Seat Building Question

[Joseph Fikentscher]

I need to make new cabin seating in the B25. I want to do bench seating on both sides. the areas under the bench will house the batteries and other storage such as a cooler and life preservers. The old seating just didn't work for my needs. Also removing the lower station.

How heavy should I go with the plywood? It will be covered on the outside with formica and trimmed. Do I need to go with 3/4" or will 1/2" work?

[Bertramp]

If your a$$ were as fat as mine, you would not be asking this question !! :-)

[Joseph Fikentscher]

Good one Bertramp !!

Yes, I need to have some strength for other members of my family. Not mentioning names. A guy has to be careful with his future.

Regards,

Joe

[CamB25]

A couple of thoughts/opinions:
- I find that 3 ply, 1/2" plywood is a real pain to work with. Wavy and unstable unless you use 5,7, or high ply material. For fir plywood use 3/4", but you will pay a weight penalty.
- Formica both inside and outside will stiffen the plywood substantially and you could use 1/2" for the box structure saving weight. A couple layers of fiberglass would also work well.
- I have used smooth FRP panels for inner surfaces of the bow seat boxes, transom module, and my fuel covers (molded). Easy to cut and bend (heat gun), and will bond well with epoxy. Boat life caulk the seams and it's a quick way to a "finished" interior surface. They can be painted as well.
http://www.cranecomposites.com/BP/sequentia.html
-After using almost every material available on my project over the years, I've come to the conclusion that using Coosa saves so much time, effort, and weight that it more than offsets the higher up front cost of the material. If I were making bench boxes I would use Coosa for the structural elements.

My latest Coosa creation (thought there is a little plywood because I ran out of Coosa):



Cam

[Yannis]

Joe,

Are you sure you want to put the batteries that far forward?

First because of the weight and second because of the banging punishment they'll get out there.

[Tony Meola]

If your a$$ were as fat as mine, you would not be asking this question !! :-)

Now that is too funny.

[Yannis]

Cam,

Two seats plus two storage spaces underneath, plus the outboard mounting space, plus the bait well ALL in one, man what do you guys drink?

[CamB25]

As the song says,"One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer!"

[Joseph Fikentscher]

Cam,

After taking out the original seating, it looks like Bertram used 1/2". Maybe i'll use 3/4 for the front face of the bench and 1/2 for the shorter pieces.

Yannis,

the batteries would be at the aft end of the seat and probably about 1' in front of the engine (Vdrives). The seats will extend almost as far back as the bait tank n the picture below.

[Tony Meola]

Joel

Where do you keep her? That looks like you are on Tom's River from the picture.

[Joseph Fikentscher]

Tony,

I keep her at the Manasquan River Club in the summer. Just up the street from Marine Max and the River Rock Bar.


In the winter she is next to my house in Wall. Basically on the other side of the river. 5 minutes to the slip.

[John F.]

In redoing the interior of my B31, I've used 1/2" ply for all the vertical pieces. The dinette seats are made out of 1/2", but the horizontal seat tops are 1/2" with another piece of 1/2" serving as the backing to the upholstered piece--so it's almost like 1". I'm building a really wide bench seat for my starboard side. I don't intend on having the cushions built with any plywood (just foam), so I'll probably use 3/4" ply for the seat top so that it doesn't flex.

[Yannis]

If you plan to glass them, then even 1/2" is too much for verticals.

For horizontal surfaces, I chose 2cm (which is less than 1") and I can assure you it's rock solid.