Flybridge seat cooler 1979 36' DC

[brookesmith]

I store my electric cables on the flybridge under the aft port seat compartment. The other day I found standing water in the seat compartment. There is a drain in the bottom on this seat and the stopper had found it's way into the hole. I pulled the stopper out and the water went SOMEWHERE. I then started having water trickle out under the britework port side of the FB. OK I'm pretty sure that's not where the drain is supposed to go. My guess is the the drain hose is rotted split from 34 years of freezing in the winter etc. I figure the drain was intended to go somewhere with a serious flow as this appears to be a built in seat cooler. Not like the small drain holes for the other 3 FB seats. Anyone have a clue of how this drain is routed? I've not destroyed it yet to figure this out.

[DougSea]

... I've not destroyed it yet to figure this out.

I can't begin to tell you how much this little comment made me smile!

Good luck with the hunt for the hose!

[Panhdjoe]

Hi Brooke. Joe asked me to respond. I found the drain exits through a small hole under the flybridge overhang above the portside lower deck. I ran a small tube up the hole to clean it out, and the water just runs down the outside of main cabin. Same setup on the starboard side.
We plan to be in Deltaville next week, arriving on Monday. Hope to see you and Susan.
Janet

[psneeld]

Hi Brooke. Joe asked me to respond. I found the drain exits through a small hole under the flybridge overhang above the portside lower deck. I ran a small tube up the hole to clean it out, and the water just runs down the outside of main cabin. Same setup on the starboard side.
We plan to be in Deltaville next week, arriving on Monday. Hope to see you and Susan.
Janet

it was the same on my 40...but I got rid of the seats on the fly bridge to make it completely water tight.

[mike66]

I missed that...do you have photos? I just caulked up under the seats last weekend. My cooler drains to under the seat, no hose. I've drilled out drain holes and am going to install pvc drains to keep the water from draining unrestricted under the seats.

[psneeld]

what are you referring to when you mention photos?

[mike66]

"Got rid of the seats"

[psneeld]

quick one...not cleaned up ready for company with chairs and grill out....

[mike66]

Wow. Never pictured my boat with the seats gone and all that space. It must be nice not to have a fixed seating arrangement.

[CHB]

Could you post more photos of your seat removal project? How did you handle the bridge drain scuppers? Looks great, by the way!

[psneeld]

Don't really have any more pics of the project.

Just cut everything out to the side fairings....filled in the fairings (flybridge sides) where the seat backs were...and left the rectangular part as an opening into the fairing for storage of fishing rods...long skinny objects. I placed a little pvc trim 5200ed on around and bought black plexiglass to fill with a cam lock for the top to hold it all in.

The flybridge drains aft and off the sides past where the fairing is...and I epoxied the fairing down inside and out with a couple layers of 2' glass tape. The entire bridge and flybridge fairing now is water tight.

[River Dawg]

Maybe a bit off the subject, but was wondering if anyone had added one of the upholstered (sp?) captains-type chairs fitted onto the existing seat on the flybridge? When I sit on the cushion (existing factory setup) I feel like I'm too low to see forward properly and standing gets tiresome. I saw this done on another trawler once and the install wasn't pretty, but it looked comfortable. Anyone out there installed something like this?

[jleonard]

We did not add a captains chair. We solved the height issue by adding a "box" on top of the original seat.
Built from 2x6 on edge, this gives us the perfect height for running the boat.
Added benefit is more storage.
Since this picture was taken we have also added this to the rear facing seats so they are all at the same height.

[River Dawg]

Thanks, "J". I think we will give this a try, certainly is less $$ than one of the capt's chairs. I would think it could be made of fir or something light and then painted. Down this way we tend to build outdoor stuff with pressure-treated pine, but that can get heavy. Thanks again, Paul

[jleonard]

The "lids" to these seat risers are plywood and foam covered with sunbrella. There is a framework made of 1x3 strips on the inside to hold the seat in place. No hinges, it lifts off for access below.
The two seat backs are different...mine has a plywood backing to support my back.
Wife didn't want that on her side when we made them 8 years ago....but I think we are going to add that soon.