Thinking About Adding Stern Rail Seats

[R. S. Weiser]

I am a new sailor this year. We love our 1993 Hunter 23.5. As we have looked at other sailboats, we have noticed that stern rail seating looks very appealing.Although I am a little bit handy, I am reluctant to drill holes, etc., in this boat.How difficult is the job of installing stern rail seating and where can I get the equipment.Also, my boat has a one tier, short rail in back. Would I need the dual rail system for the seats?Thanks for any help.

 

[Rick Macdonald]

Great addition

The stern rail seats wrap around the corners of the stern. The support bars only stick into the transom opening a couple of inches as they go down and attach to the side walls. That is, a couple of inches into the walk-through opening where the swim latter is and on the other side where the motor is. They don't attach to the actual one-tier stern rail on the transom that is centered over the tiller.I think my local dealer was going to have the rail seats built locally but I insisted on getting them from the factory. The local dealer installed them for me and charged 3 or 4 hours labour. I wasn't about to try myself due to lack of tools, experience and my bad back.My seats didn't come with the cup holders in the holes meant for them, so I had to order them afterwards. Might as well make sure you get them up front.If you look at pictures DCS00020 through DSC00029 inclusive at the link below, you'll see several views I took of somebody else's stern rail seats before I had mine installed. Note how one of the supports is just forward of the U-bolt that holds the aft end of the lifeline.http://www.timshel.ca/HunterPictures

 

[R. S. Weiser]

Will Stern Rail Seats work with a bimini?

Thank you very much for the information and the pictures. I have a bimini that is attached to the top of the cockpit. Will the seats still work?

 

[Rick Macdonald]

Sorry, I wouldn't know...

...need somebody else to jump in now.Can you tell by looking at my pictures? The most forward stern rail seat support is quite a bit forward of the stern cleat on my 1995. Picture #27 shows the best view.

 

[Glenn]

Stern Rail + Bimini

We had a '95 23.5 which had a Bimini and stern rail seats. We could use one or the other, but not both at the same time. The bimini was not high enough to sit in the stern rail seats.The owner before us had the bimini and added the stern rail seats later. I don't know if this is the norm.We now have a H26 with a bimini and stearn rail seats, and love them both.