Reinstalling seat bottom

[treimche]

I yanked the seats out of my 96 Speedster yesterday. The 2 front bolts that hold the seat bottoms in sure were interesting to access. There's no way in hell I will put those back in, as it would be pure torture. The 2 that are toward the rear may be ok since they're pretty easy to get at.

I'm looking to see what other people have done to hold the seat bottom in place after getting them redone. I'm thinking about maybe installing some studs instead of using bolts. I'd probably use nuts to hold the 2 rear attachment points in place, but for the rest, maybe just use some really strong velcro? Thinking about getting the same velcro stuff that came with the Bed Rug I put in my truck. That stuff is extremely strong, but still allows removal.

 

[alkiseadoo]

So in my 1997 Challenger I removed the bolts when the engines were out. After reupolstering and reinstalling I only used the back two bolts, it has been 2 years some wild water and no issues.

 

[H€PHÆ$TU$]

https://www.amazon.com/FastCap-Beau...1_1?keywords=beau+clips&qid=1581294227&sr=8-1
God's gift to marine seat mounting.

https://www.seadooforum.com/threads/1998-sportster-1800-bench-seat-restoration-project.107253/
After trying multiple other options that failed on this project, Beauclips were the final answer. If you don't want to read the entire thread, skip toward the end which is where the Beauclip info is. I've had my boat up to 85mph on the trailer and the seats stay in just fine yet are easy to get out when I want.

 

[treimche]

https://www.amazon.com/FastCap-Beau...1_1?keywords=beau+clips&qid=1581294227&sr=8-1
God's gift to marine seat mounting.

https://www.seadooforum.com/threads/1998-sportster-1800-bench-seat-restoration-project.107253/
After trying multiple other options that failed on this project, Beauclips were the final answer. If you don't want to read the entire thread, skip toward the end which is where the Beauclip info is. I've had my boat up to 85mph on the trailer and the seats stay in just fine yet are easy to get out when I want.

Thanks for the suggestion. I went and read through your entire thread, and your seats look amazing! It looks like you just screwed the Beau clips into the plastic of the seats, so how well is that holding up? Hoping that the plastic is strong enough for the screws to hold onto while removing the seats in the future.

 

[H€PHÆ$TU$]

Thanks for the suggestion. I went and read through your entire thread, and your seats look amazing! It looks like you just screwed the Beau clips into the plastic of the seats, so how well is that holding up? Hoping that the plastic is strong enough for the screws to hold onto while removing the seats in the future.

The screws are not an issue. In fact, the clips can be so tight that, if you're not able to pry right up near the clip itself, the seat plastic can actually deform from prying too hard from too far away. Like on my main bench seat back, which is held on by 8 of the clips, none of them are easily accessible to pry anywhere close to any of the clips. The first time I tried to pull it off I pulled so hard from the edges of the seat that I deformed the plastic backing in a couple spots before I realized what was going on. So now when I take that off I simply slide a prybar down behind the seat so that I can pry outwards right next to the clips one by one. It doesn't take much force so long as you're right up on them.

I guess, just in case I'm not explaining this clearly, the point is that the plastic will deform before the screws pull out.

 

[treimche]

The screws are not an issue. In fact, the clips can be so tight that, if you're not able to pry right up near the clip itself, the seat plastic can actually deform from prying too hard from too far away. Like on my main bench seat back, which is held on by 8 of the clips, none of them are easily accessible to pry anywhere close to any of the clips. The first time I tried to pull it off I pulled so hard from the edges of the seat that I deformed the plastic backing in a couple spots before I realized what was going on. So now when I take that off I simply slide a prybar down behind the seat so that I can pry outwards right next to the clips one by one. It doesn't take much force so long as you're right up on them.

I guess, just in case I'm not explaining this clearly, the point is that the plastic will deform before the screws pull out.

Ok that's perfect! I'm thinking out loud, but maybe just use 5 or 6 clips for the seat bottom and the same for the back. That should hold well, but still be able to be removed somewhat easily when needed. Once I get closer to reinstalling, I'll look closer at it though.

On yours, did you install the male clip on the body of the boat or on the seat? It seems like the male part should go on the seat so it won't protrude into the cushion and possibly poke into a passenger.

 

[H€PHÆ$TU$]

Ok that's perfect! I'm thinking out loud, but maybe just use 5 or 6 clips for the seat bottom and the same for the back. That should hold well, but still be able to be removed somewhat easily when needed. Once I get closer to reinstalling, I'll look closer at it though.

On yours, did you install the male clip on the body of the boat or on the seat? It seems like the male part should go on the seat so it won't protrude into the cushion and possibly poke into a passenger.

I'm not super familiar with the specific seat you have. But on my smaller spotter seats I only used 4 clips. On my big bench seat back I used 8 because there were 8 factory attachment points that I was replacing. I started with only 6 but the spots where I skipped stuck out a little from the hull. I didn't like that so I used the beauclips to kind of pull them back in. But from a fastening perspective, 6 was more than adequate to physically keep the seat from flying away while in motion.

Your thinking about where the male clip goes isn't bad, but the seats are also generally thick enough to where you wouldn't feel it anyway. There were areas on my project where I had to mount the male pointing up for reasons that I don't recall ATM and I can't feel them under there.

 

[treimche]

I'm not super familiar with the specific seat you have. But on my smaller spotter seats I only used 4 clips. On my big bench seat back I used 8 because there were 8 factory attachment points that I was replacing. I started with only 6 but the spots where I skipped stuck out a little from the hull. I didn't like that so I used the beauclips to kind of pull them back in. But from a fastening perspective, 6 was more than adequate to physically keep the seat from flying away while in motion.

Your thinking about where the male clip goes isn't bad, but the seats are also generally thick enough to where you wouldn't feel it anyway. There were areas on my project where I had to mount the male pointing up for reasons that I don't recall ATM and I can't feel them under there.

Alright, perfect. Thanks again for the great detail.

 

[H€PHÆ$TU$]

No problem. Have fun!

 

[H€PHÆ$TU$]

I guess another tip I should mention. You can use the factory holes as templates for where to mount the clips. But you have to drill the holes out to 1/2". When I was doing that the foam inside the seat would grab the drill bit the instant it went through the plastic and try to pull it through the vinyl on the other side. I used a block of wood as a drill bit stop to ensure that the drill bit couldn't go too far and ruin my brand new vinyl.

I also used that same block when I was drilling the hull and there were sensitive things on the back side, like on the bottom of my bench where I knew the gas tank was lurking.