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Turning the "fly out" seat into a step??


yotaisgame

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I'm talking about the seat that covers the V-drive, specifically in my 2013 LSV. The previous owner added hinges to it, which was a great idea but with almost 400 hours on the boat the upholstery is starting to crack and chip away around the base. I was thinking instead of re-upholstering it, maybe I could make or have someone make some kind of hard cover that would act as a step down into the boat. I could cover the top of it with gator step, add hinges and a shock to keep it open when lifted. We rarely fill our boat with people so losing the seat isnt an issue. 

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I have similar plans...but I am gonna have someone build me a step into the existing seat so I don't lose the whole thing. Noticed Nautique did something similar to the G this year. Drives me crazy when people step on the back seat....but there is no where else to step so not much I can say, lol.

I have a friend with a 2013 VLX, the back middle seat is not real wide (maybe 24") cause side seats wrap around some...he removed that middle seat completely, cut a custom platform and then covered it with SeaDeck. Turned out great!

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On 9/9/2017 at 3:24 PM, Infinitysurf said:

I have similar plans...but I am gonna have someone build me a step into the existing seat so I don't lose the whole thing. Noticed Nautique did something similar to the G this year. Drives me crazy when people step on the back seat....but there is no where else to step so not much I can say, lol.

I have a friend with a 2013 VLX, the back middle seat is not real wide (maybe 24") cause side seats wrap around some...he removed that middle seat completely, cut a custom platform and then covered it with SeaDeck. Turned out great!

I'd like to see pics of that! And continuing back over engine cover.

I have some adults that like to stand on the cushions and a few kids that like to jump down them coming back into the boat.

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That is exactly what is happening to mine and will make the seams come apart much quicker on that seat, luckily I already have a center walkway in center of my sundeck but everyone still has to step down onto rear center seat to get down into cabin...so just adding the step to my seat will be just what I need. I just gotta figure out a way to do it so the vinyl around step doesnt easily get torn up. I think what they (Nautique) did was secure a rubber block inside the seat cushion and foam is cut around it... and then installed the vinyl to finish seat...then on top of vinyl seat there was SeaDeck material stuck on, when you step on it, it bears down on the rubber block and does not strain the vinyl since you dont sink down into foam cushion with that block there (if anyone can think of better way to do this, please enlighten me...scared I will fix the issue with stitching coming apart at seam, but maybe create another issue). I dont see the VLX too often cause they usually come on my boat, but if I can get a picture, I will.

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I like the idea of turning that into a step. Being still pretty new to V-drives what other option is there other than step on that seat? We fold a towel to step on but would love to know if there are any tricks to saving the upholstery?

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16 hours ago, FAMILYRIG said:

I like the idea of turning that into a step. Being still pretty new to V-drives what other option is there other than step on that seat? We fold a towel to step on but would love to know if there are any tricks to saving the upholstery?

Works awesome: http://seatsaver.com/

 

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Not sure how this seat saver works, hard to tell by the pics in link....is it a more rigid material so it does not flex as much when you step on it, compared to stepping directly on the vinyl....or does it just add another layer of protection like a doubled up towel would?

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40 minutes ago, Infinitysurf said:

Not sure how this seat saver works, hard to tell by the pics in link....is it a more rigid material so it does not flex as much when you step on it, compared to stepping directly on the vinyl....or does it just add another layer of protection like a doubled up towel would?

It has like bamboo or plastic ribs in it, so it's pretty rigid.

Another option is to put some kind of non-skid material on the bottom of the seat & flip it over. I didn't do it on the middle seat, but it is on both corners.

IMG_20160930_124127469_HDR_zpsl7chahlx.j

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1 hour ago, Infinitysurf said:

Not sure how this seat saver works, hard to tell by the pics in link....is it a more rigid material so it does not flex as much when you step on it, compared to stepping directly on the vinyl....or does it just add another layer of protection like a doubled up towel would?

It has thick rigid plastic in it. I don't think a towel is doing anything for you other than keeping dirt off the seat. The seatsaver distributes the load across a larger surface area and prevents someone from stepping right along the bead.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 2 years later...

I ended up building a step into my back seat. I cut out a square chunk of seat foam and filled it with HDPE blocks, then had the seat re-covered. Then I routered a 14x14 piece of HDPE that sits on top of the vinyl and screwed down to the block imbedded into the seat foam (that block secured to the seat bottom), then covered my 14x14 step in AquaMarine Decking. I did this back in early 2018 and it has worked perfect, no seams ripped since no one steps on them anymore and you can go directly from the transom walk-thru down onto this step and then into boat. I also put some decking under the corner seat so when loading at the dock, I just remove the triangle seat in the corner and everyone can get in/out of the boat without ever stepping on any of the vinyl. Couple links to pics below

https://ibb.co/XbgmVn6

https://ibb.co/4F9y4cQ
https://ibb.co/Q8ttYTP

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Yeah I saw this application and it looks great! Fortunately my back seat is only like 16-18 inches wide and I JUST had it reupholstered last year. Because of everybody stepping on it all year I want to take it out and only use it when we have a full boat. 
 

So I was thinking about stacking hdpe to the desired thickness and then sanding it down and painting it with truck bed liner on all the sides except the top which I would put gatorstep. 

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I have over 800 hours on my 2010 and that middle seat is still in great shape (knock on wood).  Once it does break down I like the idea of replacing the seat cushion with a custom platform covered in GatorStep that matches the rest of the boat.  I did add the hinge to that seat as well as hinges to the cooler seat behind the driver and to the port side seat so it flips up against the side vs. flipping up into the middle of the boat.

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