storage
 

boy, it is quiet in here. has anyone thought about or done, making their midcabin bench seats storage friendly. is it because of the stringers that this area is not utilized? any thoughts? maybe some boom speakers there?

Fireman,
I have thought about it. Makes a lot of sense for towels and clothing, lightweight stuff. Our boats don't like carrying weight in front of the step, so I would leave the heavy stuff like anchors, tools, etc. in the center storage.
Regards,
Steve

Fireman,
Chris (CB-BLR) and i have talked a little about using the area behind the cabin bench seats. i haven't taken the screws that hold the cover panel up top out yet to see what it would take but i think that would be a great spot for life jackets or (as chris mentioned) a wakeboard

Steve,
have you removed the base of the cabin bench seats? would you have to actually cut the floor to expose a storage area?

-Ned

There is really not much room under the seat but there is a bit behind the back. I have the amps for my stereo mounted to the back of the starboard seat.

Ned,
No I haven't but I don't think it would be too hard. Just cut inboard of the stringer. Carpet the storage area. There you go.

Looks like when I do my stereo install, I will check it out. I will let yall know, and show some pics.

I've opened up the seat bases in both Heats I've owned and there is a surprising amount of storage under there. The stringers don't get in the way at all. After cutting the opening I got some matching carpet and used contact cement to lay it in with - great place to store towels and food.

Kokopelli,

any chance you could take a couple pics of the work you have done and either post them here or email to [email protected]?

thanks
Ned

Ned, Sorry haven't been on the board in a while. I'll shoot a couple pics next time I'm in the boat and send them over.

Kokopelli,

Could you please post the pictures here, so that all of us can see them.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Kokopelli,
Cool. Pretty much what I was thinking about doing. Did you hold the seat bases down with velcro (I think that is "factory"?), or hinge them, like the back seat? Post those pics! My jigsaw is ready to rock.
Best Regards,
Steve

Just finished mine yesterday. Cut holes in the bases and made
access panels to put stuff behind the seats as well. A lot of storage both places. Six screws and the entire base comes out and carpeted underneath. I used the existing panel that is between the cupholders on the top side of the base for access and cut the wood panel that supports them so i can put life jackets behind. Those panels fit snug enough that the screws that originally hold them in are not needed. A couple hours of work are WELL worth the extra storage in my opinion. Will try to get some pictures if the rain stops.

Here are some pics

some more

Steve,
As far as the seats go, there was nothing holding mine down since I bought it new. They fit tight and never a problem. I did away with the hinge on the back seat, as the seat would flip up everytime someone stepped on the front of it. Here are some pics of what I did to it and if I have any problems with the salon seats, may do something similiar or just use velcro.

Pics

great pics, thanks for taking time to put them up, definitely on the list of things to do to the boat!

Digger,
Nice work. Definitely a space saver, and you can never have enough storage on these boats.
I like it!
Thanks for taking the time to post the pics!
Steve

Wow,

These are a couple of great ideas. The more space the better in my opinion.

Thanks a lot for sharing and posting the pictures,

Chris

The only problem I have encountered is, on the older boats,
07,08 and older, the seat bases are still wood and unfinished on the back side. When I put the lifejackets behind the seat, i got some small splinters and whatnot on them when I pulled them out. The bases will be coming out and going to the upholstery guy to get covered on the back side next. The newer boats with the resin bases shouldn't have to worry about anything. My amps are going to get relocated to the starboard side behind the seat, leaving the port for storage.

Picked up the carpet and glue today. The starboard seat came out fairly easy. There are a couple of screws behind the seat back into the bulkheads that were a little harder to get to. Had to break out the 90o drill.
BTW, I hadn't had my seat bottom off in years. It does have velcro strips holding it down. I think I'll cut inside the strips and save them if it allows enough access to the new storage.
Regards,
Steve

Nice work digger! I'm really looking forward to having more storage.
So when you removed the padded part of the base did you just trace the opening in the mounted portion, unscrew and remove the entire base, then cut out what you had traced?

Finished. Turned out pretty well for an afternoon's work.
I did mine just like your's Digger.
I am going to West Marine tomorrow to get some marine "pulls" to mount on the seatback trim, so I can easily access that storage too. There is a surprising amount of space there.
You are right, they fit plenty tight without the screws.
Just one question......this is such a nice addition to the onboard storage on a Heat, why doesn't the factory do it?
BTW, my total cost for the project was about $30 for the carpet, glue, paint, and brushes.
Regards,
Steve

The under seat storage seems like a no-brainer to me. Nordic should be doing this on every boat that comes out of the factory!

I will be doing this mod in the next couple of weeks.

Chris

05r1,
I removed the seat base completely, measured between
the stringers and used the screw holes to determine what i
could cut out and used a straight edge, and just made sure i left enough base on the sides for the seat cushion to sit on. i used a hole saw to cut the corners, jig sawed the rest and then routered the edges and some paint and your done.
Steve, the pull for the top is a great idea. I thought i would leave that out so as to keep it "hidden". VERY low cost addition that nordic should definitely consider. I will mention it to mike when I talk to him and if some dealers mention it, im sure they would consider it in the future.

Aaron

Aaron,

now i finally see what you're talking about. it has been a while since i removed the cushion part of the seat. for some reason, i thought that the hole in the base (that you cut out)was pre-existing and that you had to cut into the boat to expose the storage. BUT after removing the entire seat base itself, i see exactly what needs to be done. thanks again for posting pics so we can all see exactly how easy and doable it is!

-Ned

Aaron,
I found some nice looking stainless steel T-handles at Home Depot today. I through bolted them with a large fender washer below, so they hopefully won't break the carpeted board, or pull through. Mine are still pretty tight, even without the screws. They sit low, just above the seat. You can hardly see them, but they make it much easier to get the board out.
Thanks again for the pics. The only difference I can see between your install and mine are the velcro strips the factory has on mine to keep the seat bases in place (which I kept), and it looks like your outboard stringers run further forward than mine. Mine stop near the back of the access hole, and blend into the hull at about a 45o angle. I just wrapped them with carpet and painted what little you can see medium gray to match the carpet.
Total for the project, $45 and some "sweat equity" :angry-smiley-044:.
Regards,
Steve

Steve,
Thanks for the update. Glad it turned out well. I hope others
take advantage of this as it is very simple to do.

Aaron

Ttt
 

Ttt

I've always wondered about that space myself. Would it be worth the work in the Rage? I would love a space to store towels & food. With the bow cover off 80mph, I spend the rest of the day drying all the stuff that blows out of the wind tunnel.

As soon as I complete some other projects I am going to take the seats out for a look. I'll post pictures of what I find. Or some one else can pull their Rage seats out now and post some pictures.

TTT
Jay, here you go..........
Regards,
Steve