What's A Good Helm Replacement Seat?

R

Robbi

New member
I would like to replace my helm seat with a seat that is a tad bit more comfortable! The 250 mile round trip to Friday Harbor about did me in. Even a short cruise yesterday of about 20 miles became uncomfortable very quickly. I want a seat that I can actually sit back in, and still have good vision over the bow. I think this will take a modification of the mount so that the seat is raised at the back to more match the "level" of the boat when underway. That will be a relatively easy. But real comfort matters, too.
For good back support, and comfort, what seat to buy? I want a high back, with some lumbar support. On the 19's, the seat is mounted to a tracked swivel type mount with the standard 5 1/4 inch hole pattern. I have looked at a number of options, Tempress Navistyle, Attwood Centric etc.
Can anyone with a 19 or 22, who has replaced the factory seat, give some feedback on this project?

Thanks, Robbi
 
This too is a project I have been looking at tackling. I previously had a Striper boat and little padding, I did a quick update and added 1/2" insolite padding to the bottoms and back, this really helped in the short term on that boat, now the same problem on this boat(lack of comfort)
 
Stidd
These guys just introduced a seat for "top of box" or counter installations .Has a 7" pedestal .Not on website yet but a call or e mail will get the info .Some of the best seats there are anywhere,I dont care who ya are .Not for the faint of wallet.
But just about the best you can put under your butt.
Marc
 
Robbi,
513_recliner.jpg


This would be MY first choice.... :lol: If only we had the room!! :thup

Charlie
 
i have made a seat modification for the very reasons you have stated. you can check out my album for photos. one problem i had while trying to use a larger seat was that the distance from the end on the seat and the steering wheel didn't leave enough room for me to get my legs past. i did find a seat that worked well for and that's the one the album reflects. my goal was to come up with a raised seat, having firmness yet comfort, as well.
pat
 
Stidd surface mount with powder coated
leather slimline seat, $3,625 plus shipping.
My butt would be happy, but, I would miss
my arm and leg! :disgust

robbi
 
As patrick and linda mentioned leg clearance becomes an issue. I installed a Garelick Citation fold down seat and could never go back to the original.
 
I like Charlies seat and it is in the correct color too. The Stedd would be about $3300 over my price point, however with a much thinner wallet I should have plenty of room to sit.
 
I had a new seat for our 22' crusier rebuilt with speciality foam by Oregon Aero in Scappoose, Oregon ( outside Portland). They specialise in aircraft seats ( they did our Cherokee seats years ago), but took our helm seat, removed the thick foam and added a very comfortable specialty foam, and recovered. I think the cost was $125.
 
Hey Robbi
Iffins you wanted to do a major helm cabinet rebuild I have a nice full flotation seat that came out of my John Deere. I replaced it with a air suspension seat.it is rather heavy tho......lol.....
 
I'm in the market, too. Does anyone have experience with Llebroc Seats?
They're pretty pricey by my standards (although you can certainly spend a lot more!), but their "Mini-mate" Series I looks like it might be a good fit.
http://pilotchair.com/pd-bandera-4brbanl014.cfm

It comes with removable armrests, and is reasonably compact. I'm thinking of getting a smaller diameter steering wheel, as well, to give more room for me on a slightly thicker helm seat. One nice thing about the Llebroc is the choice of Sunbrella fabric ($150 extra!). They have a list of available colors on their website, but I called and they can get virtually any Sunbrella fabric if you ask for it.
 
I had looked at the brand, but I missed this Mini. This is just what I am looking for. 19 inches wide will work. I think the 7 inch seat height will work, too, but will have to measure. It is a tad bit $$$$, but I did spend that much on a GPS.

I will probably look at a Attwood Centric II that runs about $190, and will fit the existing mounting hardware. No armrests which I would really like to have. It is 19 inces wide and will rotate on a 23 inch diameter. I did find a smallish seat with arm rests which is a Tempress Elite, at about $240, but it is 23 1/2 inches wide.

Roger, Thanks for the offer. So nice of you, and I assume that the seat is the right color- green! I think it might be just too comfortable, with the floatation feature and all.

Robbi
 
NORO LIM":4mz89orb said:
I'm in the market, too. Does anyone have experience with Llebroc Seats?
They're pretty pricey by my standards (although you can certainly spend a lot more!), but their "Mini-mate" Series I looks like it might be a good fit.
Click to expand...
Hi Bill.

Did you order this? I am thinking about the same thing, but am looking at their Workmate 2 seat, because it is wider chair.
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mike
 
Mike,

I did order it. It came. I sent it back. The jury is still out.

One of the things I repeatedly stressed when I talked to the Llebroc folks was the tight space for the chair. Despite their assurances that the seat with slider would not be more than 7.5" or 8" above the box platform, the seat was closer to 10.5". There were some quality control issues as well. (Loose bolts.) They were very apologetic when I talked to them. I don't think they had any problem understanding my level of disappointment. They said "someone" installed the incorrect slider. They said they would "make it right," and they paid for return shipping.

The chair looked pretty nice, and I'm hoping they can fix things to my satisfaction.

If they don't get it back to me by early next week, it may be a while until things are resolved. We'll be heading north in the boat for a while. Stay tuned.
 
Robbie,
Like Chester, I am real happy with the Garelick Citation High back that I just installed on Playin' Hooky. This seat has good lumbar support and thigh support. The factory seat was installed on a board that had a quick disconect C channel hinge at the rear and a hasp latch at the front to lock it in place. The only way you could get it apart was to slide the whole assembly out side ways. It was too close to the sink cabinet to be able to tilt it up and apart. I reversed that and now have the quick disconect at the front so I can easily remove the whole seat assembly if I want to by tilting it forward. For the suspension I used what the good folks at Ocean Sport Roamer use on their $300,00.00 boats: a stacked rubber donut that is from a JD garden tractor seat. Cost $5 new and works great. I shortened it about an inch so its now about 2" tall. It just sits in place centered at the rear edge of the mounting board. That also raises the seat just to the right height for me. I am 6'2". I installed small vertical sticks of teak to the end of the sink cabinet, one on each side of the seat mounting board, that keeps the seat base from moving side to side as it moves up and down with the suspension. The final touch was the adjustable foot rest...a 18" piece of a 4"X 6" timber. I' ll try and take a few photos and add them to our album this weekend. Safe Passage, Chuck
 
NORO LIM":1as0p45o said:
I did order it. It came. I sent it back. The jury is still out.
Click to expand...

Ok. Please let us know how it goes. Their seats are exactly when I am looking for, but the height, as you pointed out, is a real issue.
---
mike
 
Robbi: My brother Mike put a new seat in GYPSY... I think it was a Todd. I will check and follow up. May be pics in the GYPSY photo album.

Byrdman
 
I've been following this thread as the search continues. One issue hasn't been addressed though. I'd love to replace Adeline's Helm Seat, BUT, nothing I've ever seen folds flat (as the original does). The seat-back is indispensable as extra counter space during food prep, cooking, cleanup, and more.

Valuable real-estate I'd hate to sacrifice.
 
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