pedestal boat seat came loose from the floor

[markzeke]

I have an 06 Alumacraft Tournament Pro 175. This is my "dream" fishin' rig. Everything has worked out great except last weekend. I was trolling on Big Cormorant and the screws that hold the seat base to the floor stripped out and it sent me rolling. To keep fishing, I took the seat and turned it a quarter turn and got a few of the screws back in. Has anyone ever heard of this happening on a new boat. I always keep the boat in my garage. I called alumacraft and they told me to bring it to the dealer where I got it from. I did that and all they did was put more screws into the base. Is it possible I got a rotten board under my carpet? Thanks for any input...

[Valv]

Actually I think about poor craftmanship. A seat base should have bolts that go through wood floor and anchot to a square plate (usually alluminum) approximately as wide as seat base, this way any upward or sideways pressure is applied to a large area, not just the screw few threads through a 1/2" sheep to pluwood.

I am sure it is not a case of rotten plywood (it takes a long time of submersion or water intrusion).

I would have dealer or actually check Alumacraft assembly procedure to find out if they missed the plate (it happens, assembler mistake) or else.

[Whoaru99]

My friend with an Alumacraft has had LOTS of problems with this.

It's a fair haul to the dealer and he's not much into confrontation so I used some blue Loctite on the threads and that seems to have helped. But, by the time he asked what could be done, some of the holes were already stripped out.

On a new (or in warranty boat) I'd take it back to the dealer. It could be considered somewhat of a safety issue, IMO.

What if the screws had come loose when you were doing something other than trolling? You could have been thrown out of the boat - glad that didn't happen.

[78cj5]

I recently installed a Quickdrop seat pedestal in my 2006 Lund Mr Pike. I was surprised that the front pedestal only used wood screws to hold it in place...

[JollyT]

Just a thought. If it's out of warranty, drill out the stripped hole and use some typ of expansion bolt in place of the screw?

[RK]

Hiya -

Is there any way to get at the base from underneath (through a storage compartment maybe)? Ideally, they should be attached with T nuts rather than screws. I've gone tail over teakettle when a seat came loose so I know what it's like.

If you can't get at the base from below, you can just rotate the base a quarter turn and drill new holes.

If the boat's still under warranty, for sure take it to the dealer...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm