Last Sunday, we decided to remove one of these two seat units, thinking that for now, one of them up there would be enough. Once we got it home and took it apart, it was easy to see how badly rotted the original 1/2-inch plywood base was. The base was built without the benefit of a single screw. Everything was joined with steel staples and most of those had disappeared in rust. These things are original Silverton and you can still buy seats just like them at places like Cabela's.
However, the seats themselves were still in fairly good condition so we began thinking about building a new base. We copied the dimensions from the old one so the old seats would fit and made a drawing. We could see where improvements could be made. We had enough 3/4-inch plywood on hand from what we bought to make the battery covers, so we could use that. The old seats were too low, so we designed the new base 15-inches high, rather than the 9-inches in the original. Finally, since one of the two seats tilts up, we included a bottom in the new base so that the seat base could also be used for storage.
We skipped out of work at 2 PM and by 5:30 PM had a new seat base. Everything is glued and screwed together with deck screws. Here's the original Silverton seat base and its new replacement.
The forward seat is held in place by two little aluminum L-brackets and we ran out of light before we could put those in place today. However, the seats fit perfectly and whoever uses it will be able to see what's going on out ahead of us.
The color of the new seat base is bring studied by Frances. I suggested filling the screw holes, priming it and painting it white but that suggestion was met with less than enthusiastic agreement. We'll see. Can't spend too much more time on this.
It may be boring for you to read about how someone made a small plywood box in an afternoon. But, it's fun for us to improve this old boat without spending a fortune and using as much of the original equipment as possible.
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