New seats for 17 ft runabout

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

well......you can.

that is why this forum exists.....

you would never expect that someone with little experience could cut a boat in half.......then make it 5 feet longer .....
then build every bracket, windsheild, every piece.....all by his lonesome.

it can be done......easily....

we can walk you right thru it.

I sincerely appreciate this forum and all those that contribute to it and I hear what you are saying however the fact of the matter is that I live in an apartment and the only place that I can work on my boat is at my girlfreind's house and even doing that is very restrictive due to the home owner's assoication rules which forbid working on boats and only allow me to park my boat in her driveway for 2 days in a row and these rules are strictly enforced. She was warned once when I simply did an engine oil change in the driveway. It sucks, but that's the way it is and I don't have any other options.

 

[Tthomp3]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

If you love the boat go for it! You cant put a price on your happiness but i can say that if you do decide to do it yourself this forum can talk yo right through it. Im only 17 and this forum forced enough knowledge through my hard noggin to help me rebuild my boat... it can be done! But looking at your situation i would say that getting someone to do it is the best bet

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

OOPS is correctamundo! You could do them for $200 bucks but... given your situation it would be a problem. Do you have any friends with a garage and a table saw? You can get on Craigslist and buy a sewing machine for $50 bucks and buy the vinyl online for for less than $75. We can and will help you do it if you can figure a way to find a place to get it done. Just hate to see you spend that kind of money on something that is really not that hard to do. We can also show you a method for mounting the seats without having to screw them directly into the deck.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

OOPS is correctamundo! You could do them for $200 bucks but... given your situation it would be a problem. Do you have any friends with a garage and a table saw? You can get on Craigslist and buy a sewing machine for $50 bucks and buy the vinyl online for for less than $75. We can and will help you do it if you can figure a way to find a place to get it done. Just hate to see you spend that kind of money on something that is really not that hard to do. We can also show you a method for mounting the seats without having to screw them directly into the deck.

I really do appreciate all the support, advice and suggestions however doing it myself is just not possible. It's a simple matter of not having the right facilities available to do the work properly. I wish it were different-- I would not hesitate to do it.

With that said, I am very interested in learning how the seats might be mounted without having to screw them directly into the deck. This would apply to the lounge seats only because the rear jump seats need to be removable in order to service the engine. The place who gave me the quote is a well-known and reputable place and if I am going to pay them that amount of money, they should be open to my suggestions on how I want the work completed.

Also, I am going to get a quote from another local place to make sure the first quote is in line.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

If ya wanna see what can be done without having the right facilities, just take a look at my upholstery thread, I redid a 28' pontoon in my living room! Also an example of what the folks here can teach 9 months ago I logged in here and didn't even know how to spell boat, now I am doing upholstery for other people....being in California makes everything more expensive, its the nature of the beast there...(I remember paying 1600 a month to rent a 2 bedroom apt. when I grew up in Cali...out here 500 will buy a nice house) so that quote probably isnt too far off base for the area. You can do it yourself and we will help if you want to, but honestly will take longer than Oops' time estimate...he forgets the learning curve time is tripled!

 

[SDSeville]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

I have seen people buy the Wise lounge seats and modify (cut) the base to fit applications like yours. You can get those seats cheap on Walmart.com and they will deliver to a local Walmart store for free. I have seen them from $150 to $175 per B2B lounge. However, you will not be able to match that color.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

I have my boat in a shop now getting new seats, new carpeting and re-pad/re-vinyl the side panels. The floor is in decent condition with no areas that were in need of repair, however they will be laying down a couple coats of fiberglass resin to give it some addition stability. The old lounge seat bases were bolted down with 1/4" x 1.5" lag bolts, which are in need of replacement. Should I stick with the same length as what was there or should I go a little longer and get some 2" long lag bolts instead? Either way, they will be stainless steel...surprisingly, the old ones were not and while they were rusted, they were not in terrible shape.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

2" SS Is what I'd use. And I'd coat them and the holes with 3M 4200

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

2" SS Is what I'd use. And I'd coat them and the holes with 3M 4200

Thanks. Using something longer makes me a bit nervous, but I guess I have to assume that the stringers are 2x4s, which allows for plenty of headroom before reaching the outer hull layer.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

You should be able to guage that by looking at the hull from the side. If it's "Close" then stay with the 1 1/2" length. Usually you'll have at least a 1/2" to spare. But... best to give it a check.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

You should be able to guage that by looking at the hull from the side. If it's "Close" then stay with the 1 1/2" length. Usually you'll have at least a 1/2" to spare. But... best to give it a check.

OK -- I sure wish I knew a little more about what is underneath that floor. Here's a couple pics of the boat from the side and rear. You can see that the center of the lounge seats are about where the windshield slopes down to the gunwales and the other pic from the rear gives an indication of the general shape of the v-hull.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Ok you just need to guesstimate the deck level and then where the stringer is that the lag bolt is going into. That triangulation will tell you the depth to the glass hull. If it's more than 2 inches you're good to go.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Thank you Wood.

 

[SDSeville]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Will the lounges only be bolted down over the stringer or will they be bolted elsewhere too? Just curious because the stringers in my boat are way to the inside edges of my lounges.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Will the lounges only be bolted down over the stringer or will they be bolted elsewhere too? Just curious because the stringers in my boat are way to the inside edges of my lounges.

I am not sure what is under the flooring, so I don't know. I am just hoping that the place that is doing the work knows what they are doing and will do the job correctly. It's been tough letting someone else work on my boat but they have a good reputation so I have confidence that they will do a good job.

 

[SDSeville]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

What are the seat bases made of? If wood, they can tab them into the deck.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

What are the seat bases made of? If wood, they can tab them into the deck.

They are making new seat bases which will be made of plywood. What is tabbing? Is that where you basically fiberglass them down?

 

[SDSeville]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Yes, you glass them to the deck. Very strong and no holes drilled in the deck or stringers.

 

[am_dew]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Here are some pics of the finished job. I had new carpet installed in addition to new seats. While it looks nice, the workmanship in some areas was not very good, and in fact I am pulling the boat back to the shop this morning for them to correct a laundry list of issues. This was done by a well respected upholstery shop that has been in business a long time and is one of the top shops in the area and while the general upholstery work looks good, I have a lot of doubts about how long before things will start coming apart due to some of the workmanship issues I have found already in the few days I've had the boat since they finished the job.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New seats for 17 ft runabout

Sorry to hear you aren't happy with it. It certainly looks great from where I'm sittin'!