DIY: THE NEW CAPTAIN'S SEAT

This week I am going to track down the  upholstery and lumber  supplies we need to complete the Captain's and Navigator's seats on the boat.  When we decided to replace the original Captains seat, there were a number of things we wanted to accomplish.  We wanted it to be different from the run of the mill boat seats, large and comfortable, have some storage capacity, and match all the original wood work and the new upholstery in the Pilot House. 

So, I made a sketch of what I thought it should look like, so that Dan could understand what I had in mind. He agreed with my concept.

So, I marked the full swing of all the existing cabinet doors, onto the floor with a black felt marker.  (That was before we had carpet in there, of course.)  That way I knew exactly how much room I had to work with, without interfering with those doors opening and closing. 


That's how we decided on the actual size it would be.  We also took one of the existing cabinet doors to a custom wood worker and had him make the matching doors we wanted.  (Yikes that was expensive.)

I think Dan did a great job of building this.  They no longer sell Mahogany plywood, so if we wanted it to match the existing woodwork, we had to buy the veneer and glue and make it ourselves.  No easy task I'll tell you, but we accomplished it.  Dan built the cabinet I stained and varnished it, then I upholstered the seat. 

 I think it all matches very well.  And it really holds a lot of soft drinks and snacks etc..   So this year all we have to do is make the back rest. The idea is that it will swivel back and forward so that the seat can be used facing the couch when we are not cruising. I still have to re-upholster the navigator's stool as well this year.  These are simple enough jobs, if they don't get put to the bottom of the to do lists. 

 

 

 

SO, THE CAPTAIN HAS A NEW SEAT