Northwest Fishing Reports

LOOKS LIKE MY 12 FOOTER IS GOING TO REMAIN IN THE FAMILY, AT LEAST THRU SPRING. IM GOING TO BUY BOAT SEATS AT CABELA'S. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO INSTALL THEM ON THE BARE PLYWOOD SEAT FOR THE BEST STABILITY. I HAVE REALLY THIN SHEETS OF WOOD FOR THE BENCH'S, AND NEED TO SOMEHOW ATTACH THE SEATS ON. I DONT HAVE A PIC OF THE SEATS. THEY WILL BE THE FOLD-DOWN CUSHION TYPE. THEY ARE ON SALE OUT AT CABELA'S THIS WEEK. ANY INFO IS APPRECIATED.

You may want to use a toggle type of bolt to attach your seats. It will be easy to install and will give you more bearing on the thin plywood than a normal “nut and bolt” application. Look for this type of bolt in the sheetrock anchor section at your favorite hardware store.

We just use C - clamps. 2 on each seat holds it pretty well.

Look in the adds in Sunday's paper there is a flier for Joe's and they have a clamp on sale for just this application.

You could just build a seat that fits snugly over the bench seat. That's what I did for my jon boat and it works great. (I ended up moving the homemade seat in front of the bench seat for better weight distribution.)

Measure carefully, then make a box out 2 X 4s.
Cover the top of the box with 3/4" plywood.
Use 1/2" plywood for sides that extend to the bottom of the boat.
Mount the swivel seat to the top using carriage bolts and non-slip nuts (nylon insert).

I can go take a picture of my seat if it would help.

David Z. wrote:Look in the adds in Sunday's paper there is a flier for Joe's and they have a clamp on sale for just this application.

The clamp-ons are the way to go! I had a jon boat and used the same thing, they attach to a swivel that mounts to the seats.

Thanks for the replies. Hillbillygeek, send me a pic of how you did yours. i saw the swivel/clamp type at walmart, going to try Joe's today. thanks again.

I have used both the swivel clamp and pin mount. Because your boat seats are thin wood as you described, you may be better off with a pin mounting system if you think the clamp mount might crack the wood. The pin mount system is installed by drilling a hole in the boats bench seat, and installing the female end of the system into the drilled hole. It is secured to the bench seat by 4 screws. The male end (pictured) is attached to the bottom of your seat which is then set into the portion that is attached to the boats bench seat. Here are pics of both types of mounts and 2 pics of my seats mounted with clamp mounts in my lake boat. Good luck. I hope this helps.

THANKS DAVE. THOSE ARE ALMOST THE KIND OF SEATS IM LOOKING AT. MAYBE A LITTLE SMALLER. MY DAD IS COMING TO VISIT, AND, WANTS TO GET OUT ON LAKE WASHINGTON WITH ME, BUT, SAYS MY BENCH SEATS WILL TEAR HIS HEMOROIDS TO BITS!!