Removal of Pilot's Seat Base

D

Dream

New member
Hi,

I'm a newbie to C-Dorys and owning my own boat.

I recently purchased a 1996 25' Cruiser.

Unfortunately, the fabric (and most likely the foam) on the cushions and pilot seat have mold on them and I am SEVERELY allergic to mold.

Does anyone know how to remove the base of the pilot's seat?
I can't seem to find where to access the bolts or whatever is holding it down.

Thanks in advance!
Dottie
St. Michaels, MD
 
Dream":3jl8sm3y said:
Hi,

I'm a newbie to C-Dorys and owning my own boat.

I recently purchased a 1996 25' Cruiser.

Unfortunately, the fabric (and most likely the foam) on the cushions and pilot seat have mold on them and I am SEVERELY allergic to mold.

Does anyone know how to remove the base of the pilot's seat?
I can't seem to find where to access the bolts or whatever is holding it down.

Thanks in advance!
Dottie
St. Michaels, MD
Click to expand...
The seats are usually held to the box on which they sit by four bolts that come up from below. E.g. open the cabinet door below the seat and/or remove the drawer below the seat to access the bolts from underneath. If for some reason the above explanation doesn't fit with reality in your boat (a boat of that age may have been modified by previous owners), take a picture of the issue and post it here (you'll need to contact the admin DaNag or Tyboo) to get a photo album set up).
 
I ordered a really nice seat from West Marine (where I used to get a family discount) and it is nice a comfy.... make sure you get one with side bolsters to help hold you in the seat....

But the really neat thing I bought from WM is what they call a Passive Seat Mount.... it is a pivot like thing with rubber bushings in the back .....so when you come off a big wave and slam down it dampens the shock....it really does work well, plus it lifted me up about 1 1/2"or 2" and now I can see much better...probably not great for tall folks as they will bounce their head off the overhead.....check it out.

Joel
SEA3PO
 
Thank you all for your responses.

I'm going to try all of your suggestions and checkout the replacement seats as well.

LOL! I'm only 5'2" so ~ the higher the seat ~ the better for me!

BTW - I made a typo - my C-Dory is a 22' not a 25' - DOH!
 
Dream":39k4bkhs said:
BTW - I made a typo - my C-Dory is a 22' not a 25' - DOH!
Click to expand...

Congrats on your new-to-you 22 :thup

I have a 22 as well - a 2002 - and as others have mentioned, the helm seat is simply bolted to the furniture "box" beneath it. But I thought of one reason it may not be obvious.... I think some 22's have either a "built in" icebox or refrigerator below the helm seat. If you have that, you may have to do a bit of finagling to get to the fasteners for the seat.

Side note: It seems the majority who have had the icebox deemed it not worthy and removed it in favor of something else (refrigerator, cooler-in-the-cockpit, Engel type electric cooler). I think I have read a few pro-icebox comments though (but not most).
 
Hey Sunbeam!

I just figured out I have to remove the fridge to get to the underside of the seat and was actually thinking of leaving it out - depending of course on what it looks like inside the cut-out.

Hopefully, I won't find any mold in there!
 
I had an easy "decision," because my boat came with just a cupboard/shelf there. I use a cooler in the cockpit and look for ice (it's getting hard to find real blocks, or even fake blocks, sadly). Still, I think for a really simple boat, it's hard to beat a cooler. On the other hand, if I "upped" my whole electrical/charging system, I could see using an Engel or similar (I'd probably keep it in the cockpit because I like silence from electrical devices in the cabin as much as possible). There are a lot of ways to go with "cooling."

A fellow named Bill Seifert (who wrote a good book on prepping sailboats for offshore sailing) had a chapter called something like "The $800 bread machine." Gist of it was that a client had asked for a simple, inexpensive bread machine aboard, and the machine was simple and inexpensive, but all the other systemic improvements that had to be made to support it came to $8xx (back in the day when that was a lot more money). Of course even "complicated" systems are easier and cheaper on our small, mostly inshore boats. But I still think about that when I go to make an improvement that "cascades." :D
 
You might try some Tea Tree Oil to get rid of mold in the boat.
A local boat supply house sells it here just for that purpose.

Jerry c22 C Nile
 
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