Cutting out Aluminum Bench seat

P

Paul Crawford

New member
Hey Friends,

You have been helpful in the past when i have asked about installing an aluminum floor in my 1648 jon. So now i need your help with another question regarding taking out the middle bench seat in my boat. The question i have is... If i take the middle bench seat out of my boat, do i need to brace the side walls of the boat to keep it from bowing? Or another way to ask the question is, will the structural integrity be lost by taking this seat out without extra reenforcement from the side walls? Is it enough to put in an aluminum floor down without side braces in place of the bench?

Again thanks for you wisdom in this manner.

Paul
 
PAUL, I recently cut out my middle bench seat. measuring the distance between the gunnels before and after the bench seat should give you a idea about the bracing. My spacing on my boat is 16 inches fore and aft. The space between the two without the bench seat is 20". I did not opt to brace after conferring with a sheet metal worker, and standing on the boat checking for flex. I also took the boat to the water and give her a test run before i eliminated the bracing idea altogether. I hope your venture turns out as well as mine did. It feels like my 16 ft double wide is a 20 footer. any help you might need feel free to contact me
 
I contemplated doing the same thing & we have had a couple of discussions about this. There a couple of concerns:
1. You will lose floatation that is contained in the center seat. Will you boat still have positive floatation if you don't replace the foam?
2. Structural integrity. The bench most likely add structural integrity. Most people who responded when I asked the same question indicated that it did not make a difference when they removed theirs a/o didn't think it would make a huge difference.
3. Resale liability. If you remove the seat and floatation that is in it, then you sell it to some one else, do you incur liability?

I keep thinking about removing mine but have not taken the plunge yet. It seem like it is always in the way but cutting it out makes me nervous.
I guess I realled didn't help, did I?!
 
Carl brought up a thing i forgot to hit on. the floatation that is inside of your bench can be used underneath the floor you put in thats what i opted to do. I used a piece of wire cable and made a saw to "slice" it into sections. I only lost a little bit of it due to the shape of the bench but i added some of the insulfoam from lowe's and put it in the space's that were empty. Actually i gained floatation. One thing to consider, The amount of ribs on the bottom and the spacing between them. I flipped my boat over and stood on the "void" to check for flex. My worries were eased when i realized how strong it was. My seat was only attached to the side of the boat and not the bottom. Good luck with your project.
 
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