Re: which seating arangement is best??
We have the swivel seats and an "L" shaped lounge in the rear of our 21' Rinker. Picture a regular rear bench, but drag it around the port side a little. Making room for a nice walk-through beside the engine compartment to get to the swim platform. Plus the bow seats of course.
First, the good:
Makes it super nice to have the walk-through. Especially with the kids. No more climbing over the motor cover.
Makes for more room behind the drivers seat for a large cooler if you need it. We don't, as the floor section of our walk-through is actually a lid to a built in cooler in the floor. It drains to the bilge.
We have a small table that mounts in the floor at the corner of the rear "L" bench. Easy for everyone to be able to reach the table to get their snacks.
Now, the bad:
Makes the sun pad a little smaller from side to side. Maybe 18 inches. Not an issue for us, as our boat is 102" wide.
The biggest potential issue is weight distribution. It makes it really easy for everyone but the driver to sit on the port side of the boat. With the bench coming up the port side to about the back of the swivel seat, the kids like to pile up there. I fixed this by making my port side Smart Tab a little stiffer than the starboard.
If I had to do it again, I'd definitely go the same route. The walk-through makes all the difference in the world.
Looks like this:
http://boatcan.com/boat-review/photos/21-6.gif
http://boatcan.com/boat-review/photos/21-5.gif