting tool (with heavyduty cutting bit). I cut half of one seat off (the second will be quicker because I experimented cautiously on the first.) I will get it down to the 4 inch rim (for the new floor) that I mentioned, cut the pedestal down to about a half inch or so (whatever is safe), and then remove the rest with an angle grinder (probably go through several attachments, might use the cutting tool with sanding attachements once I get close to the hull, as I said, I am cautious, and the closer you get to the vulnerable, the less heavy duty you go.)<br /><br />I will keep you informed. I realize that some of this is theoretical, however I have researched this hard, and am convinced this will work nicely.<br /><br />I am thinking about how I can come up with a quickly removable top for the boat, from the winshield back, that I can stand up in. I have some ideas, but that is for later, maybe a february project. I figure industrial strength velcro will play a major part in the design (wonderful stuff). I am thinking of using the snaps that surround the outside of the hull (for the stupid convertible top that is not worth the trouble). I would use some type of flexible plastic strips that would from a U frame over the boat, and also hold strips of the velcro along the sides of the boat. A weatherproof canvas would just ride over that, and rest on the top of the winshield. Between that and using the bow cover, I can keep the boat dry in rain, it becomes a floating tent that I can walk around in. It is still on the drawing board
. Basicaly my idea would be to figure out how to put a tent above the boat. May sound crazy, however I usually can figure out a way. I would expect it to withstand no more than a tent does, it would not be for running in specifically, or maybe only at slow speed. I would be more making the boat a floating tent that can be put up in 5 minutes when I like, or an open convertible most of the time.
