Seat Questions

[Adler]

I'm looking at buying my first boat, but the one I"m considering has a bit of an awkward seating arrangement. It's a 17', and has one swivel seat at the wheel and a bench, running back to front, on the left side, toward the front. I want to be able to fit a fourth seat, perhaps as a swivel behind the first swivel, or turn it all to sleeper seats. As I don't know much about this yet, can someone give me an idea of how easy it is to install/change seats and what the cost may be? All thoughts welcome! Thanks!

Leigh

 

[GLG]

If it was my boat I would put a cooler, with a pad on it, behind the swivel seat.
Fill cooler with refeshments and lunch and your set for the day.
They make coolers for this purpose.

Changing seats on a boat is not that hard.
Picking the rights seats for the purpose might be the hardest part.
Cheap seats are hard on the butt if you put in full days fishing or you travel in choppy water.

GLG

 

[Adler]

Thanks GLG, I've gotten the same advice from others. I am buying the boat, so I think I'll stick with the seats as they are now and get a good cooler, at least for the first year and then go from there. It's my first boat and I've got a ton to learn, I'll be reading lots more of others advice on the forum! Cheers!

 

[NautiGirl]

If you are running a 16 or 17 ft, then that is where your tackle box & cooler goes. If you want a second more comfortable seat at the back, take a folding camp chair for some lazy halibut fishing, then you can stow it in the bow or take it off the boat when not needed. You can also swivel the capn chair around and put your feet up on the cooler if you are at anchor and want a snooze while your partner watches the rods. I also have an old floater cushion that I just throw on top of the cooler if needed. Flexibility is the key in a smaller boat!

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

I look forward to seeing your new boat Cornflake! Post it up on members boats thread.

 

[vetteman]

Here's my thoughts on your question. They differ a bit from the others stated above. I use two sleeper seats because they provide comfortable seating for 4 and because of the fact that my wife and I spend a lot of nights sleeping in the boat. My tackle is stored under the seats in portable trays rather than a large box. The small cooler that we take stays up front out of the way and doubles as a table. We only use this cooler for our food. The Portapotti sits up front or on a rear seat out of the way but will be moved to a small swim grid sometime in the near future. I'm fortunate enough to have a large in floor compartment that drains into the bilge. We've insulated this with 1/2" styrofoam insulation and ice will keep for over 4 days. It's big enough to keep 16 sockeye or even 8 good sized Chinooks. We keep sleeping bags,stove,food,utensils etc under the bow and they stay on the boat all the time. That allows us to go where we want whenever without worrying about returning back to the ramp or campsite.
Lots of room in a small boat if you think things out!
Dave