Message 4 of 4
Posted by member Tim Guest on Monday 30 April 2018

I fitted a seat pedestal to my Pilot 4 or 5 years ago, and it was very successful. I bought the parts from Toomer and Hayter in the UK, but I think that model numbers have changed. The pedestal was made by these people (http://www.poertner-zwaardvis.de/en/products/seatpedestals/sphinx.php#menu-close;returnfalse)
who made the only one which was tall enough. I fitted it with stainless hex bolts in blind Snaptoggle fittings, (www.garelick.com/Toggler-Brand-Stainless-Steel-Toggle-Bolt-Anchors) which allow you to fix the base without access to the underside of the cockpit floor. My floor (1996) was grp, but I'm not sure whether this was always the case. I had to shorten the 'arms' of some of the fittings due to the location of webs under the floor, and possibly to trim some of the bolts (drill with care, of course - I didn't dare do it with the boat in the water!). I cut a small circular access hole in the centre of my chosen pedestal base location, which enabled me to do any minor adjustments to the fittings. As I recall, the location of the webs meant that I had to adjust the position by drilling extra holes, but all these are covered by the base. I think I bedded the hex bolts in Sikaflex.
I added a seat slidler to allow me to adjust the seat position fore and aft, and, as the pedestal is very high at normal extension, I fitted a square-section stabiliser bar to the top of the pedestal, attached to the side to the old folding seat mounting point. I fitted the original Hardy seat, so it's a bit traditional....!
I'm attaching an image of the pedestal. If anyone's interested - next time I'm on the boat I'll take and post some pictures of the installation. Alternatively, please contact me if you'd like more info.

Hope that's useful!

Tim Guest

Add your comment

Message 2 of 4
Posted by member Simon Kidd on Wednesday 31 January 2018

Hi Ian.

I fitted a pair of GRP seat boxes to my old Navigator - the bases were wider than pedestals so less loads on the deck. She had the later GRP moulded decks (Still plywood cored) - I drilled the fastening pilot holes, secured them with good quality stainless screws, bedded the screws into the deck with marine grade epoxy to provide extra adhesion and seal the deck and bonded the bases in place with the Polyurethane Adhesive (essentially the usual Sikaflex). There is not a lot of space between the cockpit sole and the hull - so drill carefully.

If you wanted to through bolt, the only way I can think would be to fit a flush, watertight inspection hatch into the cockpit sole - hopefully with just enough wrist room to allow and arm in to fasten the bolts. Having an access to the hull through the cockpit is no bad thing - our old River Pilot 20 had a number of access hatches to allow a metal keel strip to be bolted through the keel full length.

I hope the above is of some help.

Best Regards
Simon

HOC Tech Sec.

Add your comment | ^Top