Fw: Cockpit seats
Minka of Southampton - Cruising Log
Edmund Wigan
Fri 5 Mar 2010 17:10
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The promised gales have arrived but they are only
giving 20kts in the marina. It is a good test for the duogen wind generator. The
forecast is for the same again tomorrow.
The seats that I have wanted to fix to the pushpit
have been in the planning for some time. I brought some materials from the UK
that I thought would make a prototype.
 This is the
gap in the pushpit which is where the seat needs to go.The first thing I noticed when starting on this was
that the two uprights were not parallel. The little stainless loop proved to be
exactly where I needed to fit a horizontal stainless steel tube to support the
seat. That had to be cut off and the welds filed flat.
 First I made the seat out of some teak which I had
machined at home. You will note I have only put one screw in each plank as I had
no confidence that this would work.
 The next stage
was to fit a horizontal tube to mount the seat on. Did I mention they have to hinge up out of the way
when not in use. The patent folding "T" joining pieces are very useful but I
wasn't sure they would tolerate the uprights not being parallel. They are then
clamped and little grub screws lock them in place.
 The seat in
hinged up positionThe seat is fixed to the new bar with "U"
stirrups.
 The
stops!To hold the seat level when hinged down it was
necessary to figure out how to do this. I had brought with me a few domestic
door stops. The one on the left was the right length but unfortunately too wide
to fit neatly on the timber support batten. You can see where the black rubber
has made a black mark on the teak coaming when it was hinged down. The one on
the right was too long so I cut it off but the rubber wouldn't fit. The white
rubber is a spare plug from the bottom of the fridge. Unfortunately I only had
one of these.
 Seat in down
positionIt worked much to my surprise. I can even stand on
it. The seat was too deep so I cut one plank off the back of it
later.
 The other
sideThis was slightly more complicated as the duogen
fittings and the control ropes for the Monitor wind vane steering system could
have got in the way. However, as you can see luck was on my side and it
all worked out ok. The control ropes pass neatly under the seat when it is
down.
 Both seats
downThe job is more or less complete except I need to
find a better solution than the door stops. Like all the external teak it will
be left natural so it will soon go silver grey to match the rest. There are also
a few corners to be rounded off.
 The
viewThis is my eye level view looking forward from the
starboard seat. As you can see it means I can see over the sprayhood without
standing up. I can also steer the her from these seats with one foot on the
wheel. How lazy is that. For a prototype it has all worked out well. I shall see
how it works at sea before any modifications, but at least it works which was
more than I expected.
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