Sit down conversion
 

Anyone ever take an old school standup boat with low freeboard and convert it to a sit down? Pics of sit down cockpits?

Where are you headed with this Jamie? You got something in mind or just fishing?

Got something in mind. Picked up a low freeboard Flatdeck hull that I don't think anyone is going to give any decent money for and been jonesing for a sit down boat lately .

Been there, done that and don't regret it one bit. I thought it was going to take major getting used to sitting down. I love it, good seats are key.




Before...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/phragle/11-5.jpg


After

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...gle/kkklkk.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...G_112401-1.jpg

I like that a lot phragle!

+1

What size, length?

40'

Hell yea

Transmission boat?

Yes sir. Got some ideas floating. May stagger it also.

nice,,what model boat.

Perfect. Keep me/us posted. I'm assuming you still have your #3s? Here's a hole for them.

3's are on the hawk. But the pending plan is cut the cockpit out make it a 5 seat sit down, console down the center, 850's with the 3's maybe stagger.
And I hate to admit but..... It's a 12 meter fountain....
Never been a fountain fan but the 40, 42's and 47's are bad a$$
And I'm changing everything about the rigging etc. only thing that will stay is the hull itself.

I like where you're going with this idea. :drool1:

Someone did this with a 40' fountain a few years back. It had quarter canopies and was really done well. It ended up getting parted out because the owner died or something. Had a lot of gray I think. Anyways, good luck. I liked the one from the past just couldn't afford it.

Sounds like it would be a really fun poker run boat and it could probably be done fairly cheap too. It would no doubt move pretty good with 850's, especially if you used light weight seats and went with a bare bones cabin like you're thinking. It would likely run close to 100 (if not more) with a high x.

I'm fired up about it, hope it comes together.

Looks fantastic!
Who made the seats for you? reasonable?
I`ve been digging this back seat idea.


http://33outlaw.zenfolio.com/img/s7/...39091086-3.jpg

Seat are by PRP, podium series. they are trophy truck offroad suspension seats, they were 1100 for the pair, really good lateral containment, thick memory foam cushion too.

My 28 Excel was a sit down boat, loved it! I had replaced the stock seats on pedestals to shock absorbing high back seats on solid bases. Worked awesome!

My Panther has drop out bolsters, fortunately with seats in place the height is just right to sit. Eventually I'll convert it to high back seats. Personally, whether racing or just out having fun, seated in a secure, well padded shock absorbing seat is by far the best, most secure position to be in!

Tom any pics or info on the seats you used?

Jamie, do a Google search for suspension seats. There are a lot of them out there from all the major players. Beard, mastercraft, prp, corbeau, sparco, etc all make them.

Hi Jamie, The link below is what I had in the 28, model #98823. They were very shock absorbent and comfortable. http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/matrix

I had constructed the base boxes out of plywood, all threw bolted, covered the boxes in carpet, looked awesome!

How well do they handle getting wet?

What is the weight of the Fountain hull vs the Hawk hull?

Well the fountain new, full cabin, with turbo motors weighed 8800 lbs dry. The hawk is a touch over 10,000 I think
Stripped cabin, light seats, no extras in thinking I can get it about 8200

Ill have to look thru some of my old Excalibur stuff. I think I have a performance report of the Hawk 40 and saw it listed around 9600 lbs. I believe when new they radared it at 59mph with twin 400hp cyclone engines and TRS. Which is about what mine ran with 420s . it was always a competition with my Hawk 40 vs my buddies Scarab III which also had some 420 cloned engines and TRS. In flat water he'd inch away from me by a hair! In the chop it be pretty even.

Stripped cockpit and bilge this week in between other stuff. Next step is make a final decision on seats and start mocking up dash and console.

Glassdave set me up with a deal on a pair of sparco seats. Now I just got to find a reasonable way to get them from ohio to Massachusetts lol

Jamie, I'm a bit surprised at you thinking marine (big bucks) vs. automotive (not quite as big a bucks!). Sparco is a brand the Performance Aftermarket deals with. Probably could beat the price and not have to worry about freight.

They are automotive seats at salvage auto prices ;)

Filling transom this week, will finalize dash and console next week. Hope to tab in the dash next week

Forgot I started this thread, transom is done, dash is done, built a carbon fiber center console, working on the windshield frame now. Once I get that roughed in ill rig the bilge.

I was wondering what you were doing with those seats in your garage when I was picking up those motors. It all makes sense now. I would love to see some pictures of the progress.

That is freakin' sweet!!

Any updates? Pics?

:worthless_without_p

Maybe I can talk Matt into posting them for me. The whole host site is a pain in the arse from my phone

I don't think he wants to post pics because he's actually been working on a model of a 40' Fountain. Is it 1/8 scale or what?