Pedestal seat height for bow-mounted trolling motor

[catfighter]

Question:

I have a bow-mounted trolling motor with a foot pedal. I was going to put in a pedestal seat on the bow, but wanted to know if anyone had an idea of what height would be good for the use of a foot pedal?

Thanks for the help!

[tashasdaddy]

get a milk crate, put it up there, sit on it, if it needs to be higher, put some phones books on it, where you are comfortable , that is the height you want. 5' 4" person may want it one height, 6'6" another height.

[catfighter]

get a milk crate, put it up there, sit on it, if it needs to be higher, put some phones books on it, where you are comfortable , that is the height you want. 5' 4" person may want it one height, 6'6" another height.

LOL, I suppose so. I guess I'll buy a pedestal with an adjustable height.

I'm going to put this on the BOW of the boat, and I have a tiller. Do you suggest a certain type of pedestal? Maybe one that comes off easily so as to not hinder my view when I'm steering.

[Bob_VT]

You can buy a pedestal seat with an adjustable post to make it comfortable for any height person running the trolling motor

http://www.iboats.com/Swivl_Eze_Seat...view_id.473782

[catfighter]

Here's another question:

I'm 6' and weigh ~250lbs. Should I go for a 2 3/8" pedestal, or can I get away with one of the slim ones?

This is frustrating to me b/c I don't have any local places to talk to about boat accessories and I'm crossing my fingers that I'm buying the right stuff thru mail order.

[ezmobee]

No advice but I'm right there with ya. I'm looking for pedestals for my new bucket seats and different ones for my removable fishing chairs. I am completely overwhelmed with the options available. I will add that I think the slim ones are solid metal whereas the larger ones are tubes so it may not make a difference support-wise.

[Bob_VT]

The slimmer ones will work but.....the stress is really on the base and mounts. If you do not have a substantial base/mount then you might be safer in a lawn chair!!!! Just make sure you do the estimating on how to keep it strong.

[BWR1953]

I'm working on the same thing myself. I just put a few cinder blocks of varying sizes up front with the control pedal until the height felt "right" for me with my foot on the pedal. Turns out to be 19" above the deck. But that's where the seat needs to be, not the base of the pedestal.

So, I'm looking at getting an adjustable pedestal that goes from 13.5" to 20" plus the seat. That'll cover what I need and should also work for any guests that I may have who need a slightly different setting while up front.

I've also been looking at a wide variety of seats... lotsa choices out there!

[catfighter]

I'm working on the same thing myself. I just put a few cinder blocks of varying sizes up front with the control pedal until the height felt "right" for me with my foot on the pedal. Turns out to be 19" above the deck. But that's where the seat needs to be, not the base of the pedestal.

I just did that as well and came up with 20 inches. that seems kind of high to me!

I'm planning on using the same seat for the front bench and for the pedestal, so I think I'm going to end up with a seat with a 6" base that I can attach to a 14" base when I want to troll. that will be no less than 20" off the ground; should work fine!

[fishrdan]

I researched pedestal seats a while back and found that the new mfg's I looked at were installing the 238 series. It read a few complaints on the taper-fit series so I stayed away, post would get wedged into base and hard to remove. I didn't look at the slim solid post series as I took them as being "old' school", but that's just my opinion.

For the bow "butt" seat I found the seat needed to be at 28" from the deck for my height of 5-10", something to lean against, not really sit on. I bought a 28" post and cut it down to the right length after attaching my seat and mount.

You guys figured this one out all ready, but on my old boat I had a fixed box seat that was 20" off the deck and worked nice for sitting at the helm while trolling, easy to jump up and grab a rod.

For my project I bought 12 and 15" 238 Hi-Lo pedestal sets, couple of locking seat bases, extra bases and the tilt bow seat setup. I thought the Hi-Lo sets would be great for reconfiguring things on the fly, but they spin and lift off too easy for my liking so I'm only using them for the back seats now (seat mount is the only thing that I won't be using from the sets). Just an FYI in case you were looking into the Hi-Lo seat mounts, I definitely wouldn't leave the seat in it's base while trailering down the road, if you have the Hi-Lo seat mounts, one good bounce could send the seat flying out of the boat...

[catfighter]

Just an FYI in case you were looking into the Hi-Lo seat mounts, I definitely wouldn't leave the seat in it's base while trailering down the road, if you have the Hi-Lo seat mounts, one good bounce could send the seat flying out of the boat...

Yelp, that is exactly why I'm looking for something that I can stow away while I'm on the road. My boat likes to bounce.

Excellent information; thanks a lot for the help!

[catfighter]

Another question has come up:

I want to use the Swivl-Eze system, particularly the 7" bases:

Swivl-Eze 7"x7" 3/4" Pin



I didn't get mine in the mail yet but I plan on making the deck this weekend. I want to bolt the base directly onto the joists, so I need to know how far apart the joists should be (i.e. how wide, in inches, are these bases? Is 7" the hole pattern or the entire width of the base?)

Thanks again!