CD 25 Cruise Ship Lois Chair

[TyBoo]

Lois decided she really likes boating and wants to see where we are going, so I finally had to do the reversible seat modification that I have been putting off for yers.

The older CD25 is different than the newer 25s in that the cabin door and aisle are off center to starboard making the galley and helm the same width as is in the CD22 with the port side dinette being wider and having larger bench seats and table.

To make the front dinette seat reversible required a little bit of doing. It also needed to be a few inches higher to allow a normal height person to see out the front windows, and a good half a foot higher to let short Lois see.

Except for the finish work, which I suck at, we got it done. It works well and is easy to swap around, although the craftsmanship is lacking a little. I'll get her cleaned up and stained and somewhat pretty one of these days. If you want good function and quality work, you will need to see David on Guemes Island!

For now, this is it.

The dinette in the standard arrangement:




The table slid back:




The cushions removed and the seat box slid back:




The standard seat tipped up with the new parts attached:




Retainer pin pulled out and the supports for the raised seat extended:




The new seat bottom unfolded and in place:




The cushions in place with the original seat bottom becoming the seat back:




The table is a little tight to the rear bench, but will work for the grandkids:



The white bar along the wall is a 1 1/4" wooden dowel with a PVC coating. It works good as a grab rail and also supports the back edge of the table and allows it to slide back and forth when the latch is released. The table leg has a peg on the bottom that drops into holes at the two locations.

The seat box has a latch to hold it in the two positions. Inside the seat box, under the life jacket storage, is another short section of the coated dowel with a bushing that guides the outboard side of the seat box. The box is heavy with the drawers and other storage in it but the combination of plastic glides underneath it and the bushing on the rod makes it slide pretty easily.

The whole process of changing it from one configuration to the other can be done in less than 30 seconds.

 

[TyBoo]

While I was busy making sawdust, I added some features under the galley counter to make it more useful as a storage spot.

The view of the mess with the cupboard doors open:




Two new little drawers:




The shelf pulled out to allow access to the stuff:


Lois agrees to never put more into the storage tub than will fit with the lid snapped on. That way we don't have to worry about being too close to the Wallas stove above it.

 

[TyBoo]

One more picture. Since we can't very well use the table for lunch, I can get away with keeping the salmon fishing gear strapped down on it!

 

[JamesTXSD]

Very nice! And, effort well worth it to have your Honey happily on the boat! :thup :thup Kudos, Mike.

 

[localboy]

Creative engineering. Once you stain it up and finish the edges, it will look like it always was there. Nice. I can understand her wanting to face forward. Going "backwards" would be weird.

 

[starcrafttom]

Susan and I have talked about doing the same in the 27 . I can not use the method you did as the fridge is under the front seat. I was thinking of cutting out the wall to the vberth and just flipping the seat back around to the the table side. Is that some thing you considered? If so what was the reason for not doing that? I like your solutions but its not practical on my boat unless I rip out the whole interior and start over.

 

[TyBoo]

I was thinking of cutting out the wall to the vberth and just flipping the seat back around to the the table side. Is that some thing you considered? If so what was the reason for not doing that?

The reason I didn't give that method too much thought is because the passenger's legs would be almost straight out from the knee onto the berth cushion without much drop from the seat cushion. Also, to get the legs in there would be difficult for us old people. When you get older you will see what I mean, son.

Now then, John and Edna did that very thing on the Far West II CD22 and were happy with it, and John was older than me. But I suspect the much younger Edna did most of the riding on that side.

In a couple of my pictures you can see a hose running along the wall. That is the fill line for a water tank the used to be under the front dinette seat. I moved it back to the rear seat a long while ago when I first started thinking about reversing the seat. There is another tank beneath the rear seat but I was able to fit both of them in there and run a longer fill hose. So all told, the remodel was pretty involved. The seat wasn't really a box to start with so the floor had to be extended forward to go under it.

My table is big and heavy and I didn't want to lose that drawer under it so I couldn't cut it in half like we did in the CD22 conversion. That made a little more work getting it to slide backwards in one piece, but it makes the swap over a breeze. BTW, the table still fits between the seats to make into a bed.

My fridge is under the helm seat. Maybe you can figure a way to get yours over there? You'll figure it out, and it is kind of a fun project.

 

[localboy]

I always thought something along these lines would work. These are early model VW "flip seat" campers. The front seat becomes a seat facing the rear with a simple bracket/pivot point. Once you had the brackets made it would work really easily and simply. You would lose the ability to use the cushion as a part of the bed, but that could also be overcome.

VW Bus Flip Bench

 

[colbysmith]

Looks good Mike!

 

[olsurfdog]

Tyboo, you're too modest about yout skills! This is the best designed seat conversion yet. Since I copied your kicker bracket I'll feel no shame using this idea too. Thanks!
Localboy, I had a '60 Wesphalia with the tilting front bench seat. It worked out great. In the "halfway" position the seat became part of the bed. Never saw another Westie like it. Loved that bus, it saw me through lots of surf trips in CA and Baja. Wish I had it now!

 

[localboy]

Localboy, I had a '60 Wesphalia with the tilting front bench seat. It worked out great. In the "halfway" position the seat became part of the bed. Never saw another Westie like it. Loved that bus, it saw me through lots of surf trips in CA and Baja. Wish I had it now!

I won't even tell you what those sell for now... :lol:

 

[TyBoo]

And here she is using it.

 

[hardee]

Hey Mike, Good thing that the old "work thing" is out of the way and now you have time for much more important play. Great conversion and nice write up.

Thanks for sharing that and Really good to have Lois happy now.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[rogerbum]

I always thought something along these lines would work. These are early model VW "flip seat" campers. The front seat becomes a seat facing the rear with a simple bracket/pivot point. Once you had the brackets made it would work really easily and simply. You would lose the ability to use the cushion as a part of the bed, but that could also be overcome.

VW Bus Flip Bench

The Ranger Tugs have a reversing front seat similar to that design and I think I've seen it on some other boats also.