What kind of seats do you have in your boats?

J

Joe D

New member
I am in the process of modifying a boat for hunting. I bought an old fiber glass run about. It is just the shell, there is no interior right now. I was thinking about putting in a new floor and then some bench seats down the side or mounting some posts with seats on them. Just curious what works for other people and other boats
 
I like bench seats that you can open up to store gear in. But then they might get in the way a bit, depending on what kind of water you hunt. My little foamy boat actually has wood bench seats that rest on the rails of the boat. That way I can move them forward or back depending on how I wish to hunt and how many people I wish to hunt out of it.
 
Built in seats are nice at times... I prefer to use a cooler with seat top and those folding bag chairs or folding hunting stools. That way you can move around accordingly and fold up and put out of the way if needed. In my TDB I have a folding boat seat on an aluminum box that I can slide around but stays put fairly well. The bag chairs can be a little tough to stand to shoot from. 5 gallon buckets work ok as well with storage inside but take up space. One thing I've used for a bench seat are the large plastic storage bins sold at the box stores. Fill them with decoys and the flip them over after deploying decoys and use for seats.

Gene
 
For running the boat, I have a folding swivel seat mounted directly to the right side of the rear bench. I use a folding hunting chair with a back rest for when I'm setup.
My boat has a middle bench & I hate it. It really takes up space & makes moving around the boat a pain. I'm a big fan of an open floor plan & using movable chairs. My buddy built a fiberglass "box" for a seat base & mounted a swivel chair on top for use in his godevil boat. It is flaired at the bottom & is really stable. we can move it around or take it out all together.
Bench seat on the site would be great for when running & for storage as long as they dont take up too much room. But if you hunt open water where you need to see all around, it will be hard to turn & watch behind you.
 
I would say it depends how old you are and how good your back is. I absolutely need a good seat with a backrest or by the end of the hunt my back and neck are so sore that hunting the next day would not be an option. If you do need a seat with a back rest like I do, chose carefully. I have had 3 different seats over the years and the current "best" set-up aer seats I got from Cabelas (their brand) They aren't the smallest seats and aren't the biggest either - I believe they are the middle size offering. Make sure you try the seats out beforehand. I wanted, and needed, seats that would support me and come up to the lower part of my shoulder blades. anything short of that caused uncomfrot (for me) at some point during the hunt.

Mark W
 
Wide open floor, fixed seat based with movable pedestals for general family use, fishing and running to the hunting spot.

I've used folding camo seats, 5 gallon buckets, and seats on coolers for hunting. The folding camo seats can be stool style or have a backrest. The double bull blind seats look nice, but are pricey. When I start getting out more, I think I'll pick up a pair.

I'd also consider adding more pedestal bases to use the regular boat seats if I had the time/energy to get into it.
 
I have a 2 man BBSB that had 2 pole seats in it. I tore them out and now have an open floor plan. They took up too much space to store and they limited my hunting set up due to where they were mounted. I also had trouble with removing them after the hunt. When I was ready to pick up my spread I regularly found the pole section frozen in place. I now use a folding dove chair with a backrest. It is light, stores easily, and moves wherever I want. I also hunt out of my buddies 17' Bankes boat which has an open floor plan. He has a permenent swivel seat (it is standard on the boat)he uses to drive the boat and hunt from. The wrest of us use 5gal bucket seats. It is great to be able to move them out of the way when we are setting up or tearing down our spread. They are also great for storing items inside. I prefer an open floor plan for versatility.

Good Luck,
Gene
 
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