Skippers Seat just doesn't work

[BOAT]

Wow, I remember my first beer.

[Wayne nicol]

i personally like the idea of a slimmed down seat station, with the small "standing" seat attached, if the boat is healing that bad- then i am on the high side anyway!
have seen some mods on here with the small standing pad- any body any pics of that mod?

[sailboatmike]

I find that while I enjoy standing at the helm its hard to do with the seat down on the X, the distance between the front of the seat and the wheel is just too small and Im not a overly large person, being 5' 11" and about 190lbs or 180cm and 90kg.

I think the front of the seat needs maybe 2 inches cut off just to give a bit of space for comfortable standing at the helm, I do enjoy the freedom of having the seat open whilst on the move but with small children around not a great idea

[Ixneigh]

Here is a picture of mine

[BOAT]

Yeah, that's a very interesting way to do it - there are some good ideas there - one thing:

Can you still lift the seat? I notice the backrest is still hinged - what about the seat? Do you just remove it?

There is some really good configurations possibilities in that setup.

[BOAT]

Here is a picture of mine

I don't quite understand what I am looking at here - what did you do to the top of the seat? why does it look so different from my stock seat back? It should be hollow and open at the bottom but under the words KEY LARGO it looks like it bends under? What's going on there? This is an M boat, right?

[Ixneigh]

That last picture is from the back. That part is foam filled since I used foam as a form to glass over. It's strong and light.
The seat part just sits there. I rarely remove it. I find it's easy to sit on as I exit the boat. It's heavier since I used glass and plywood. I flip up the back and lie over the seat to reach the motor disconnect. I always disconnect the engine when sailing and now it's easier.
Ix

[BOAT]

That last picture is from the back. That part is foam filled since I used foam as a form to glass over. It's strong and light.
The seat part just sits there. I rarely remove it. I find it's easy to sit on as I exit the boat. It's heavier since I used glass and plywood. I flip up the back and lie over the seat to reach the motor disconnect. I always disconnect the engine when sailing and now it's easier.
Ix

Right, because when you lower the seat down to level with the rest of the cockpit seats it's going to leave a big hole in the back of the stock helm seat - I remember that when I was inspecting my designs. So you had to glass in the back part anyways. I guess you decided the upper back needed foam too, huh? Did it feel weak when you cut it down? It needed strengthening?

[Neo]

That's brilliant Ix.... Do you have any other photos you can shear?

All the best.
Neo

[Ixneigh]

I did not use any part of the stock seat except the hinge. The seat did not appear to be easily modded and surprisingly to me, it is comprised of two layers of fiberglass with a space between them. I wanted the seat back to be strong enough to stand on since I do occasionally and the only way I felt confident it could be that way once it was in two pieces was to make everything from scratch. I might have, (and still could I suppose), have two pieces that hinge up opposite eachother. I open the seat back often, several times a day at least. Two pieces would be lighter on the hinges (it's marginal now in one piece) and be easier to open with less worry about wrenching the hinges out of whack. I do wish I would have angled the seat back slightly for comfort. Easy enough to do but I just didn't think about the possibilities. For some reason lost to me now, I was intent on keeping the original look of the boat. I'll post some other pictures of it.
Ix

[Neo]

Thanks Ix

[kadet]

Darn you Ixneigh, think I feel a mod coming on

[Ixneigh]

Here are some more pictures







Edit I don't know why some of them are upside down sry

[BOAT]

Very interesting - you essentially turned an M helm seat into an X helm seat. The X cockpit is superior to the M so that can be a good thing. I think I could attach the flat part of the seat to the back rest with a hinge so that you could lift the seat up and stand behind the wheel and also so that the seat bottom would go with the seat back when you lifted it to the side. That may not be everyone's preference, (might not even be mine - I'm just noodling). With upholstery this thing could be really really comfortable and pretty nice looking too. This mod deserves a lot of looking at.

This mod might be sort of nice for people using the ETEC motors because they are so low profile they will fit under a flat helm seat. I am still debating with myself on weather or not I want to lose the storage under the helm seat (which I only use to store my fenders). ( speaking of fenders - why has no one invented inflatable fenders yet that are easy to deflate and store?? I would like to carry more than two but they take up a ton of space)

I'm looking at this one very closely.