I Found a Crack in My Seat

[tpenfield]

. . . boat seat that is . . .

As I was cleaning and bleaching the cockpit and compartments yesterday, I looked under the rear seat and noticed a crack in the fiberglass base of one of the rear seats. This particular seat is a cantilever base and is part of the rear "U" shape seating.

Here is the general location of the problem and a closeup of the crack on the base of the seat. . .



Whatever the weight capacity of the seat is, obviously it has been exceeded at some point.

I decided to fix it by adding some more fiberglass on both sides of the base. Here is a picture of the seat removed . . .


The entire seat assembly looks quite complicated to remove, so I would have to patch the cracked area as best I could from inside & outside the fiberglass base, and what was accessible.

I ground into the gelcoat and roughed up the inside area as well. Here is a picture of the outside area after fiberglassing. I used 2 layers of 1708 on both sides of the damage area with VE resin. Hopefully, it provide enough strength.


Since I was not able to disassemble the seat to expose the area further, I had to make do by masking the seat back.

- - Continued on the next post - -

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

- - continued from first post - -

then I took a closer look at the seat cushion . . . Seems to have a crack in the wood sub-straight . . .


So, it looks like a chain reaction break may have occurred at some point during the boat's life.

I decided to mend the cracked plywood with a few layers of fiberglass, and maybe even form a stiffener in the fiberglass. My plan was to get the fiberglass all set up and then lay a big heavy 'thing' on the seat bottom to bring it back fairly straight so it could set up.

I laid the seat across some saw horses and did the fiberglassing thing, formed the stiffener and then cover it all with some plastic wrap.


Then I looked around the garage and found the perfect 'heavy thing' . . . a Piece of a steel i-beam. It seemed to do a nice job of straightening the seat base.


So, it is curing at this point.

next steps are to finish off the patch areas of the seat base with some gelcoat and then re-assemble the seat.

I hope it works out. If it does not, then probably I should just install a leg under the cantilever portion of the seat. I am hoping to avoid that at this point. We shall see how it goes.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

When yer done, a small flip-down leg for that corner might be worth installing!

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

When yer done, a small flip-down leg for that corner might be worth installing!

Hey, FR . . . a flip down post might be just the thing. I was concerned about installing a 'fixed' leg under the seat because the cockpit carpet goes underneath the seat in that area. A flip-down would allow me to remove the carpet for cleaning, etc., yet still provide the additional strength.

I'm still thinking about the design of the original seat itself . . . Cantilevered seat with insufficient design . . . stupid idea.

 

[Bondo]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Hey, FR . . . a flip down post might be just the thing. I was concerned about installing a 'fixed' leg under the seat because the cockpit carpet goes underneath the seat in that area. A flip-down would allow my to remove the carpet for cleaning, etc., yet still provide the additional strength.

I'm still thinking about the design of the original seat itself . . . Cantilevered seat with insufficient design . . . stupid idea.

Ayuh,.... That coulda been storage, insteada someplace impossible to clean....

a windshield brace type of thing for a leg maybe,..??

 

[colbyt]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Don't we all keep a piece of i-beam in our garage?

 

[Quit It]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Nice work Ted. Weird that Formula didn't put the foot in.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Nice work Ted. Weird that Formula didn't put the foot in.

Yup, I think it is a design miscalculation . . . the cantilever seat is definitely not strong enough. Since this boat is the introductory year of the 330SS, I am wondering if they changed the design a bit in the later years. (the 330SS was in production from 1996 - 2008)

Anyway, I found a swing-down leg support here on iBoats.

So, it looks like it will do the trick.

 

[Quit It]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

That will look like it came from the factory. Are you going to put it on now or wait and test your repair? My vote is for now so you don't have to redo the repair.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

That will look like it came from the factory. Are you going to put it on now or wait and test your repair? My vote is for now so you don't have to redo the repair.

I'll put it on now, as I think the cantilever design is apt to break again.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Don't we all keep a piece of i-beam in our garage?

And just the right size as well.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Yup, I think it is a design miscalculation . . . the cantilever seat is definitely not strong enough. .

Oh, it's probably strong enough- but I'm thinking whoever engineered it somehow forgot about the G-forces caused when boats slam into waves...

 

[Slip Away]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

When yer done, a small flip-down leg for that corner might be worth installing!

It should have had a leg to begin with. What were they thinking without adding signage that says "This seat for small children only"

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Nice repair! Looks like a huge dude or dudette was using the seat for a trampoline.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

I don't think I'd put that "leg" under it. Someone WILL whack it with a foot / toe. I think I'd look at how to beef up the frame a little.

I'm thinking of mounting the leg a bit 'inboard' on the cantilever section, so it would be less likely to be a toe catcher. That was one of my concerns initally, but I'm not sure I can make the seat base beefy enough to hold a heavy passenger while going over the waves, etc

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

Hey, I just ordered the 'support leg' from iBoats. So, we shall see how it all works out. I'd like to finish the seat up next weekend.

I was thinking of ways that I could support the cantilever with brackets, etc. . . . but opted for the support leg.

 

[britisher]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

If the leg doesn't work, I'd use the piece of I Beam instead!!!

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

tpenfield. you may want to put an alum plate on bracket to spread out the weight a bit. also remove the rubber boot on the bottom and see if there a ss washer in there so it won't cut thru rubber. if not install one.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

If the leg doesn't work, I'd use the piece of I Beam instead!!!

The problem with using the "I" beam is that Bubba is likely to break his toe on it . . . he has big feet you know

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I Found a Crack in My Seat

tpenfield. you may want to put an alum plate on bracket to spread out the weight a bit. also remove the rubber boot on the bottom and see if there a ss washer in there so it won't cut thru rubber. if not install one.

Yup, good ideas. I will probably need to add some reinforcement to the mounting area as you said, and I like the idea of a washer at the bottom of the post. If there isn't one, I'll surely add one. :thumb: