Seats and a Radar Arch

[Aljackson]

1985 230 Weekender is my boat.

I am wanting to get rid of the double seats that are on the port and starboard sides. Im looking at trying to go with a seat that is height adjustable, pedestal type base. I saw on another person post within this forum a beautiful idea and set up, and was wondering who here has done something similar?

Has anyone bought, or made a fiberglass radar arch for their boat? I like the look and functionality of the Radar Arch. As of right now, somewhere along the line of previous owners, the garmen GPS antenna was bolted to the top of the cabin roof, and the cable was sloppily ran and drilled through from the inside of the cabin. It looks horrible, and I think the placement of the antenna is not going to get optimum performance. The CB/VHF antenna is attached just below the widow on the starboard side. It gets in the way of walking around to the bow of the boat. Its also unattractive there.

Ive added pictures of the seats I have now, and the seats I saw in these forums.

 

[yobub]

On boats of your size that do not already have radar arches, I more frequently see metal bolt-on rather than fiberglass, like this: https://www.fishonsports.com/fiar.html or this: http://www.boattowers.com/RadarArches.htm

We see these frequently on smaller center consoles in our area, but also on smaller closed-cabin runabout fishing boats.

If you are looking for style and a do it yourself project, I could see fabricating the fiberglass, although I think it would be a really big project. If you are looking for a better place to mount your radar, I would think about a tower.

That being said, if the 1st seat picture is the interior of your boat, I might respectfully suggest that you prioritize the interior over the radar arch.

 

[Aljackson]

Thanks for the reply. My boat has a ton of work ahead. Redoing the cabin, and main deck flooring. It was given to me and ran no more than a year ago, believe or not!! I am going to focus on everything else before attempting to build or buying an arch.

I like the styling of the fiberglass arches and that's why I would want to go that way. I am interested in this tower you're talking about though??

 

[230weekenderUSC]

Hey Al I messaged you about the floor but didn’t realize you were still in the process. Our boats have a step down in the middle of the seat base, so the base is definitely “custom fit” to our boats. The base also creates lots of storage and should have a pull out footrest up front. I’ve seen pedestal seats on our boats and didn’t like the outcome much. To each his own, though.

 

[Aljackson]

I just replied to the private message. Yeah after realizing that the seats that came with he boat turn into beds I've decided to keep them. Just going to build a different base for them. The slide out foot stools are great, but a waste of space. I'm going to figure out how to integrate some type of storage in them or make them a different style.