Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

keninaz

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I have a very old aluminum boat that I want to replace the seats in. 2 have been replaced at one time and need done again. The boat is strictly a lake boat and will most likely never hit any speed as where I intend to use it does not allow gas motors at all so I will be limited to and electric trolling motor.
The brackets that the wood sits in are about 1" in spacing so that limits the size of the wood that can fit into them. The boat is a typcial 58" wide
I am far from a wood expert but I have worked with it some. What type of wood should I use for strength? I am 240#.
Do I gain anything by putting reinforcement under the seat in perhaps a box design of some sort either out of wood or metal?
 

Evinbuck

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Yellow pine is strong and durable but nominal standard thickness is typically 3/4 inch or 1-1/2. Another suggestion that may work is using 5/4 pressure treated decking boards. They're strong with a bull nosed edge and depending on the width of your seat you'll need more than one. Typically they are 5-1/2" wide and 1-1/8" thick which may require a little sanding to get them to fit the supports. Yes, you could add support in the center by making a box-like configuration below the seat and just attaching it to the seat......not the boat bottom, obviously.
 

keninaz

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Thanks for the ideas. I have never heard of yellow pine out here.
I am going to have to hit the lumber yard I guess.
The reason I asked here is that most corporate lumber yards today seem to hire kids that know little about what they sell.
 

Bondo

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Ayuh,... I'd just use 3/4" plywood, 'n shim the mounting ends, if needed...
 

keninaz

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Does that need to be marine grade or just normal plywood?
 

Yacht Dr.

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Hello keninaz...

What kind of visual finish are you wanting ?
IS $ an issue ?

You say the wood fits in slats of the hull ? Am I understanding this right ? ( basically multiple strips of wood make up the seat ? ).

Got pics ?

I know Im asking alot of questions..but I dont want to give the wrong advice here...

YD.
 

djpeters

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

You don't want pressure treaded wood touching aluminum. It will corrode the aluminum.
 

keninaz

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Hello keninaz...

What kind of visual finish are you wanting ?
IS $ an issue ?

You say the wood fits in slats of the hull ? Am I understanding this right ? ( basically multiple strips of wood make up the seat ? ).

Got pics ?

I know Im asking alot of questions..but I dont want to give the wrong advice here...

YD.

Finish is not important. I will most likely cover it with something to make it easier to sit on for extended periods.
Who knows what the original seats were like, and the floatation that was under 2 of the 3 is long gone.
I am posting a pix of the bracket where the front seat was removed before I got it.

2r74kk8.jpg
 

Bondo

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Does that need to be marine grade or just normal plywood?

Ayuh,... Normal plywood, painted, yes...

CDX is probably abit rough for a visable seat,.....
ACX would work quite nicely though....
 

keninaz

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Does it matter if it's going to have a cover on it?
 

Bondo

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Nope,...
You could drop back to CDX, if the money is the issue,...
It's purely a Cosmetic thing...
 

Yacht Dr.

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

I would go Mohogany if it suits your pocket book..

Your going to have to account for resin coatings and such for regular ply..or even MG ply..

If your going to permanantly cover your wood.. thats another story..

IMO your hardwoods will last longer and have a wider "use range" out of the seats..uncovered that is..

YD.
 

JimS123

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Cut two pieces of 1/2" CDX and laminate them together. Seal them with varnish or sanding sealer. Screw a 2x4 vertically across the bottom for extra ridgidity.

Cover the top with Nautilex or Maritex non-skid vinyl (like many of the upscale utility boats.)
 

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keninaz

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

That sounds like it would be strong and reasonable too. Might just be a good plan. Thanks.
 

Yacht Dr.

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Aye..yes..but my way has the seats for multiple applications..

Cover the seats..there for you butt..

Nonskid your seats..hard on a knife...

Im suggesting seats that you can get blood on..and wash/rinse..fish..

Now if you want permanant comfy seats.. I can arrange a post on that...I was thinking Fishing......

Oh..and you might want to step on the seats when that bass goes to the other side of the boat .. Safty..

Bare wood is the safest/cleanest and most effective way you can rig your fishing boat IMO...

Decide on what you want from Your fishing aspect and go from there..

If seats are only that..then yes make them out of whatever.. ( Ill tell ya that after buying all this sealant and resin and grip tape or other paint to coat your ply your going to spend as much as you would have with good Top of the line Timber that would basically last forever LOL ). Been there done that..

YD.
 

fishrdan

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Are the rear seats held in the same way as the front, no seat bulkheads below the seat? If yes, then, yeah you'll want some support from the underside of the seat, a box as you said.

Personally, I'd glue up 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood to get 1" then add a tapered 3" brace under the middle of the seat side-side, rabbeted in. Or as Bond-O said, use some 3/4 ply, shimmed on the ends, and add a 2-3" lip on the front and back to give it rigidity. Any plywood you use to span that 58" is going to be bouncy without some support from below.

See if you can find "Arauco" plywood at Lowes or Home Depot, I've been waiting to try it out for some boat stuff. It has a higher ply count than normal exterior plywood, is made with exterior glue and isn't much more expensive than ACX, maybe $25/sheet.

If you are doing this on the "cheap", see if your local lumber yard has any cull lumber. Sheets of plywood that are banged up and not good enough to sell at full price. That's what I used on my jon boat seat tops, something like $.50/piece for a 2x4 sheet and they were a really nice grade of plywood, AB. Though, you'd need a full sheet size to get your 58".

I put upholstery vinyl over the top of my seat plywood in my jon boat and it's holding up great after 4 years. I applied 2 coats of clear polyurethane to the wood before applying the vinyl and the clear finish on the underside is holding up nice, no cracking or peeling of the finish.
 

Yacht Dr.

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Your not going to find a damaged 2x4 sheet of good ply for .50 ..

Like I was saying..you Can build your seats out of ply..but how much for glue and resin to make your ply worthy of seats ?

Can you get Good wood for the same price as it would take you to resin coat or even a little bit more ? To me . . thats a cheaper set of tires on a worn out bike...

Okies... just buy some ply and then spend time on coating it...sounds goodish to me m8..( this is from a professional point of view...your going to waste $ on resin and time where you can have blank cut wood for slighly higher cost upfront of wood cost..but buying ply..your going to have to spend ( and have waste materials ) more with the ply)).

Its not that much wood ...

YD.
 

fishrdan

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Your not going to find a damaged 2x4 sheet of good ply for .50 ..

Sure you can, I've done it many times. Lowes and Home Depot (out here at least) cut their damaged sheet goods down to 2x4 and throw them into a cull bin. Most of the time you get 3 good 2'x4' pieces and 1 bad 2'x4' piece. Same with lumber, pine/redwood/treated 2x6, 2x8 4x4, 4x6, they cut them in half and chuck them into the cull bin.

Heck, last time we went camping I ran down and bought $4-5 worth of cull lumber for fire wood...:D
 

JimS123

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Re: Alumium Boat Seat Replacement~What type of wood?

Aye..yes..but my way has the seats for multiple applications..

Cover the seats..there for you butt..

Nonskid your seats..hard on a knife...

Im suggesting seats that you can get blood on..and wash/rinse..fish..

Now if you want permanant comfy seats.. I can arrange a post on that...I was thinking Fishing......

Oh..and you might want to step on the seats when that bass goes to the other side of the boat .. Safty..

Bare wood is the safest/cleanest and most effective way you can rig your fishing boat IMO...

My "classic" has 1" thick mahogany seats with 7 coats of Captain's Spar Varnish. Very durable, nice looking and easy to clean, but not real good as far as maintenance goes. My Starcraft Fishing boat has all seats covered in Nautilex (see my previous picture). Also, the floor in that boat is matching nautilex. I usually use a throwable PFD as a seat cushion in both boats, but realistically when fishing I move around from seat to seat so that I'm often sitting right on the Nautilex.

I don't like carpeted floors (cleanup reasons) and have had Nautilex on the floor for 40 years. Fish goo, blood, sand, etc. clean up just fine.
 
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