Interesting problem hanging seats 16' Prospector

[tszpieg]

So, I'm out looking things over and notice an issue... Rear seat mounted 50" to front arm, back from center (Station 0), seat height from the keel line- 10". I figured I'd split the difference from what Canoecraft states on seat height of 9 1/2"-10 1/2" from bottom of hull. I made my seat hanger spacers and fitted them nicely. Everything looks great. This is where I noticed the issue. Where the rear bolts for the rear seat fall, there is no way I will be able to slide the wood spacer over the bolt, due to the curviture of the hull in that location, once I get the bolts set in epoxy and plugged (holes already drilled). Even if I hogged out the hole that goes through the spacer, I still don't think I could get the spacer up over that bolt as it hangs down through the inwale...
The only solution I could come up with is to varnish and install those spacers before I install those particular bolts permanently. It will be tricky to varnish them in the future as I will not be able to fully remove them. But after all the other things that go with building one of these beauties, that's really not a huge deal..
Anyone else run into this problem on this particular model? Other possible solutions?

Thanks,


Terry

[tszpieg]

Well, to answer my own question, and for any of you who may be interested, I ended up boring out my spacers, and I think it will work. My spacers are roughly 3/4" diameter cherry dowels I made from material left over from carving my paddles. I had drilled a 3/8" hole and thought I'd be good. Testing, fitting, figuring and a little apprehension and I was able to bore that 3/8" hole out to around 1/2". As far as I could see during my test fittings (bolts still not set in epoxy and plugged yet), I think I'm ready to go.
Feeling like I'm the only one who's come into this problem...
I noticed quite a few other Prospectors in the photo gallery, but I can't tell if the seat bolts are counter bored and plugged, or hung with a different method.

I was going to use nylon locking nuts under the seats, but after testing them, it seems that they take a lot of torque to get them on. I'm concerned about breaking the screw heads loose under my plugged holes somewhere down the line.

What are most of you using for nuts to hang the seats?

Terry

[Glen Smith]

I have never sunken the bolt heads so I didn't respond to your first message. For fasteners I use either stainless or brass hex nuts with flatwasher and lockwasher.

[sebastiancolson]

Dear Terry,

I am Sebastian from Belgium and I am about to install the seats hanging from the gunwales. Thank you very much for bringing up the problem concerning the spacers. I wouldn't have thought about it myself:-) I'll try to shorten the screws or widen the hole in the spacers, as you did.

Have a good day

Seb

[Cruiser]

I am a fan of being able to work on my boats, so the idea of permanently sealing in seat hanging bolts is a bit of a "no-no" for me. It just seems that it is a headache waiting to happen further down the line.

A good stainless carriage bolt looks fine, sitting on the gunnel (I do buff the heads a little) ... a lot easier to remove seats for eventual maintenance or repair ... so my suggestion is to rethink a permanent bolt install ... it may very well bite you farther down the line. I used hidden hardware (helicoils) to hang the first seat from the gunnels and that also works well if you need to hide the gunnel hardware.


Brian

[Jim Dodd]

When I make my seats, I make the arms long enough so when I trim the seat to fit the hull, I have stub pieces, that I turn into hanger spacers. With a contour gage, I copy the hull shape just below the shear, transfer the shape to the stubs, and cut.

I clamp the seat and 4 spacers, and drill my hanger bolts.

A trick I used was to use a long drill bit, at least a foot long.
This helps me to accurately see the angle the bit is cutting, so as not to drift off course.




I usev 1/4" Stainless carrage bolts, but smaller diameter screws with washers certainly work !

Jim

[ID Canoeblder]

I had to sand a bevel on one side of the dowels at the top so they would fit.This allowed them to get centered on the threaded rods coming down from the gunwales.

Greg