Sliding seat supports revised

June 21, 2011
I worked on assembling the sliding rowing seat, but I had no idea how complicated it would be to put together.  Fortunately I found some additional instructions online because those that came with the seat were rather skimpy and the company obviously had changed some parts.   The new instructions had some pictures which helped but I still had to do some parts two and three times.  At one point I had the foot supports on upside down; instead of pointing up, they pointed down.


June 22, 2011
I've been trying to figure out how to put the sliding rowing seat in the dory.  I built the supports and the stern support looks easy to install over the stern bulkhead. The thwart comes out easily and the support fits over the bulkhead in its place.  However, the support on the other end of the rowing seat is supposed to be bolted to the middle thwart.  However, I the foam is attached to the thwart and I could not see anyway to get nut on the bolt. 

When Pete was over, he suggested that I get a 2"X6" piece of cedar, cut slots in the ends and bolt it on place through the bulkheads.  That way, the end of the sliding seat could be bolted permanently to the board and the whole assembly could be easily lifted out of the boat.

I called CLC today and managed to talk to John even though he was about to pull out of the parking lot headed for the wooden boat show in Mystic. He said the the original piece he designed was bolted through the seat because they had hollowed out a space in the foam insulation to get the nut on the bolts.  When I asked about Pete's alternative, he thought it was a good solution, and said it would be very strong.

After the call, I called Hamshaws Lumber and found that they had cedar in 2"x6" size and that I could buy just the four feet I needed.  I used the thwart as a pattern and cut slots into each end.  At Pete's suggestion, I narrowed the ends down to four inches.  It looks a little better and I could use shorter bolts to attach it to the bulkheads.

Using the #2 thwart as a pattern, I cut the slot, and then narrowed the ends of the board.

The narrowed end should make it easier to put  the seat in and take it out.

My new seat support is ready for finishing.