Has anyone "modded" hinged seat cushions?

[tdonoughue]

I think I would love some different angles and seat positions. That looks incredible. Might need to do something like that...

 

[Ronnie]

@zelone , you are "The Man". Thanks for sharing your solution with us and good luck on the final step of cutting back the seat base of the engine hatch. It was nice to be able to follow your progress on this from inception to action and to the final result.

 

[zelone]

thanks @Ronnie ! This cooler seat has been the only thing I didn't "love" about the Yamahas, that wasn't solved by someone else already. It needs to be addressed and I'll gladly be the guinea pig lol

 

[itsdgm]

Great job @zelone and nice write up too.

 

[zelone]

Heres my latest progress...kayak handle installed, spring support installed. I've since made some minor adjustments and hardware changes. The spring support wants to lift the seat up on one side, because the seat is technically "not attached" to the hinge, so my fix for that will be a bungee cord keeping tension on the hinge. Next up is the seat modification and I can call this done! Very happy with the results, so far!

 

[zelone]

Just thought I would post this here. Its a link to what I did on my last boat to deal with the cooler seat issue.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwTh_eI9PxCZjRuMFNkYnVrLVU/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[zelone]

Seat has been trimmed and restapled. I took exactly 2" off the bottom plate, and foam. Probably the worst part of the whole project was cutting up the $550 seat, but it went smoothly and the whole design works as I had hoped!
Im calling this project a success! I will make some minor changes, and still have to paint the hinges and clean up the China marker from the seat bottom. I will take a video of it working when I have someone around to help out.

 

[zelone]

Just a quick update, in post #25, you can see 2 sets of "trolleys" bolted to the hinge. These keep the seat aligned and allow it to slide out, prior to lifting up. Sounds more complicated than it is. Lifting normally, on the handle lets it happen in one fluid motion. I had some time to make some adjustments recently. I moved the lower trolleys about an inch further up the hinge by drilling new holes in it. This allows the seat to be opened further without those trolleys coming out of the track, which happened a few times. My temporary fix, was a bungee keeping tension on the track to keep the trolley in it. With the newest adjustment, it is very smooth and functional. I wish I did it last year, but never took any more time to work on it. I doubt anyone is going to do this mod, because cutting a perfectly good seat is risky, but just know, it can be done and work well!

If anyone wants to build a refined version, I suggest using lower profile, flat drawer sliders from Home Depot or Lowes. If I ever get the time and motivation, that would be my next plan. A fully functioning kit, with detailed instructions and a seat cut template would be awesome, but due to variances in these boats/seats, not sure its possible.

 

[Jerry Ferrera]

I would buy this for my 2014 232

 

[TaraL]

The good news: My seat is on a hinge!

The bad news: It currently will not open with the engine hatch closed. I need to trim the bottom plate of the seat to allow clearance for the cushions to pass each other. I plan to do this by the end of the week. I also need a handle on the bottom edge of the seat to make it obvious and easy to pull and lift, and I plan to add either a gas strut or a spring similar to the anchor locker to support the seat when open.View attachment 36283

Awesome!!