Removal of Port Lounge Seat Custions 1996 Sundancer

[stevesavage]

I am working on removing the port lounge seat custion on my 1996 sundancer. I have been able to pull down the interior side piece with the mirror in the mid-cabin, but I have not been able to determine how to pull down the celing piece to allow access to the seat above. I removed the screws that lets it drop on one end towards the port side of the boat, I am not able to see how the portion towards the center of the boat is fastened. Help please........:smt021

 

[Lazy Daze]

I have not worked on the seats on your particular boat. But...

Typically screws are hidden within folds or creases of vinyl. Sometimes hidden by another panel that must first be removed.

Before you do that, are you positive that your seat bottom isn't held down with velcro? Like I said, I've never worked on those seats, but velcro is common practice on other models.

Oh, and welcome aboard!

 

[stevesavage]

I will to verify what I can see from underneath tomorrow. It does appear that the coaming portion of the custion is attached with on bolt that I can see from the part of the interior I have removed. I had pulled up on the bottom cushion and it did not budge with a fair amount of force. But I can doublecheck that. It is the bottom cushion that is most in need of repair. thanks

 

[Lazy Daze]

The other way to look for bolts/nuts (thinking the seat-back, here) would be through an access hole like a speaker, or something else that comes off/out easily.

 

[stevesavage]

I did find that the bottom of the lounge seat is secured with about 5 screws. They gave way when I pulled up on the seat. I think I may use velcro when I reinstall the seat once the shop has replaced the vinyl. I will look around a bit more when I take these out to see how I could have accessed them.

Steve

 

[tdappleman]

What model do you have? I'd guess 270 with the engine size. I'm getting ready to have my cockpit redone and will be starting the wonderful process of removing everything in the next few weeks. Any pictures you may have would be appreciated - especially where the 5 screws were located as my seat is in good shape and I don't want to mess up the bottom at all.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Hmmm. Well I am surprised that the seat bottom was bolted down. Like I said, I never worked on that particular model - but I really was expecting it to be velcro. Well, like you said, the bottom must of been due for replacement if they came out easily.

If you don't want to use plywood, Starboard is an obvious choice. Another, lighter alternative, is this: http://www.kingstarboard.com/Products/StarLite.aspx

Taco Marine also makes a version of this - probably less expensive.

ON EDIT: You know, as I was typing this reply, it started to sound very familiar to me. Then it dawned on me... I already had almost the same conversation with someone else!:smt101

Check this out, guys - you may want to PM him to see how he made out: http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25424&highlight=velcro

 

[stevesavage]

The upholstery guy though that the board might be fine as is, but we are going to take a closer look once he gets the cushion apart. If not too bad I may just recover it and attach with Velcro. If it is shot then I will look at some of the alternatives you mention. I notice that I do have one of the distributors local. Thanks for the links.

I will take some pictures today when I go back over and also see what I can find out from the mid cabin where I could have got to the screws. Got the admiral looking at some fabrics for the cabin as well. May look at addressing that while I am in the mood to disassemble.

 

[Sea_Ray_Seattle]

Any updated pictures and advice on how to remove the lounge (chase) bottom seat cushion? I'm having the same problem... the lounge seems bolted down, but I can't find a way to access the bottom of the seat through the lower birth to access the bolts.

 

[stevesavage]

Enclosed are pictures of the screw locations after I pulled the cushion up. I had to pull the mirror piece down which then allows you to drop part of the ceiling panel. There were some screws still holding the other side of the ceiling panel in place. I ended up backing them out through the vinyl headliner(left a small hole but not very noticable when I put the screws back in. Not sure how else I could have removed them as they were under the vinyl headliner. Hope this helps.











Cheers

 

[Sea_Ray_Seattle]

Great pictures, thank you.

I ended up doing the same thing. I muscled the seat off and it left 5 screws exposed. My headliner was very snug and my upholsterer recommended not touching it, so I wound up getting out the dremmel and lopping off the top inch of the screw. There is a lot of room between the headliner and the seat so you can just push the remaining screw head down and fill in the hole with silicone, etc. (the screws had extra room around them so they could easily be pushed down).

 

[tdappleman]

Great pictures, thank you.

I ended up doing the same thing. I muscled the seat off and it left 5 screws exposed. My headliner was very snug and my upholsterer recommended not touching it, so I wound up getting out the dremmel and lopping off the top inch of the screw. There is a lot of room between the headliner and the seat so you can just push the remaining screw head down and fill in the hole with silicone, etc. (the screws had extra room around them so they could easily be pushed down).

stevesavage - Thanks for posting the pictures - this will help when I finally get around to this in the fall!

Seattle - How did you re-attach the seat bottom?

 

[stevesavage]

My upholstery guy had suggested just going back with Velcro. If I did not already have the headliner pulled at that point, I would have gone that way.

Good luck with yours