Comp rear seat

[Jetlink]

Well, I have finally had it with the condition of my rear seat and am going to rebuild it. There is some good wood but most of it is missing and what is not missing is very rotted. Did the seat back come up to be level with the rear sun deck on these boats? I plan on doing it and just curious if anyone has pics or ideas for me to use. I am also redoing my dog house since that has some rot issues as well. Thanks guys in advance.

[mapleleaf]

I'll get you some pics, I added padding to my rear locker to let it sit above my bench....works well, i also turned the hinge so the locker opens into the boat...

[mapleleaf]

So my rear bench is out while I repair some stuff, but here are shots from tonight where you can see the new locker cover, it's probably an 1 1/2" taller than last one, I love it, I used different foam densities so it feels awesome...

[rludtke]

My rear bench fell apart a couple of years ago. Soft wood and steel staples where just not meant to last in a wet environment.

I used the general dimensions of the side, bottom, and back as a pattern, and rebuilt a new frame out of 3/4" exterior grade plywood I had laying around. I even reused the original apholstery. I used some pressure treated 2x4 for the lower supports. The design allows air to circulate better than the desing supra used.

I treated the wood with a couple of coats with gray stain. The water beads up and rolls off.

Here are some pictures of the new seat frame after the vinyl was reinstalled, but without the lower cushions.

[devovino]

Well I finally uploaded a picture of my re seat re-build. On the Saltares, there is a piece in the middle that is somewhat non functional, so I rebuilt it as two pieces, with a larger bottom, removing the small pieces. The picture is temporarily in place to assure the fit, on the old base, I am in the process of rebuilding a new base to incorporate underseat hard tank ballast.Its now completed at the upholsterers, I just have yet to pick it up. Maybe this will give you some ideas about your rear seat.

[devovino]

I thought I would post a one more of the flip up seat base.

[jet]

How about a 3-in-1 fat sac holder/sundeck/and ice chest, it was way easy to build. : ))

[wotan2525]

I thought I would post a one more of the flip up seat base.

What are you building this out of? This looks like it's going to rot?

[Jetlink]

For some reason my computer is really having issues with uploading pictures. Yesterday I tackled the rear bench and have that all done, just have to fit it in the boat later today when I pick it up from the dealer. Today I have been tackling the doghouse and am on lunch right now waiting for the pizza to show up. If my computer is still acting up later, I will fire up the laptop and try that to show you all where I stand.

[Jetlink]

Finally got the photo upload to work. I went from this yesterday to my new bench in a matter of a few hours.

[devovino]

What are you building this out of? This looks like it's going to rot?

I think given the right amount of time, water, and correct elements, anything will rot, the key is preventative measures. I was able to use the old seat "backs", the bases were rotten, so I seperated the two,ccuoff an inch of the bottom rebult the seat bases with exterior grade ply, and treated them a few times with wood protectent. Anyways I got the seats back today,maybe I should post them in my own thread instead of highjacking this one!?

[Jetlink]

Here is the new bench all assembled. I got the boat back today so I was able to fit it and and it is right on. I am now going to seal it with some oil based paint that I got from my buddies paint shop. I spent the better part of today tackling the doghouse and that is going to be a thorn in my side.

[mapleleaf]

Bench looks great, I might drill some hole through the base for a little more air flow. What's up with the doghouse? I can give you measurements if yours is past that point, as long you don't have a 454 in it!!

[Jetlink]

The doghouse base has all these compund angles in it that are driving me nuts! I think I got one angle down and then it throws the whole thing off. I have an issue with the base clearing the exhaust as it comes off the manifolds and heads down below the floor. As for the seat, I am going to raise it off the floor with some 2x4 that I am going to rip at a slight angle to also pitch the seat bottom down towards the rear. You still think I should cut holes in the bottom?

[mapleleaf]

I built the exact same base as you're planning, my Original bench had it to but also had holes drilled in the base of the bench I assumed for air to get at the bottom of the cushions, I'm not sure how much they help considering the bench pads are plywood on the bottom, but I drilled them anyway, then I painted it making sure to get some in the holes...
As for the dog house, start with the rear cross member at the tranny and cut 2 identical legs to run beside the motor If you cant get a 45 degree angle to work for butt joining those angled short legs that will tie it to the front. You can Miter them at 22.5 degrees....Come to think of it lay out your doghouse and scribe the angle of it on to a sheet of ply and use it as your guide to finding the right angles> Make sure to once you've traced the doghouse to add a half inch or 3/4" so the new base will be bigger and allow the house to rest on it....
If that doesn't work I might be better over the phone....
416 827-4600

[devovino]

Looking good, from what the lady who did my upholstry, the holes are mostly to allow not only air flow, but to allow the seats to re rise after pressure has been applied to them, if not they can suction down and have a hard time rising back to their original form. AS for the dog house, I only had to have mine re-upholstered, mine was fiberglass, I just had to replace the wood that lined the bottom that the vinyl attaches to, it was pretty much rotted out. I can post soem picture of the inside of it if that helps, there are some funny angles indeed. Well keep at her, sometimes it takes some due dillagence.!

[Jetlink]

About the holes to allow the cushions to rise after being sat on, the old bench had a sheet of plywood laid out over those holes and I assume it is because the frame was not bringing anything to the table for support because, well foam does not have much support on its own. That is why I thought I could eliminate the holes. So, next question...do I make the three big cut outs or do I just drill numerous small holes to allow it to breathe and get air to allow the cushions to rise up again?

[Jetlink]

Alright, status update on where I stand as of noon today. I cut out the three openings in the bottom of the base for the bench and then I finished painting it to seal the wood in the hopes of having this one last awhile. I have also included the pictures of where I stand on my base for the dog house. I guess I will tackle that this afternoon and hope to have it all fitted and ready to get upholstered this weekend so I can hopefully play next week.

[devovino]

Looking good, the base for the dog house is next on the list. Momma caused a work stopage soo some rototillin of garden, finishing grout on fireplace, picking up horse apcray are in my future. Hopefully this afternon, maybe get er done for fathers day weekend, theres some motivation for yah. Heres a picture of the rear seat sitting in the back of the truck, waiting to be installed!

[Ptownkid]

I had the same dilemma building the base for my doghouse in my saltare...I was dealing with such rotten wood that I could not get any kind of accurate reading off it and ended up being a degree off...

Good thing mine was made for $11 in pine...

[Jetlink]

Hey Ptown, was your original base made from plywood? That is what I found mine to be made of and after years of neglect and water, I think a wet noddle has better form. Guess that is what I get for trying to construct half of this without the boat present for reference. If you can't tell from the pics, that is pressure treated 2x6 that I got at the local orange box. Looks like I will be running up there again this evening once I get the motivation to attempt round two of compound angles.

[Ptownkid]

No, mine was not ply...not positive what it is. I'm relatively sure that the angle on MY doghouse is 34 degrees if that helps...but don't quote me on that.

[Jetlink]

So far, I have the angles figured out if the box were to be prependicular to the floor, find out after the fact that there is a taper to the base from bottom to top that allows the base to fit around the exhaust and still allow the doghouse to rest on the wood base. That is the angle I need to figure out now to add to all my other cuts so I can attempt this again.

[Ptownkid]

Oh wow...how fun, not like that in the saltare.

[Jetlink]

Finally got the angles figured out last night for the base. It's a tight fit but, it fits and that is what matters. Sorry for the poor lighting, I had the boat outside and it was 1AM when I finally had it all together and able to test fit in the boat. Tomorrow it should all be going out to get new vinyl and I will snap some more pics when the lighting is better.

[Jetlink]

I know that the thread title is now a little misleading since I have also tackled and posted pics of my dog house rehab but, here is what I got for my base. All that I have left to do is get up early and wrap up the rear trunk piece and shim my rear bench tomorrow and it is off to get upholstered tomorrow morning.

Oh yeah, I wrote down all my measurments for my angles so if anybody every does the base for the doghouse, I should be able to at least point them in the right direction to get them started.

[Jetlink]

Got the boat back today from the upholstery shop and this is the end result. Very happy with the way it turned out and also the price.

[mapleleaf]

So, ya, that work look's amazing!!! your upholstery shop done good!!!!

[MoeS]

Got the boat back today from the upholstery shop and this is the end result. Very happy with the way it turned out and also the price.


And the price was?

[Jetlink]

$2,700 and change out the door. Really great service, called me every other day to update me on progress, said to bring it back after this weekend of boating if I have any issues or complaints.

[boolagoosh]

I have an 87 Comp TS6m with a mushy back seat and kind of messed up doghouse support. I was thinking of building a new one, attaching it to the doghouse, and hinge it from the floor. I was foolishly about to tackle it, thinking it would be simple. I was also going to do my seat myself, as my vinyl is perfect. I just need to replace the wood. Anyone know how hard it would be to re-staple all of the vinyl back to the new wood? Also, if you still have the measurements for the doghouse support, I'd love to just cheat off of your work.....

[Jetlink]

If your vinyl is perfect but the wood is rotten, you might run into issues when you try and re-staple it. If the vinyl is original, and you said your boat is about 25-26 years old, the material might be weak and actually not hold up when you pull it apart and then try to put it back together again. I can't remember if Mapleleaf did new vinyl or reused the old stuff, hopefully he can chime in here as I didn't even mess with my vinyl, I just did the wood work and let the shop handle the rest.

[rludtke]

I have an 87 Comp TS6m with a mushy back seat and kind of messed up doghouse support. I was thinking of building a new one, attaching it to the doghouse, and hinge it from the floor. I was foolishly about to tackle it, thinking it would be simple. I was also going to do my seat myself, as my vinyl is perfect. I just need to replace the wood. Anyone know how hard it would be to re-staple all of the vinyl back to the new wood? Also, if you still have the measurements for the doghouse support, I'd love to just cheat off of your work.....

Absolutely, I did this very thing. See post 4 (https://forum.supraboats.com/showpost.php?p=58566&postcount=4) in this thread for my description and some pictures. I carefully pulled all the staples with needle nose pliers. The apholstery removal and replacement is very intuitive.

[boolagoosh]

Absolutely, I did this very thing. See post 4 (https://forum.supraboats.com/showpost.php?p=58566&postcount=4) in this thread for my description and some pictures. I carefully pulled all the staples with needle nose pliers. The apholstery removal and replacement is very intuitive.

Very nice. So I guess you replaced all of the wood, and not just the bottom. I suppose I'll do the same. I just can't afford to spend the thousand dollars or so to have a shop do the work, so I have to at least try to do this myself with the original vinyl.

Now that I think of it, I need to do the drivers seat as well. It has a wobbly arm. I think I may do that first.

[jet]

Check mine out and see if you like this idea. See link below. Jet

[rludtke]

Very nice. So I guess you replaced all of the wood, and not just the bottom. I suppose I'll do the same. I just can't afford to spend the thousand dollars or so to have a shop do the work, so I have to at least try to do this myself with the original vinyl.

Now that I think of it, I need to do the drivers seat as well. It has a wobbly arm. I think I may do that first.

You'll probably find that none of the rear seat structure is re-usable. It gets very wet, primarily because wet people (and in my case, dogs) climb across it to enter the boat from the swim step. Supra used the cheapest of materials and a not-so-stellar design for the back seat. You can capture the basic dimensions from your frame, and then simplify and bolster the design by using exterior or marine grade 3/4" plywood. Seal all of the joints to prevent water from getting into the plywood edges at the seams, especially at the base of the seat, because water can pool at the back of the seat. I used construction adhesive and screws in all of the plywood joints, and then placed an adhesive fillet on the inside of the corners for additional strength and sealant. I designed the openings in the seat bottom to help drain away water and prevent pooling. I also recomend changing the design to reduce the amount of wood that contacts the floor, such as I did. I used pressure treated lumber for the floor support, and treated all of the wood with with a grey sealing stain.

[Jetlink]

Rick, did you use an oil based stain for that? If you use a water based stain, the water that gets down there from wet people or wet dogs will eventually break the stain down.

[boolagoosh]

What exactly is marine grade plywood, and who sells it? Is it just "exterior" plywood?..

Also, how is the back seat attached to the boat? Does it just drop in? Im about 2 hours away from my boat at the lake, so I can't just go out and look.

[Jetlink]

My seat is held in by good old gravity. It should just lift out, I found that sliding it an inch or so forward helps with getting it out.

[rludtke]

I had new sheets of exterior grade plywood in my shop, so I just used it for the seat. I figured the original lasted on the order of 20 years, exterior grade would be an improvement, so therefore an investment in marine grade wasn't really justified. I also happened to have an open can of oil based stain, so I coated the wood with two coats. My wood had a smooth and a rough side, so the stain was fast and easy, as it required no preparation.

The seat as originally designed, is a one peice "couch" that just rests in the boat snugly. It is not fastened in place. This is an undocumented feature of the boat, in that you can take it out and leave it on the beach to provide beach seating, and make more room in the boat.

[rludtke]

I had new sheets of exterior grade plywood in my shop, so I just used it for the seat. I figured the original lasted on the order of 20 years, exterior grade would be an improvement, so therefore an investment in marine grade wasn't really justified. I also happened to have an open can of oil based stain, so I coated the wood with two coats. My wood had a smooth and a rough side, so the stain was fast and easy, as it required no preparation.

The seat as originally designed, is a one peice "couch" that just rests in the boat snugly. It is not fastened in place. This is an undocumented feature of the boat, in that you can take it out and leave it on the beach to provide beach seating, and make more room in the boat.

I wanted to add that I built the seat from the bottom up, meaning that I left the sides and back a little long, and placed the seat frame into the boat after assembly to scribe the wood with a marker at the top of the cap, and then trimmed the line with a skill saw to ensure a perfect fit. This revealed that my boat is not symetrical, the dimension from top of the cap to floor is greater on the left side than the right by about an inch. Beware!

[darflinger]

Here is the new bench all assembled. I got the boat back today so I was able to fit it and and it is right on. I am now going to seal it with some oil based paint that I got from my buddies paint shop. I spent the better part of today tackling the doghouse and that is going to be a thorn in my side.

After reading everyones posts,,,, WHY would ANYONE go through all that trouble of rebuilding the upholstery,,,WITH UNTREATED PINE!!????? Is everyone nuts???

WHY? to save $10 per sheet of ply??? PLEASE EXPLAIN , maybe so it can be redone every 5 years instead of 15????

[Jetlink]

After reading everyones posts,,,, WHY would ANYONE go through all that trouble of rebuilding the upholstery,,,WITH UNTREATED PINE!!????? Is everyone nuts???

WHY? to save $10 per sheet of ply??? PLEASE EXPLAIN , maybe so it can be redone every 5 years instead of 15????

I used treated pine for everything that I could get it for. Unfortunately for my locale, treated plywood has to be special ordered and trucked in. The parts of my rebuild that were not constructed with treated lumber, I sealed up with a few good coats of good oil based paint and allowed them to cure before I shipped it out.

I am not one to skimp on aything as I subscribe to the idea that if it is worth doing, it is worth over doing. I'm guessing though that I will not be rehabbing the parts of my interior that I just did until I hit my mid-life crisis in about another 15-20 years though.

[matt k]

hey, so those of you repairing the doghouse, are you attaching the bottom part permanently to the deck? Semi-permanently? At one point, mine was bolted down by what appears to have been a prior owner, but his system more or less fell apart. Now it's not secured, which is great when I want to take it all the way off, but sucks because if people lean on it too hard, it rubs against the belts. I'm trying to figure out what the best resolution is, that lest me take it all the way off easily, but keeps it from hitting the belts.

[jet]

You need to move yours foreward another inch or 2. I also had to make indentions where the water pump pully was going to touch. My friends 92' was held down by those jeep like rubber ball strechy things. I wanted something better so I bought some SS quick release hinges so I could pull my d-house off when needed. they were a little pricy but nice and wont rust under all of that moisture. Jet

[Jetlink]

Hey Matt K, mine just rests in there now and I have plenty of clearance on the front end pulleys with the new construction I did. I think I might have a picture or two in my "rebuild" album under my profile. If not, or you want more details/pics, let me know and I will see what I can do to help.

[rludtke]

The previous owner built a new lower dog house support for my boat out of Teak. It is hinged at the aft end to the floor, and the dog house is hinged at the aft end to the teak support. You can hinge open the dog house only, or you can hinge open the whole dog house and lower support assembly togather. The lower hinges (attaching support to floor) can be quickly slid apart, allowing removal of the whole assembly without tools. It's a pretty cool set up, and the Teak looks very nice.

The picture below doesn't show much detail, I could supply aditional pics if anyone is interested.

https://forum.supraboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5687&d=1217137385

[Salty87]

i'd like to see that, rick.

my doghouse pulled loose from the base last weekend, grrrr.