Deck Seats for Folbot

[RangerTim]

Cold weather, cold water, and Covid have given me time to putter but not the opportunity to test. I had chunks of 3" closed-cell foam left over from making a bilge bed [viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7277] for a Folbot GII. I thought they might make serviceable deck seats for use with a tiller when sailing. The result seems ok but as I said, I do not have the opportunity to test. Also, I must live with the prototype for now as I have no more expendable foam chunks.

Each seat is composed of two chunks of foam. The smaller chunk elevates the larger chunk and rests on a frame tube. The larger chunk rests on a washboard. The washboard seats into a channel in the larger foam chunk. The seats are intended to be placed at a rib for maximum support but might be placed elsewhere along the washboard. To help keep the skipper from falling overboard the seats tilt slightly toward the cockpit and have non-slip sheets on the upper surface.

Two straps thread through slits in the larger chunk. The straps are not meant to hold down the seats. They simply prevent the unoccupied seats from being lost overboard. They thread behind the top tube of the side frame. The seats can be flipped into the cockpit and leave room for the skipper but can be in the way.

An electric carving knife from a thrift store cuts the foam, though not super accurately. One must proceed slowly to avoid bogging the motor. 3M Super 77 spray adhesive adheres the two foam chunks to each other, and does a pretty good job. It does less well with the non-slip sheets, but the straps will hold the sheets on.

As the water temperature here is 40 degrees, I may need to wait until April or May to test on the water.

[RangerTim]

The non-slip sheets were an afterthought, after I discovered how slippery the foam is when wet.

[JohnSand]

I like them.
When I was rigging my Super, I thought of ideas for deck seats too. They had them in their catalog. That boat sailed well without them under a 55sqft lateen. But I weigh 230#, and have been sailing for years, so I can keep a boat upright pretty well.