Folding Cupholders

[l008com]

You can find cupholders like this pretty much anywhere:
http://ipsite.org/13sf
They all work the same way, folding open 90? to store your beverage. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a folding style of cup holder, BUT that opens more than 90?. Something like 100?*or 110?? I want to mount these on a thin block of wood glued to the walls of my boat. But those walls are angled, it's a small boat. This style of cupholder could be perfect if they could open wider. I could make the wooden mount more edge shaped, so the closed cup holder mounted to it would be vertical, but I'd rather not do it that way. It would make cutting the wood WAY more popular, and the cup holders would be sticking out pretty for when closed. I'd prefer cupholders that were very low profile when folded flat.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Folding Cupholders

BUT that opens more than 90?. Something like 100?*or 110?? I want to mount these on a thin block of wood glued to the walls of my boat. But those walls are angled, it's a small boat.

Ayuh,... I'm guessin' yer gonna need to bevel the wooden mountin' blocks...

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping I can avoid. More so that the cup holder can be more flush when it's closed, than because it will be difficult cutting the wood at just the right angle, but that too.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping I can avoid. More so that the cup holder can be more flush when it's closed, than because it will be difficult cutting the wood at just the right angle, but that too.

Ayuh,... A cedar shake might be just 'bout right...

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Yeah, sounds like a teak wedge or redwood would be a good shim to angle it. I wouldn't waste the time for a piece of plastic junk though. Spend the extra money and get the stainless steel holders that fold up. The plastis ones fade bad after just a couple a months and break easy. The stainless will last you forever if taken care of.

If its not angled to much, I wouldn,t shim them at all. The boat is constantly tilting anyway.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Well they need to be on a piece of wood anyway. I'm not going to put screws through the hull for cup holders, even if it is above the waterline. And I may get metal ones, I haven't decided. The plastic ones are cheap enough that it should be easy to replace them if they break. But like I said, the biggest issue is finding some that open wider than 90?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Folding Cupholders

just put em on flat... don't open your drink till you are ready to take a swig.... after that it won't matter if they are tilted a few degrees......

Where are you mounting them that the screws would pierce the hull?

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Hey I'm back. This forum doesn't always send me notifications. Here's a good picture of where I'm going to mount my cup holders. I know I can make shims, but they will cause the cup holders to stick out so far, they'll be bumping your knees all day long. If they made folding cup holders that were designed to open to, lets say 110?, then I could mount it parallel to the fiberglass so it would be well out of the way when closed, but still useable when open.

Now, despite all that . . .
It's been months and I have yet to see any folding cup holder that is any different than every other folding cup holder I've ever seen. SO, I just ordered four white folding cup holders and two stainless 'cup' style cup holders, for the bow. The bow should mount easy, since I'm making new seat cushions anyway. I can just make a little cut out in the cushion and that will be where your beverage goes, nice and easy. The folding ones might be a challenge. This boat NEEDs cup holders. I am not joking around when I say it is a serious problem. Fishing your beverage out of the bilge is not fun at all.

But my options are kind of limited. So I'm going to go the shim route. I'm going to try to make the shims as small and thin as possible. I'll use the three top screw holes (in the cup holder) and not the bottom three. there may be just enough space for this to work. And if the $3 cup holders break too easy, I'll just pick up some of the stainless ones. These should be super easy to swap out, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Cutting the wood might be a bit of a challenge though. I built one of these shims already for my fire extinguisher, it was not as easy as you'd think. The hull isn't flat, it curve outward. So just cutting the wood at an angle wasn't good enough, the hull side of the wood needed a slight V shape to it to sit flush. BUT, the cup holder shims should be smaller than the fire extinguisher shim, so it might end up being easier than I'm hoping.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Hell, I'd just buy some of those suction-cup cup holders and put them somewhere on the dash or higher on the smooth gelcoat on the gunnel.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

That gelcoat isn't as smooth at it looks. Plus those kind of cup holders tend to look... cheap and ****ty. I like the folding ones down low, so you won't even see them unless you are using them.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Also, for the curious, this is what I ordered:
http://www.iboats.com/Adjustable-Boat-Drink-Holder-White-Seasense/dm/view_id.215338
http://www.iboats.com/Stainless-Steel-Recessed-Cup-Holder-Seasense/dm/view_id.341912

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Folding Cupholders

I have those. They open up to 90?. I thought you didn't want that.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

I have those. They open up to 90?. I thought you didn't want that.

. . .

...I have yet to see any folding cup holder that is any different than every other folding cup holder I've ever seen. SO, I just ordered four white folding cup holders... So I'm going to go the shim route

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Folding Cupholders

How about a thought from up a cardboard sort of templet and glass it over to make a 90 degree place to mount a standard cup holder

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

That would still have to stick out just as far as a wood block to be able to make the holder vertical. Plus I can't do glass, but I can do wood. So I'd rather do wood and do it myself. The fire extinguisher mount came out really good, it just took forever to get the wood into the right shape. I can't believe I never took a picture of it once I finished it though.

That reminds me of another problem with using wooden blocks. How do I secure them in place while the 5200 sets? With my smaller blocks for mounting electrical wiring, I just duct tape them. But for larger blocks of wood, duct tape isn't enough to prevent the block from slipping and moving. Is there a better way to secure these things in place? I used a ton of duct tape to tape up my extinguisher block, but it still slipped down a little. Luckily it wasn't too much of a problem.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Folding Cupholders

I don't know your interior layout, so it is hard to give you advice on where I would locate them, but I can say this, it will suck trying to bend over and find that cup holder every time you want to put a bverage in or out of it, especially if its next to a seat. . Why not put them up on the flat surface below the windows on each side, the drivers side looks like it has room right in front of your switch panel.

You might also look into these if you fish. http://www.ebay.com/itm/130652166123?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

And like already said, you could build plywood storage on both sides then glass them in. They could have storage and cup holders. You could design these as big or little as you want and form them easily to the hull using plywood.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

I think the boat is smaller than it appears in the photo. You will easily be able to reach the cup holder without bending down. The seats are only 8 inches or so off the deck. Also the area around the switch panel is much more cramped than it looks, there really isn't much room for anything at all over there. I think the knee bump position is probably the best place to mount them. Here's a picture with the old seats installed. The new ones are a little higher up, but not much. Also there isn't enough room to the left of the switch panel, to fit one of these folding cup holders. And it would really be in the way when you were steering.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4519/nowires.jpg

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Folding Cupholders

I think the boat is smaller than it appears in the photo. You will easily be able to reach the cup holder without bending down. The seats are only 8 inches or so off the deck. Also the area around the switch panel is much more cramped than it looks, there really isn't much room for anything at all over there. I think the knee bump position is probably the best place to mount them. Here's a picture with the old seats installed. The new ones are a little higher up, but not much. Also there isn't enough room to the left of the switch panel, to fit one of these folding cup holders. And it would really be in the way when you were steering.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4519/nowires.jpg

See what your saying with the height of the seats. I would build some storage boxes with a couple of cup holders in in the top of it and maybe a place for a trash bin in the middle. Be easy to do, little bit of material and time and you would be good to go. Still think there is room right next to the steering wheel. But thats your call. I have one next to my helm and it doesn't enterfer with steering. Its nice having them up a little so when you are standing in the boat, you can reach them. Maybe not a need for that in your boat if you spend most the time sitting down. Good luck.

 

[l008com]

Re: Folding Cupholders

That is an old pic, I also have a 3x5 stereo controller unit next to the steering wheel now
And a new steering wheel, nice pearly red one.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Folding Cupholders

Just had an idea. I use to have a old cj-7 jeep which had a center console, the rear seat had no cup holders, so I installed on of these on the back of the console in front of the seats. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tuffy-070-A...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4aad85fda1

These I am guessing could be bend to be angled to the hull. Seriously, I think it would work. They also have them in different colors. They are all metal.