RE: Original Seat Restoration (LONG)

Thanks for the compliment. I love that boat. The bunks mean I have to get
the trailer in significantly deeper so I can float the boat on (rather than
winch it up the rollers. Fortunately, I have 4-wheel drive and pretty steep
ramps at the local lake. The bunks raised the boat about 1/4 inch over the
rollers. Besides the obvious reduction in stress on the boat, launching and
retrieving is easier and faster. It's particularly better on windy days.

Greg Fell

 -----Original Message-----
From: owner-omc-boats@... [mailto:owner-omc-boats@...]On
Behalf Of lib1@...
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:30 PM
To: omc-boats@...
Subject: Re: Original Seat Restoration (LONG)

In talking with some local upholstery shops here's the options I can see for
the early 1962 - 1966 style OMC/E&J seats:
(Some of this may apply to the 67 - 69 seats, as well)

  a) Toss out the original seat frames & factory injection molded foam seat
cushions and install either back-to-backs or pedestal seats from B&M, Wise,
Todd or Garelick. In my mind, this approach gives up a lot of the boat's
unique design appeal. These seats cannot be easily used on shore and don't
have the aircraft-inspired, underseat Type IV PFD. I'm really trying hard to
avoid this approach, but I have to admit it is the most practical and
affordable approach.

  b) Retain the original seat frames and attempt to reuse/recover the
original molded cushions. The bottom molded foam cushion does fit new Type
IV PFD's but the support webbing typically does need re-stringing.
Fortunately this material is readily available. Or a plywood bottom can be
inserted, doing away with the webbing. If desired the PFD cushion can then
be retained between the floor and the seat bottom with bungee cord or by
fitting a snap-on strap since there's not a room there for storing much
else. But you will need some new foam between the wood and the molded
cushion to sopport the area vacated by the PFD. The entire molded cushion
can be covered in new vinyl and and the wood base secured to the seat frame
with two locating "pegs," to prevent it from sliding off the frame. Then the
top molded cushion can be covered in a similar fashion with new vinyl. If
you've never removed the top (seat back) molded cushion, a note of caution.
It can be fairly stubborn, take care not to destroy the foam trying to
remove it. The top seat back frame does not have the lawn-chair webbing, but
a single rubber strap, which is likely to have lost its stretchy tension.
This approach is fairly labor and materials intensive and will probably eat
up $100 to $250 per seat, possibly more at a pro seat shop.

  c) Retain the frames, ditch the molded cushions and bolt on a new folding
seat from B&M, Wise, Todd, or Garelick. The will set you back $50 to $100
depending on the seat. I've test fitted the 20-inch wide Garelick 350 and
360 folding seats and the are a good fit. Fairly cheap and you can still
remove the frames and use them on shore. If you don't like 'em conver them
to pedestal mounts later on. One big drawback is the exposed seat back
frame, which is curved at the top and looks ugly.

  Any other ideas or solutions that have worked well for others? One thing,
about seating on the first generation 16-footer's ---- they have a shallow
freeboard, so the seats are low to the floor to begin with. The Sport-16 and
Sportsman have the side rails which help, but I'm curious to know if anyone
has found the seat height to be an issue? This issue was taken care of on
the 2nd-gen (68-70) Sportsmans, SeaSport II's and Revelers.

  Greg -- BTW -- What a beautiful 69 Sportsman! I like your re-bunking the
trailer for better weight distribution near the motor. Has it hindered
getting the boat on and off the trailer at all?

  Lee Shuster
  Salt Lake City

  "keep 'em floatin'"

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Gregory B. Fell
    To: omc-boats@...
    Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 7:00 PM
    Subject: RE: Original Seat Restoration

    My seats are important to me, as well. I have the 1969 Evinrude
Sportsman (pictures are on the site). I am fortunate to have no cracks in
my vinyl. However, the webbing that you've described has basically
disintegrated on all of the seats. I was starting to sink in the driver's
seat. I knew it was just a matter of time before that extra stretching
caused by the lack of support caused irreperable harm. I handled it by
placing pieces of plywood under the cushion. It's pretty firm, but better
than no support at all. The frame had a lip on two of the four sides, so I
didn't have to drill any holes.

    Greg Fell
      -----Original Message-----
      From: owner-omc-boats@...
[mailto:owner-omc-boats@...]On Behalf Of Mstvsnd@...
      Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 7:39 PM
      To: omc-boats@...
      Subject: Re: Original Seat Restoration

      I don't know how you'd go about recovering the original seats. The
outer cover and color seems pretty integral to the seat itself.

      The work I've done on mine is limited to installing new web slings on
the frames to hold the flotation cushions, and repairing a couple of cracks
in the vinyl skin. To repair the cracks, I cut some vinyl patches, worked
them under the skin and applied epoxy to them through the crack and them
duct taped the crack closed until the epoxy dried, in effect gluing them to
the inside surface of the seat cover. This left a visible "scar", but
stopped the spread of the crack.

      I'll go to great lengths to preserve the original seats because
they're cool, and because I like the fact they're individually anchored so I
can use three, two or only one if I'm fishing alone.

      Mike Stevesand
Received on Thursday, 13 May 2004