Homemade Boat Seats

[TWFisher]

Has anyone ever made their own boat seats? I need two bench seats and since I've alreadt dumpped a ton of cash in this thing, I'm trying to cut some corners. Any advice on how to make some nice durable seats appreciated.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

If you plan on just wood seats you can save some money. If you plan to cover them, the foam, vinyl, and sewing equipment rental (if you don't already have it) will greatly outweigh the cost of getting some seats from a salvage yard or if you are a careful shopper, you may be able to find new or lightly used stuff on E-bay. I guess it all depends on how well you want the seats to look. You said you already spent a ton of money on the boat so why would you want to skimp now -- especially on something so visible.

 

[TWFisher]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

I replaced the floor, and recarpeted the bow and stern areas and It came out supprisingly well, so I thought I may get lucky and turn out some decent seats. I'm thinking 1/2 inch marine plwood, 2~3 inches of foam, white vinyl and stainless staples or other fasteners. No sewing though, I'm not that good. The boat is dull and has quiet a few cosmetic blimishes so nothing fancy, just simple white seats. I was quoted roughly $275 to $300 per seat. I'm hoping I can come in under half the cost.

 

[22E6441]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

My back-to-back lounge seats were $200 CDN each and they're awesome. If I get a new boat, the seats come with me.....

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

I made the interior for my old SeaSwirl and it held up well, looked pretty nice too with comments from people on the dock (whats a nice interior doing in POS like that )

I used 1/2" 5 ply exterior plywood, but if I was to do it again I would use 3/8 or 1/4 as the 1/2 was overkill. I gusseted the corners with redwood triangle shaped strips, glued and stapled, then carpeted the sides with el'cheapo felt looking carpet. The seat tops were 5/8 ply, 2" high density foam and vinyl. The dog house was built from 1/2 and 3/4 plywood for strength so we could use it for a casting platform, worked well. I stitched some of the vinyl with the wife's sewing machine,,, but the machine was barely capable of stitching the heavy vinyl,,, looked good from 5'

It's going to cost you some money for the vinyl and foam, but the other supplies are pretty cheap. The best thing about building your own interior, you can lay out the interior the way you want. I put all the seats in the corners of the boat (except for the driver's) so the middle of the deck was open, lots of open space for fishing.

 

[TWFisher]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

I found a nice bench seat from Cabelas for 250, but its only 4', I need 5'. It's gona have to be a custom job. I need to cover up as much stained gellcoat as possible, plus I have this one, 1.5'wide fiberglass bench along the port side that has to have custom seating. No way Ill ever find anything aftermarket to fit that size and it has a funny tapered shape at one end. I may give it a try but If I don't like how it comes out, Ill end up paying a pro to redo. Thats why Im a little reluctant.

 

[stevetedder]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

I built my own for a 24' pontoon. Reused the foam, everything else new. Cost me around $ 900. They look great and fit great but my opinion is they are TOO heavy. Should have used 1 by's instead of 2 by's. Now Im thinking after examining a set of the plastic/ fiberglass bottom ones of usng a plastic truck tool box or a few coolers for bases to shed some weight on my next set. Just a thought.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Homemade Boat Seats

I built my own for a 24' pontoon. Reused the foam, everything else new. Cost me around $ 900. They look great and fit great but my opinion is they are TOO heavy. Should have used 1 by's instead of 2 by's. Now Im thinking after examining a set of the plastic/ fiberglass bottom ones of usng a plastic truck tool box or a few coolers for bases to shed some weight on my next set. Just a thought.

If you do that you'll be sorry after a season or two. Those seat bases are roto molded like the $600 coolers (Yeti, Engel, et al). The plastic truck boxes and less expensive coolers will quickly sag and warp and be a disaster. Be better off ordering seat bases from somewhere like Pontoonstuff.