"How to put seats in a Jon Boat"

[=Matt 5.0=]

My partner Rick came up with a pretty ingenious way to mount his seats. He didn't want to butcher the benches, and was worried about using self tapping screws. I took some pics today while he was working on his project. A little "how to" from the Two Crackers.

First off, the boat is a 1236 G3. He ordered the 9" round pedestal bases and snap lock seat mounts from Cabelas.

Rick made these awesome backing plates at his shop. They are a high tech composite similar to Delrin. They were drilled and tapped for the stainless hardware. These will be flush against the underside of the bench, making the back half of the "sandwich"

He cut out a hole just big enough for the backing plates to fit into, after removing some foam.

The plates fit inside! You can see how he engineered 4 smaller tapped holes utilizing the smaller screws in order to hold the plates up to the bench. Great idea, because otherwise, how do you get the plates up tight???

Once the base pedestals are in and screwed down, it was time to fill up the void with "Great Stuff" expanding foam. It replaced the foam that was dug out, and provides the extra rigidity. The benches don't flex at all!

All that was left to do was pop the seats in place and vacuum up the foam chunks.

The seats are really comfy, and if we want them a bit higher, the extensions can be bought. The snap locks are cool because they just pop out with a good tug.Can't wait to get it back on the water! He's the man!

[smallieking]

u can find clamps that can fit onto any size bench sit  then u can buy any boat seat and mount it    its very easy   http://images.outdoorinteractive.net/mgen/263602_d.jpg

[=Matt 5.0=]

u can find clamps that can fit onto any size bench sit then u can buy any boat seat and mount it its very easy http://images.outdoorinteractive.net/mgen/263602_d.jpg

Indeed you can. He looked into them. Felt they were kinda cheesy. Ever seen them after a few years? All rusted....

[GooseBoots]

  I looked at the Clamp Type seat mount brackets. They look flimsy enough to not want to hold in place. Most of the problem is the angle of the bracket. My tracker jon bench seat are straight sided, and not angled which would make a horrible fit. Luckily I had the opportunity to place this bracket on the jon boat I bought at BPS.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Looks awesome, especially those seats on the stock color.  

I looked into those mounts before too.  My 2 concerns with those were that you have to cut a hole in the bench and you have to mount it directly to the swivel.  No Pedestal.  The only ones made for these mounts are too tall.  A 7" pedestal is the height you want when putting it on top of the bench seat  so it's not too top heavy but your knees don't hit the bench seat and I think the pedestals for that kind of mount started at 13" when I was looking at doing mine.  The large footprint is key though.  Love it.

Tell Rick it's time to visit the relatives, they were opening the summer house today

[smallieking]

they work great for my little v bottom boat because the benches have a space under the seat for tackle and the clamps fit right into a slot so im not sure how good they would hold on a jon boat like in the picture   just another option    

[=Matt 5.0=]

Cool Russ. BTW, Rick is having some aluminum pedestals made at his shop,  just in case these feel too short.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Tell him to start at 9".  Try it, If still a bit high, the 7" will do it, that's what mine are.

PS-PM Sent

[Tin]

Show-off :

[surfer]

Tight work.  You and your bud really paid attention to detail.  I may have to copy you.  Thanks for posting.

[dresnor]

Low_Budget_Hooker,

What make and model seat pedestals do you have that are 7 inches?  I'm going to be working on my new v hull as soon as I can get it out of the snowbank it's in and I want to keep the seat low.