Ever since we got our boat we have had issues seeing out over the bow while seated in the cockpit. I came up with an idea for an elevated helm seat last year and installed a proof-of-concept plywood prototype which we used for the whole past season and were quite happy with.
I designed the support frame to be constructed out of 1" stainless tubing and had a local shop do the bending and welding. I have a small home machine shop so I was able to do all of the metal work in preparation for the welding as well as cutting the seat base out of Starboard.
Today, I finished the installation after having installed the support brackets for the lower legs which fasten through the fiberglass into a 1/4" aluminum backing plate. While I was at it, I also installed a pair of padeyes to be used as tether anchor points which use the same backing plate. The helm seat can be removed by removing four clevis pins.
The first photo shows the plywood prototype in use. The second shows the seat frame prior to being welded up and the third shows the completed installation.
I designed the support frame to be constructed out of 1" stainless tubing and had a local shop do the bending and welding. I have a small home machine shop so I was able to do all of the metal work in preparation for the welding as well as cutting the seat base out of Starboard.
Today, I finished the installation after having installed the support brackets for the lower legs which fasten through the fiberglass into a 1/4" aluminum backing plate. While I was at it, I also installed a pair of padeyes to be used as tether anchor points which use the same backing plate. The helm seat can be removed by removing four clevis pins.
The first photo shows the plywood prototype in use. The second shows the seat frame prior to being welded up and the third shows the completed installation.
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