Aluminum seat mounting

[I hear bass laughing]

I have an 1985 Mon Ark and it has about a 3.5 foot deck at the bow. What I want to do is mount a seat there to fish and control the troller. My fear is the aluminum is simply not sturdy enough to support a bass boat seat(especially when setting the hook hard).
I have combed the forums here for material that I might use to reinforce this area: aluminum, sheet metal, steel. Not sure which would be the best and not sure if welding or screwing down to the deck is the right way to go.
The grey carpet glued onto the plywood is to reduce deck sound. It is simply screwed into the aluminum deck.
I've attached pictures in hopes that would help.
I look forward to reading your experienced opinions.
Thanks in advance guys! This is a great forum and you all make it so.

 

[mattinglyt]

Re: Aluminum seat mounting

How thick is your plywood? I'm in the middle of redoing my alumicraft and I'll be using 3/4" treated plywood to screw down to the aluminum seat decks and I'm putting pedestal seats on this. I'm quite sure that will be more than sufficient to handle the weight of the seats and me in them. If I find later on that it isn't, I'll just add a steel plate underneath where the seat pedestal is bolted to so that it will reinforce the area. You should be fine w/ that kind of set up.

The wood you have will distribute the load quite well. If possible bolt the seat pedestal down w/ large washers on the bottom side, that will help also.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Aluminum seat mounting

Of you are planning on mounting a true pedestal with a pipe.... you will need to anchor it down at the hull level. You want the best support possible. DO NOT add a steel plate to an aluminum hull unless it is high quality stainless steel or you will regret it.

 

[I hear bass laughing]

Re: Aluminum seat mounting

Thanks BobVt and mattingly for your replies. I think I'm making to hard work out of a simple matter. Thanks again!