Hello.

Since recently I'm the proud owner of a Formula 242 LS. The boat is bought without a drivetrain and a lot of parts are not installed. The boat originally came with bolsters, but the I got the other swivel-type with the boat when I bought it. My question is if anyone knows what the Formula 242 LS deck looks like where I shall mount these seats?

Do I need to reinforce it in anyway or do I just bolt them to the floor? Is there a difference in the deck construction between the bolster models and the swivel-seat models?

Has anyone done this swap? I've heard about a few people going TO bolsters, but no-one done the reverse.

I'd really appriciate any tips or info!

Assuming you have an '87 - 91 242 LS ???

the swivel seats are thru-bolted with a backing plate and lock nuts underneath the cockpit deck. Access to the underside of the deck requires you to remove the large center hatch that coveres the fuel tank bay. There should be a very narrow opening in the stringer box of space to access the underneath where the seat mounts. It was clearly installed before the boat halves were bonded together.

Here is a pic of the area . . . you can see the backing plate



For earlier models, I believe those had the cockpit floor tabbed into the hull. Best to see if you can access the underside from the fuel tank bay.

Thank you very much for the info. Sorry that I forgot to tell you about modelyear. It is a 1989 model, so that is the correct picture I guess. I haven't actually removed the center hatch yet (waiting to get access to an indoor space to do all the boat work. I live in Sweden and the wether isn't great right now). But I guess I have some thinking to do to be able to mount these seats. I was hoping not to have to remove the fuel tank. If anyone have ideas regarding this please let me know, but at least now I have an idea what to work with.

For the people who's doing the opposite switch, going to bolsters, what reinforcements do you usually apply?

Probably won't have to remove the fuel tank, just the hatch that covers it. The trick will be fastening a backing plate with through bolts in the 1 inch space that is provided. definitely a 2-person job.

This would be the view with the fuel tank in place . . .



so, you still have some good space to work from the sides . . . .

Great, thanks a lot! My first post on this forum, and already it has given me great feedback. Not all forums are like that.

But even if one could manage to get a support brace in the 1" gap from the center compartment towards the side, I'm guessing it needs to be secured somehow? To secure the plate, would that require removing the deck? If it is not secured out on the other side, against the "outer hull" it'd be pointless, wouldn't it?

The metal piece is merely a backing plate, not a brace of any sort. There will be about 6 bolts that go through the swivel seat base through the cockpit deck and into this 1" open area (gap). the bolts would need to continue through the backing plate and have 'nylock' nuts fastened. It just makes a sandwich of the deck. The tricky part is to be able to fasten the nylock nuts in that 1" gap.

OK, I get it. I just assumed that the plate was fastened to the deck/hull in some way. But if it just is a matter of getting a plate in there as a loose backing plate makes my life easier! I'm sure I could fasten the nuts to the plate to make the install easier.

Again, thanks a lot for all the help, can't thank you enough!