mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

[bigge8882]

I have a 16ft flat botom I want to mount the seat on the floor in the rear of the boat but the bench seat is in the way. i currently have a seat mounted in the front of the boat and on in the rear on the bench. I want to know if it will be possible to remove the rear bench without damging the structural integrity of the boat so I can mount the seat to the floor?
please help

 

[Bondo]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

Ayuh,.....

Usually in a boat that size,....
The bench seats are an intergral part of the hull Structure......
As well as usually being stuffed full of floatation foam.....

 

[5150abf]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

I am with Bondo, that seat is part of the hull, if you pull it you create a weak spot.
They make swivel mounting plates that would let you mount what ever seat you wanted right to the bench.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

someone came up with the example. the gunnells turn to aluminum foil with out the seats.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

I'll bet I know your problem. The rear seat is too far back in the boat, making it uncomfortable to operate your outboard and making the boat back heavy. Am I right?

Couple of ideas. In most cases those foam-filled aluminum seats are riveted to the hull, and have a brace, also attached to the hull.

It is possible to drill the rivets out, move the seat forward (even 6" makes a big difference, then fasten the seat to the hull, but using stainless machine screws and cap nuts, sealed with 3M 4200. You'll also have to seal the empty holes, but that's pretty easy to do. I do it with stainless steel machine screws and cap nuts, again, sealing them, but with 3M 5200.

I have also seen people build a wooden box attached to the front of the rear seat and fitted to the floor of the boat, with the seat attached to this box. In fact, that's what I've done with my 12 v-hull aluminum boat. It moved the seat forward about six inches and lets me run the outboard, facing the bow, with my hand over the seat...no problem.

You can also move your fuel tank and battery (if any) up in the boat, helping with weight distribution.

 

[julieinmi]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

we have a similar sea nymph flatbottom, and mounted the swivel seats to boards which we band to the aluminum seats -- the boards keep the weaker edges of the boat seats from rolling under from the banding, and we remove them and store them inside during the winter to prevent damage. Seems like you could do something similar, even putting legs on the front of your board and moving the seat out from the existing bench if you wanted to sit further from the stern, without touching the original design. You know, just use a wider board and use the bench seat to support the back and some legs to support the front two corners . . . it's really nice to be able to take them back out easily whenever we want too, since if we take a little grandkid or two they're kind of in the way. I put a couple coats of Thompson on the boards and then painted them, and they've held up extremely well.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: mounting boat seats in aluminum flat bottom

we have a similar sea nymph flatbottom, and mounted the swivel seats to boards which we band to the aluminum seats -- the boards keep the weaker edges of the boat seats from rolling under from the banding, and we remove them and store them inside during the winter to prevent damage. Seems like you could do something similar, even putting legs on the front of your board and moving the seat out from the existing bench if you wanted to sit further from the stern, without touching the original design. You know, just use a wider board and use the bench seat to support the back and some legs to support the front two corners . . . it's really nice to be able to take them back out easily whenever we want too, since if we take a little grandkid or two they're kind of in the way. I put a couple coats of Thompson on the boards and then painted them, and they've held up extremely well.

Welcome to iboats.

Answering a 2 year old thread is sort of not necessary. Older threads are usually just for reference