Bow Seats for your PDQ 36
Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:21 am
We always wanted places to sit in the bow and we had them on our previous cat. Of course we didn’t want to spend a lot of money. The following design was achieved at less than $100 cost while keeping function and minimizing weight forward.
The first thing we did early on in anticipation of bow seats and to strengthen the bow rails was to brace the forward pulpits laterally to minimize the safety line droop forward. This droop was exasperated by the installation of two additional turning blocks for the roller furling. To reduce the tripping hazard (the line lead directly across the trampoline to the furling drum) we added turning blocks paralleling the hull shape and up the pulpit there by giving a fairlead up the forward rail then to the furling gear.
The seats are mounted between the pulpit rails over the bows. We wanted as simple and robust a design as practicable as well as the ability of benefit of pivoting them out of the way for access to the forward cleats and anchor roller.
I think the photos best tell the story and all parts are available from marine suppliers. We used ½ inch Starboard for the seat which we had to later reinforce with a wooden stiffener. We had lots of the ½ stuff so………. However, I recommend you spring for the ¾ inch Starboard if you want to build bow seats like ours and forgo the stiffener. We will gladly entertain your questions. I believe, as the skipper, if the first mate likes the project, you have a winner.
We are limited to just 3 images here but detailed fabrication images will be published in the newsletter.
The first thing we did early on in anticipation of bow seats and to strengthen the bow rails was to brace the forward pulpits laterally to minimize the safety line droop forward. This droop was exasperated by the installation of two additional turning blocks for the roller furling. To reduce the tripping hazard (the line lead directly across the trampoline to the furling drum) we added turning blocks paralleling the hull shape and up the pulpit there by giving a fairlead up the forward rail then to the furling gear.
The seats are mounted between the pulpit rails over the bows. We wanted as simple and robust a design as practicable as well as the ability of benefit of pivoting them out of the way for access to the forward cleats and anchor roller.
I think the photos best tell the story and all parts are available from marine suppliers. We used ½ inch Starboard for the seat which we had to later reinforce with a wooden stiffener. We had lots of the ½ stuff so………. However, I recommend you spring for the ¾ inch Starboard if you want to build bow seats like ours and forgo the stiffener. We will gladly entertain your questions. I believe, as the skipper, if the first mate likes the project, you have a winner.
We are limited to just 3 images here but detailed fabrication images will be published in the newsletter.