Suspension Seats, for the DIY'er

Hi All,

Did this Suspension seat Modification about 2 1/2 years ago and still going without any problems or rusting on any of the shafts.

Basically takes an office Seat mechanism to be incorporates it into a boat seat, where the pedestal goes.

You can buy specifically made ones to do the job online, but found all the ones were too high for my application so decided to just reverse engineer an office chair to work in a boat.

Did a little sketch of how i did it, so if it save you back on a bad wave i reckon its worth it. (father in law doesn't whinge as much now when you hit a good wave)

I was able to pick up a few old office chairs from a local 2nd hand office furniture shop, who leaves all the stuff on the kerb they hope to go missing instead of binning it.

Only had to buy 2 new bases, cause the old ones wouldn't want to come out, sikaflex, screws and bolts, which came to less than $100.

The most time consuming part was to machice down the old chair base thatwas made of plastic. Did it old school, started with a grinder cutting disc, then a bastard file to get a almost perfect fit so as the sikaflex takes up any last inperfection, locking the plastic sleve cutdown from the base into place.

I reckon having a comfortable seat makes boating so much mure pleasurable, which = more fishing.

Last Pics are of the old Pedestals when i took them out, and are also availble for sale for a good offer.

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 DM306

Image Upload: 

Posts: 812

Date Joined: 09/10/06

 Good job mate.Have always

Thu, 2014-08-07 21:53

 Good job mate.

Have always thought of office chair gas struts, but wasn't sure if they would hold up. 

Mite be time to give it a go.

Posts: 330

Date Joined: 15/03/13

 That is sweet! and they look

Fri, 2014-08-08 04:44

 That is sweet! and they look good too! 

Posts: 55

Date Joined: 15/02/12

Innovation is king

Fri, 2014-08-08 07:20

 That is an awesome idea and finish, they look great mate

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 Acceptance is the key

Tradewind's picture

Posts: 756

Date Joined: 18/09/12

Great post, thanks Been

Fri, 2014-08-08 08:07

Great post, thanks

 

Been thinking of doing something for the poor ole grandfather who's beginning to feel each wave

Brock O's picture

Posts: 3155

Date Joined: 11/01/08

Nice Work

Sat, 2014-08-09 08:16

 

They look like bought ones!, looking at chair replacement ideas ATM so cheers for posting.

tot's picture

Posts: 1148

Date Joined: 31/01/10

bump!

Sat, 2015-02-28 13:10

I am looking into suspension seats and this popped up in the SEARCH function.

How are they holding up Jason??

These are some others options

http://www.seaspensionaustralia.com.au/Solo-Post-Boat-Seat-Suspension.html

http://www.wavemaster.net.au/shop/fixed-non-removable-the-cadia-1

I think seaspensions are around the 500 mark each and the wave master around half that. Has anyone had any first hand experience with either?

I would be installing into a 4.5m plate runabout so not looking for the truck style.

cheers!

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Reverse cycle a/c supply and install - Ducted and wall splits

Jason P's picture

Posts: 521

Date Joined: 16/02/13

 Still going, had no problems

Sat, 2015-02-28 19:19

 Still going, had no problems so far and if they do fail I have few spare parts. The shafts of the struts are still shiny as so can't complain, thought this would have been the failure point but no.

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 DM306