Boat seating - Questions

[afaust]

Hi All,

I've got an older boat with back-to-back lounge seats. They are in pretty good condition (vinyl torn on one, but that was my fault). I find they take up a heck of a lot of room, and I'm wondering if anyone ever has or has seen a swap out for pedestal seats. The floor had been redone in the boat, so I do not know what the material of the floor is (suspect plywood covered by carpet). Would pedestal seats be able to be installed to that floor? Has anyone done it? What would be the required steps, or what would I need to ensure its safe/solid? Will I end up saving space (ie is it even worth it).
Any info that anyone could give would be appreciated.

Allan

[scarkner]

I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago looking into this and the conclusion I came to was "no" it wasn't really worth doing. The main reason may surprise you... it was seat height. The back-to-back seats used in most older boats are only about 9 inches off the floor when you sit in them. I found that the pedestal seats would have looked dumb and been uncomfortable mounted that close to the floor (in order to get under the steering wheel). The pedestal seats have a much straighter back, where the old seats you will find have more slope so almost a lounger.

Again, that was my conclusion!

For mounting, I also looked into that and found some good floor mounts. I concluded that I was going to cut a 12 inch round 3/4 inch outdoor plywood base and mount that to the floor first, and then mount the pedestal to that, just to be absolutely sure I had spread out the weight as the torque these things apply on the flooring is crazy high.

[afaust]

That is the reason why I asked the question, and thank you for the response... I can understand the height principle (I'm 6'3" as well) and already it's not easy getting under the wheel so to speak.... Guess I'll have to survive with the current configuration until I can eventually get another bigger boat. Thanx again.

[scarkner]

Or build your own!

Consider your boat layout, could you put two seats in the front (driver/passenger) and then put one bench-seat along the back?

Plywood, vinyl, some foam and a staple gun... you can make some decent simple seats pretty fast. You can also do this in a way that the seats you make are removeable so you can always go back to the old ones.

[CBB]

Not sure of the setup for your console but you could also raise it a few inches and then put in short pedestals for the seats. I have done this in the past when we were selling boats and wanted them back to back seats out.

[afaust]

Thx CBB for the info,

Nah, that wouldn't work. Console is a solid fiberglass dash that crosses the entire front of the boat. Trying to change anything with that would mess with the entire structure of the boat probably. Best to leave as it is.... I can live with it, was just wondering about the feasability before spending money for nothing, or something that is worse than what I have.

Allan