Seating for 3 at the dinette in a 22' Cruiser

trpsurf

I recently posted a thread about feedback on a 24' TomCat, since it felt like we were outgrowing our 22'. The biggest complaint was that we lacked seating for 3 at the dinette for meals and the 2 hour crossing to Catalina.

I just completed an addition to our cabin which may have just saved me tens of thousands of dollars in a new boat upgrade!
http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album1938&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

The title of the thread might be misleading, since this is probably more like seating for 2.5 people. With a couple scraps of plywood, some copper plumbing fittings, and left over foam and upholstery material, we now can comfortably seat an adult and child at the dinette. The jumpseat is 11 inches wide and is level with the adjacent seating pad. We left this up every day on our last 5 day trip and it was narrow enough to slide by as we passed in and out of the door. Given the copper fittings, It breaks down easy for storage at night and is very sturdy. I had all of the parts in my garage, left over from other projects, but there has to be less than $30 in materials here.

The only down side is that I built drawers in my cabinets (by far the single greatest addition to the boat I have ever made) and the seat renders this drawer unable to open. It turns out that it is not a big deal however, since we store infrequently used items here: first aid kit, books, charts, etc. and you can still access this from the top.

Enjoy!

Tim
C-Pelican

thataway · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:56 pm Post subject:

Great idea. Does this have hinges at the top or screwed in solid plates; I could not tell. If hinged, it seems like it would give more room to get by.

We have used a folding chair in the middle on a couple of occasions, but yours is a better solution.

Sea Wolf · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:05 pm Post subject:

Nice idea!

If you used hinges at the top and made a swing out triangular brace underneath
(hinged, also, at the attachment to the cabinet wall),
the seat could drop down and swing up into position within just a few seconds.

Who's the future cover girl? Laughing

Joe.

trpsurf · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:10 pm Post subject:

Originally I purchased one of these:
http://www.garelick.com/Side-Gunwale-Removable-Utility-Fighting-Seat

With the drawers I built, I did not have room for the upper mounting hardware and the seat was so wide that it extended all the way across the aisle and did not let the rear galley door open.

The one that I built is connected to a scrap of plywood via 4 solid mounting brackets. They fit snuggly over the top of the plywood cabinet structure. I thought about hinges, but since someone often sleeps on the floor, I thought it would get in the way. It also would not make it removable, and render the drawer difficult to access.

thataway · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:42 pm Post subject:

Got it--the plywood scrap is inside of the Duraply--and no frame there. I had mistakenly though that you had attatched that plywood to the inside of the duraply. Great way to do it--and better than hinged!

C-Green · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 4:02 pm Post subject:

I got a cheap folding bar stool at Walmart, extended the legs with hardwood dowels fitted into the four hollow metal tubular legs thus raising the lightly padded seat to a good height for seating at the dinette or for looking forward when under way (light seas only); fold and store in the cuddy.

Jay