great seat towers - low $ restoration

[fishinrado]

here is my solution to a problem that i see alot of folks are facing when restoring an old rotting away boat. after gutting down to the fiberglass floor and making all new stringers (see 77 crestliner thread) and putting in a new floor i made these seat towers. they are working great for me! using the leftover stringer stalk as described in that thead i made these boxes. employ some 2x4's , a few 1.00 hinges , the leftover carpet from your new floor and 4 new $22 seats from pro-bass shops. walah u'll have seating for 4,
and some great storage. notice how they lift towards the windshield so the windshield holds them up! i made them narrow so there is plenty of room to walk through. approx size is 44' L X 13' W X 16" H. no need to buy seat towers, swivals or bases. just bolt the seats through the top sheet of plywood using longer bolts than what came with the seats! make a template for the bolt holes using a peice of cardboard box and punch the holes out. transfer to underside of box and drill. used my nail gun to put together and a staple gun for the carpet and i do have a table saw so they didn't take that long. u can do this with basic tools and cheap stapler gun. good luck and let me know if anyone wants more info. ps, they are mounted by just screwing the inside braces to the new floor.....

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

You know, I really like having pedistal seats, but this really has me thinking about extra storage because I'm REALLY lacking storage.

Thanks for sharing this!

 

[loopie]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

NICE! Great idea or sure

I just bought a boat today that will be getting this exact treatment I think...Thx

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

you could also split them in the center so each seat lifts individually, and not have as much to fall on you hand or head. nice job.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

Great work. It's ideas like this that keep me hanging around here

 

[SwampThing]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

Nice idea and execution. I've seen where some of the replacement seat boxes they make now have storage drawers built into them. Got me thinking since I already do wood working and just got done dove tailing 20 drawers for dressers I was making.

Only one very fatal flaw as I see it. You used particle board for your seat boxes! I wouldn't use that stuff to make a dog house. It's going to suck moisture out of the air and retain it. Time will tell how long they last.

 

[Nova II 260]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

Only one very fatal flaw as I see it. You used particle board for your seat boxes!

With particle board and carpet, both wick moistior, you are asking for rot. Hope you didn't use it on the floor.

Good storage design. I would split them in the middle also, less weight on the hinges too. With wave/wind motion the thing may fall. Boat's can and will hurt ya....

 

[fishinrado]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

no , no that's not particle board. its 2 sheets of marine 5/8" osb plywood. it's epoxied together with waterproof adhesive. the carpet is marine outdoor carpet bought at lowe's. they are extremely rigid and weigh about (with seats) 75 lbs. each. i thought about splitting the seats so each seat folds back to the ouside but decided i liked the whole seat folding and literally locking itself in and over the windshield. u may be looking at the top of the box (underside) it has 2 x 4's on the perimeter that lock into the box once closed .that is a peice of lighweight plastic over the inside bottom to cover the raw wood look.........thanks for all the comments! wanted to keep the cost down on this $200.00 project and still have something that looked decent. it's practical, comfortable, feels ultra solid when sitting and u wouldn't beleive all the crap u can fit into those boxes.

 

[Nova II 260]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

You could add one of these outside of each lid to hold it up and secure.
They hold up my heavy engine hatch and pad.

 

[fishinrado]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

great idea on the mini-shocks! just bought 2 at "advance auto parts" for $9.00 each. they are made to hold a car hood up. mounted them on the inside around the middle. work even better that the windshield! .........

 

[Nova II 260]

Re: great seat towers - low $ restoration

Great, now your chances of getting hurt have greatly diminished. Boating sucks when your injured...been there.