Boat Question

[Bubbadust]

I just purchased an old aluminum fishing boat (my first) and want to replace the wooden bench seats because they are starting to rot. The seats are 3/4" thick plywood. I was just wondering what people's thoughts are for replacing this.

I'm assuming the cheapest and easiest way is to just put treated plywood in. There was some kind of material wrapped around the seats (fiberglass maybe?). Would you recommend covering the new wood with that stuff? If so, where do you find it? Or should I just paint it or stain it?

Thanks,

[river-rat4]

Bubbadust-

If it were me depending on the boat, scrap the bench. Anchor some ply(green treat), and install a pedistal seat. They are a lot more comfortable and versatile. I took the bench out of my flat bottem and never looked back! Love it!

Kick it around.

-RR4

[tomfromblaine]

I've done it on a couple of boats and I just used a 1"by what ever width you need then I painted with a good quality enamal paint, they turned out nice and lasted quite awhile. I've also heard of people using truck bedliner paint and ending up with a extremely durable/water proof results. hope this helps alittle.

[Slyster]

How long is your boat? I have 14' Lund which I put in a deck this spring.. tried it out twice last weekend.. it really worked nice! Removable pedistal seat locking seat up front... gives me room to lie down and lots of storage.. gas tank up front. Pedistal too high for wavey conditions or large boat wakes but surprisingly stable in calm water. I take out the pedistal seat for fishing with the kids.. they love to lie around and play with toys from the "secret compartment" they call it. I plan to put try some leftover tubes of sand (3 70lb bags) in the middle bottom- might help stabilize it. I have pix of it in action as well. It's more complete now than these pix show.. I put in a removable seat up front and outdoor carpeted the floor in the middle w/ waterproof glue and put 3M non-slip outdoor grip in the back floor. Could easily put in a live well if one wanted.

[jigginjim]

Bubbadust: I had a 14ft. Crestliner that I redone the seats in. The rear seat I used a pair of 2x6 to replace the bench.

I also installed a flat floor with plywood. used outdoor carpet on all parts. I need to remember about the floatation. The last thing your need is to have the boat sink, if you get swamped by a wave, and lose your rig.

[Slyster]

True.. keep all the styrofoam in there!.. (and maybe I should ditch my sand idea)

[river rat316]

(Contact US Regarding This Word) im thinkin about doin the same thing, I want to put the batterys in the 2nd seat though, (I think it would help balance the boat a little), how wide is your floor? also does anyone know where there is styrofoam available in big cuttable blocks ? I would like to ad some more floatation but dont want to stack up 3" all the way to the deck

[Slyster]

My boat is balanced because the deck weighs around 50Lbs and the 6 gallon tank is up front. Not very wide.. 42" or so at the floor.. maybe 50" at the widest near the top/middle. The large foam hunk I chopped for the battery I put in the front compartment... maybe I should add more too. Packing popcorn floats very well.. and is very flexible packed in large ziplocks or other bags. I have used it in the past for various applications.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Just make sure that you don't use those biodegradable ones! They won't help you too much

[Pat K]

Don't use the new ACQ or AC2 treated wood in an aluminum boat. It will eat through the aluminum in a very short time. The only metals that can be in direct contact with ACQ are stainless steel or double hot dipped galvanized steel. The trucks that deliver ACQ have mats that they place on top of thier aluminum beds because the ACQ will eat holes in the bed after only 3 or 4 loads. The old CCA treated was fine with aluiminum but the new ACQ is extremely corrosive. Pat K

[Slyster]

Do what I did.. cover it over the edges with carpet and have an inch gap so it doesn't touch the metal anywhere (good for ventilation too) and bolted on to the wood benches. Then it won't be a problem I would think. Not sure what type of wood I used.. I just bought a 3/4" 4x8 sheet of outdoor "dock" wood.

[river rat316]

I think Im just gonna go with regular plywood thats laquered with an outdoor product on both sides, I dont think Im gonna go to overboard on it cause hopefully I will get a larger boat soon

[kato811]

ive got a wood deck made up for the front of my boat its a walk thu windsheild type the wood lays on the seats so you can stand up there an fish an i was going to rebuild it i thought id cut it the size it is now but instead of carpeting it i want to have some truck bed liner shot on it covering it completly

[Slyster]

Outdoor carpet is very cheap and looks/feels good... easy to staple on and isn't slipper when wet.. Menards.. maybe $30 or so for the whole works.

[Ryan Berger]

I just made a casting deck for the front of my boat,, got the carpet from menards,,$13 for a 6'x6' piece

[Bubbadust]

It is a 16' boat and is 5' wide in the middle. There are 4 bench seats, but 2 of them have buckets attached--I want to keep the same configuration. It actually looks like only the front seat was rotten (that was the first one I removed and I didn't check the rest of them before I started this thread). I think for now I will just use regular 3/4" plywood on that one, but I still need to determine how I'm going to protect/cover all the seats since I'm "stripping" the old fiberglass cover (I think it's fiberglass at least). Is there a special marine sealer or can a guy use something like Thompson's Water Sealer?

Thanks for all the replies!