Bench seat at the helm?

johnr · Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:05 pm Post subject: Bench seat at the helm?

Has anybody put a bench-ish type seat at the helm? I'm thinking of doing something like that so that my kids can sit up there with me when drive, but I wonder if it would just be too dang wide and in the way.

thataway · Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:23 pm Post subject:

Not done it, but putting a fold up seat would be fairly easy. There are even some available on the internet. It would drop down over the "ice box" area below the current helm seat. You could put in quick release hinge pins so it could be removed and used in the cockpit if you wanted. If you put in a bench style seat it would really be cramped in the forward part of the cabin.

ssobol · Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:10 am Post subject:

I'd have to look at it, but couldn't you just put something that spans the center aisle from the helm seat cabinet to the dinette seat cabinet. Certainly if you have the forward facing dinette seat it should work. Just get a board that spans the gap and screw a seat to it. The board and seat would also be removable if you didn't need it.

When I travel long distances I take a break from sitting by standing in the aisle and steering with my right hand. If I had kids on board who wanted to sit up there, I'd let them sit in the driver's seat and I'd stand next to them in the middle.

DavidBoats · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:50 pm Post subject: Home Made Bench

I had a similar issue with my boat. I decided to to create my own bench. I watched a quick video on youtube on how to upholster a seat. I built my won bench out of some plywood and grabbed some marine vinyl from www.MarineVinylFabric.com (super cheap and free shipping). Put it all together and it looks and works perfect.

thataway · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 4:20 pm Post subject:

Almost 2 year old tropic, first post, and guess what--this guy sells marine vinyl--links to his web site. SPAM.

South of Heaven · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:29 pm Post subject: