Fitting a skipper seat to Adventure Island

Ever since undertaking the skipper seat AI experiment I have tried numerous ways to go about fitting it, with two challenges to overcome. One of them being that the dimensions of the seat dictate little room for error. Positioned too far forward, it infringes upon the 8" hatch and steering lever. Too far backward and it rides onto the rear bulkhead and thus perched a little too high. The other challenge is fitting it in such a way as to make it a solid fit, with little or no rocking (which I experienced on my first attempt). Ideally, it would also be quick to install and remove as well as to adjust. As it turns out the simplest approach I took worked the best. The complete package comprises of the following parts:

•  Skipper seat & upholstery seat and backrest pads
• 2 x Hobie jam cleats - 2 x stainless snap clips
• 2 x stainless steel padeyes
• 2 x plastic padeyes
• 3mm low stretch braided cord
• various stainless nuts, bolts, screws

Using these parts the seat is anchored from the bulkhead at the rear to the same screw-in padeyes used by the standard Hobie seat at front. Before getting started, take a drill and drill a bunch of big holes into the seat base for drainage. Water will get into the upholstery and these holes will prevent water from pooling up in the seat bucket. The following descriptive images were taken without the upholstery seat pad installed, to make it easier to see whats going on. 

Also create two evenly spaced holes at the rear of the seat base to use for the rear stainless snap clip anchors. Connect these to the seat with looped 3mm cord, using a stopper knot on the inside. The position of this knot sets the length of the rear anchors, which is critical. Their length will depend on exactly where you screw in the padeyes to the rear bulkhead, which is where the stainless snap clips attach to, like so"

Next attach to plastic padeyes to the outer side of the seat using stainless fitting hardware. I used 1" screws with nylock nuts. Tie even lengths of 3mm cord (approx 18") to the padeyes. You'll need to make small holes in the upholstry to feed the cords out of each side. These cords are used to cinch the front of the seat both forward and downward.

Next you need to attach the 2 jam cleats to the gunwale of the boat. I have one facing forward of the seat of the starboard side and one towards the rear of the seat on the portside (near the drink bottle holder). 

With all of that attached and aligned properly, you should now be able to secure the seat into the hull tightly and position it so that the front of the seat gives just enough clearance for the front hatch and steering lever. First attach the rear of the seat with the stainless clips to the stainless padeyes on the bulkhead. Then using a 3mm cord attached to the side of the seat, feed it down to the screw in padeye below the seat, and then back up to and around the screw in cleat and pull it tightly into the jam cleat. Do the same on the other side. Take care to get them relatively even, making small adjustments if required. If you've done it right, you skipper seat should now be lodged firmly in place. Your throne is ready!

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