Rebuilding ,my Seat Bolsters....
 

Just dropped my boat off to get an interior built for the cockpit. The boat is an '85 and the frames to both bolsters are shot.
My plan from the start was to rebuild these myself to save some jing at the interior shop. My guy agreed and said it's probably worth a grand in savings.
I knew it was going to be 99% carpentry and since I have the tools and experience I dove in.
Stripped them down last night and amazingly the orig wood is in good enough shape to make perfect patterns so should be a breeze.
One thing though is I thought of updating the design a bit but now with the boat at the interior shop...., I don't have anything here to measure/fit to so orig. design it is.
Also to those that argue whether plastic over the foam does any good or not....., mine had plastic and the 27 yr old foam is still in perfect condition (other than discoloration)! Could easily be reused except my guy is changing the coverings a bit and his quote included all new foam.
I'll post some pix's of the progress after I get a 2nd pot of coffee in me.
Looks to be a fairly basic project that many could handle themselves.

can you post pics and measurments of the indiv pieces of wood? i am currently doing my int, and may want to build a copy of your bolsters instead of my swivels.

Pix's....
 

notice the angle aluminum bolted to the corners. These appear to have been added as reinforcement after the glue joints broke on the wood frames.
I will duplicate these frames and will add glass reinforcing in the corners and coat everything w/thinned down resin.

DnK, I don't think it would do you much good w/o actual patterns and a book of illustrations ;)

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/bolster8.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/bolster9.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l.../bolster11.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l.../bolster13.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l.../bolster15.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l.../bolster16.jpg

Nice job, that does not look to bad, and to save that kind of money you did the right thing. Those bolsters looked great for 27 years young.

Progress......
 

Made a couple changes on them.

#1. The originals were made from 1" plywood and I used 3/4" for the new. If the boat was here and I had more time I probably would have used 1/2" and cut a few more lbs out of them.
#2. One of the weak links to the orig's was the corners where the backs joined the sides facing the walk way. They just 45'd the ends and stuck them together with the braces on the inside. I cut them down and added a 45'd stringer/piece to that outside corner as a doubler. 100% stronger and no need for aluminum angles.
#3. I'll coat everything in thinned down resin and wrap the corners w/a layer of 1708 glass.

Here's some pix's from today. Not bad considering the Mrs drug me to the Tiki Bar last night and I had a thumpin hang over all day :helmet:

This pic shows where the bases bolted to the legs. Appears to have had no water proofing and is amazing they lasted this long.

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...inprocess2.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...inprocess4.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...rinprocess.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...inprocess7.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...nprocess10.jpg

Nice work!!!

nice work.i just did the same thing w/my 10meter fountain.its alot of work,but worth the savings.i coated all my wood w/resen and at the joints laid the up in glass just like the factory.

Good job. It is remarkable how well the originals held up over time.

BTW..who are you using in Sebastian? Most of the guys I try to deal with in Palm Beach County freak out when I ask them how long a job will take. I get answers like..." We'll let you know when you can pick it up". Seems like in the marine upholstery business there is no sense of urgency...drives me nuts.

Great work!
You're lucky. This is what i got to start with.
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg190...jpg&res=medium

Didn't turn out to bad.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg651...jpg&res=medium

Using....
 

FanasticFiberglass.com in Stuart. I went through the Marine Svcs section in Craigslist and e-mailed every shop that looked/appeared reputable in Space Coat, Treasure Coast and South Fla.
I sent them all the same description/request and included my name w/phone Number so they knew I wasn't a phantom shopper.
Amazingly, after a week +,I got 2 reply e-mails and only one phone call! The two e-mails asked for additional info which I supplied and then never heard back.
Brian at FF.com was the ONLY one to actually p/u the phone.
He was very helpful and informative w/guidance on my project.
He said he might be close at 2 wks if I got in line which I did.
I used to work a block from his shop and had seen their steady flow of work going through and knew they had a real shop Vs some I talked to.
One local woman was all geeked and had me impressed that she was coming over the same day to look at the job and then didn't show or call. Then she called 3 days later like nothing????
They say the market is down but what I see is the people that want to work are working.

fnscreen, very cool. If I had the boat here and the time I would have done something similar as far as construction.
I think I could have cut out 30+ lbs of weight if so. And been stronger.
Would have been easy to mock up in 1/4" foam then wrap it in glass.

Thanks for the compliments guys. Can't wait to see it completed.