Cut out seat or not a good idea Hmmmm?

[Christopher Quast]

I have a 72 Crestliner Voyager 18' it is 6' wide and about 3' deep and is a basic four bench seat fishing boat and I wanted to take out second seat from the back and flatdeck that space and install a couple of pedestal seats or cut out the middle section to make it a walk through and where the driver sits that bench actually forms a "C" shape if you will and the open part of the C faces the back of the boat I will post a pic to help out

[lookin4fish]

I have some friends that did that and they were sorry they did. the seats provide a huge amount of structural support, and when they removed them, the boat ended up vibrating so much it loosend the rest of the rivits and the boat started to leak really bad. on the other hand, i did it to my flat bottom boat and it worked great, but i have structural support all along the floor. you will also loos your floatation. i would not personally recomend it unless the floor has cross bracing.

[polarsusd81]

I did it in mine in a way that kept the structural integrity of the boat intact. I do also have a lot of structural metal work in my background and knew how to do it though. I have to post up a go at your own risk tutorial on it to give people an idea of what can be done. Mine worked out really well, but it is only a 14' and not an 18. If you do a search for the 14' boat modification thread, you should be able to read some of the info about doing such modification.

[Boogaard]

Good Luck id look into buyin a newer one! Doesnt sound like a good idea structurally. Dont forget the life jackets if you do decide to do a little customizing!

[polarsusd81]

Boogaard, if done right, it doesn't really hurt the boat, but it needs to be planned and executed properly for it to work. We had well over 200 hours in my boat last year after the mod in big water, little water, rivers, and trailering all over the state along some pretty bumpy roads. She is still holding up strong and getting prepped for another river trip this weekend. Again though, I have a long history of metal work and design, knowing what needs to be done to keep the strength of the boat while making it more enjoyable opening it up a bit.

[Steve Bakken]

We do dozens of these a year at the shop. It's probably our most popular request. But like polarsusd81 pointed out, this can work out really well, or it can be tragic. The key is maintaining that support. Without it youll eventually stress crack the aluminum and loosen rivets from all of the flexing. When we do one, alot of the time we'll leave about a foot of the seat stub still attached to the sidewall and the floor and incorporate a pair of them into a rod locker or some other type of storage cabinet. Once it's finished off with carpet and trim, you'd never guess there was a seat there. You're only limited here by your imagination.

[Christopher Quast]

Wow!!! sounds like a ton of different opinions here but the whole boat and rivets things makes sense but my origanal plan was to do like Steve said as far as leaving a foot or more of the seat on each side that way you could still have something for your side supports to connect to and would still have a walkway. Or shouldnt I do this either? and if money was no object I wouldnt even be messing around with this clunker of a boat in the first place money might always be the answer but some of arent given that option. Steve if you would drop me an email @ [email protected] so we could chat more on this subject so it's less confusing Thanks for all the feedback so far keep em comin!

[marine_man]

 Originally Posted By: GOLDTIP

Steve if you would drop me an email @ [email protected] so we could chat more on this subject so it's less confusing

It'd be better if you kept it on here - there's lots to learn from others - which is the intent of a forum like this.

Thanks!

marine_man

[lotsofish]

Definitely take a look at the "14' Modification" thread on this forum down a little bit and look at the pictures that polarsusd posted.

I have a 16' aluminum boat that's basically the same as yours and I'm going to do the mods, similar to how Tom did his. I am going to leave about a foot on the sides though and make a small bench/storage space on each side that goes from the front bench, across the 1 foot section left of the middle bench and to the back bench. Instead of cutting the bench completely out down to the floor, leave a little bit of the middle section (I haven't measured it out yet, probably about 3 inches I am guessing) and install a plywood floor in the middle. According to Tom (polarsusd) the plywood floor really tightened things up in his 14' and I think that and adding the side benches will really make it rock solid. I'm going to be relocating some of the foam that is inside the bench under the plywood floor.

Just be careful of the kind of wood you are using. Marine grade is the best, but it's very expensive. Certain kinds of green treat will eat away at aluminum, especially if they get wet. I'm going to use regular plywood but coat it with that deck sealer/waterproof stuff. It will be carpeted too.

I was bummed out because I had to work on car problems this past weekend instead of starting to work on my boat mods...

[Grant]

Tom and/or Steve-

if I was to post a photo of the center seat in my 14' crestliner would one or both of you be willing to add comment and/or drawings on the photo(s) to demonstrate what is a good idea and what isn't?

Grant Bakken

[polarsusd81]

I can take a look, but can't promise anything. I can't view most photos at work so it will have to wait til I get home, but I will try to help whatever way I can. It is quite rewarding to take an old boat that you think you will never be able to fish out of the way you want, and start chopping and modifying the layout to fit your needs. I will never sell my boat, even if I get into something bigger. I will keep it to give to my son on down the line.

I have a couple more things I plan to do to mine, and I might just take the time, go back, remove the floor, take photos of my bracing set up and post it up to show others what I did.

It works best on a boat that has the seats that go all the way down to the floor, if it is a bench and you can slide stuff under it, it will make things quite a bit more difficult. The seats that go down and are rivited to the floor provide the best support, and something to leave behind when you start cutting and bending. My plans for my boat include adding the sides and tops for my rod lockers, and installing a flat floor in the front of the boat with an access hatch to store things like life jackets and the anchor. Once I get that done, it is time for the carpet and some paint to really get it done right. I would also love to add a bowmount trolling motor, but that may have to wait a while yet.

[Grant]

awesome. thanks!

I'll take some photos later on this evening and post them up.

the seats on mine go all the way down.

Another question for the both of you- can either of you comment on the best way to convert some/all of the remaining bench space to storage? (hinge the top and whatnot. the benches in mine are a single piece of bent aluminum, with nothing topping them like a plank for instance.

[Tom7227]

Somewhere along here someone better start talking about maintaining the flotation in this rig. All that white stuff under the seats actually is there for a reason.

[Tom7227]

Here's the prior thread on boat modification:

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1269422#Post1269422

[polarsusd81]

Tom7227 is right, you do want to maintain the floatation foam. I think it is pretty easy to do when you plan to install a floor. For mine, I just took the foam and a hack saw, and sliced it down to fit under the new floor and in the cavity left over in the remaining portion of the seat. I made three pieces on on each side of the floor, leaving the center open to drain water back in the case of needing to do so, and then the one under the old seat location.

I kinda figured that one was common sense, but it should be out there in case people start thinking you take all your foam out.

[Grant]

Tom7227 - this is understood... However it's less of a trouble relocating the given volume of foam for a certain boat model, than it is taking efforts to maintain the structural integrity of the hull. taking my boat for example, there should be enough space under the floor to make up for the loss of the center bench, and for any foam loss in the remaining benches I'm planning to utilize the space forward of the front bench, and the right side rear of the driver's seat.

the reason I'm planning on moving foam is so that I can relocate the gas tank and battery for better weight distribution when I run alone (which is about 98% of the time)

[Steve Bakken]

The tricky part about storage in the seat is that you don't want to weaken the seat/sidewall brace to the point that it can't do it's job. We carry small tackle box hatches, (kind of like a mini livewell hatch). If you put a wooden seat on the top and then made the hole for the hatch through that and the aluminum, you'd probably be ok. Here we're straying from fact and physics into the area of making judgement calls based on each individual design.

[1lkstage]

I had posted in the other mod. post. I was talked out of removing my middle bench. I recently put a sub-floor structure around each side of it. My second thought was to add a livewell into the bench. But after extensive searching for the right one to fit, I have come up empty handed. I'll be doing elecrical and a trolling motor right away, the rest I have deemed it to not be worth putting into an older boat. As is, I'll have $700 into it, It just isn't worth more investment to me.

[Tom7227]

This may really be pushing it, but what if you put the foam under the new floor but the floor isn't anchored enough to hold if the boat goes under? There would be tremendous pressure against the flooring and a couple of screws that hold it down when things are dry may not be enough if it's full of water. Maybe I'm seeing problems that aren't there, but I can't swim!!!

[Tullibee]

Hey,

I had posted a while back about this mod project to my 14 foot lund and am in the process of completing it now. Everything is turning out very well thanks to everyones help on here (especially polarsusd81). I will post some pics along with a better explanation of what exactly I did as soon as I dig out from this 18 inches of snow we are supposed to get today and tonight.

Cory

[Christopher Quast]

Hey Cory what part of the trail do you live on and what did you do to your boat is it the same thing I want to do to mine?

[Tullibee]

Goldtip,

I live in the midtrail area. I took on a similar project with my boat that it sounds like you would like to with yours. I started by removing the entire middle bench (sawsall) minus about 2 1/2 inches of the aluminum sidewall supports for the seat along the floor, and cut them flush. I then attached 2x2s with bolts to the remaining pieces of aluminum at the desired length. Then attached 2x2s in a the same fashion to the front of the back bench and the back of the front bench, cut my marine grade plywood to fit along the floor (more difficult than it sounds). You can probably imagine the plywood resting on these four 2x2s. I have also put a plywood floor in the front and back portions of the boat in the same way. Thats about where I am at this point. Like I said I will try to get some photos when the weather gets a bit nicer.

Cory

[Tullibee]

Here are some photos of where I am at with the project to date.

Next on the list of things to complete are; screw down the false floor to the 2x2s, put a layer of indoor/outdoor carpet down, put a coat of poly sealer on the new bench seat pieces, install the 3 swivel seats that are on there way, install the wavewackers, put the Vexilar on, and a couple of other odds and ends.

Any suggestions/input on the project would be greatly appreciated.

Cory

[AceintheHole]

Thanks for the pics. I'm going to be doing the same thing when I get my 14'. Looks like it will be very nice when done.

[AceintheHole]

A good way to seal up the inside is to use that stuff for truck beds. Herculiner. Thats what I am going to do. That way I know its not going to leak.