Your boat seats are in dire need of attention. The rotten and sagging wood has only one remedy that is to replace them. You can get it done by a professional, but you can also give it a try. You will only need to buy the necessary ingredients and have motivation and enthusiasm, lots of it. Building boat seats for your boat is not for the impatient and the unmotivated man.

What You Need To Buy

The main ingredients you need to buy for your boat bench seats are a sewing machine. You need to buy the suitable fabric, preferably marine vinyl. You will need to buy marine thread, ideally bonded polyester V69 size, gauge ball point needles, 16 or 18, cording that is premade, foam for the seats, plywood for the bases. You can select any type of plywood. For example, you can choose among marine grade plywood, exterior plywood and pressure treated plywood. You will need stainless staples and staples gun, paint, sander and saw for the plywood, electric carving knife, scissors, measuring tape, double sided tape and zipper foot for your sewing machine.

Making The Boat Seats

For the structure of your boat seats, you can start with the measurements of your existing seats. Even though only parts of the wood may be rotten, it is advisable to change the entire wood. You will have to cut a half inch plywood in two pieces, a three sided portion that is lower and will be joined to the floor and a top for forward flip. You must assemble the box with strips of lumber that is treated for pressure, size 1”x1.5” and 1” staples. You must glue it together with wood glue that is waterproof. Then you must sand, it to remove broken edges and splinters. Then you can paint them, and they will be ready.

Then you must measure the box to cut the vinyl. The first step is to sew the cording with the top. You may have to use the double sided tape for this. The top should be one inch more than measurement. This will give you a half inch for sewing. For the corners, you will need cording for the curves. You will have to use a 4mm stitch size. Then you must start boxing the stitched vinyl. You must measure, mark and cut the foam with electric knife. Once you fix the cushion on the top you have to add a slight batting to the sides. You must use the staple gun and staple the vinyl to the box. After stapling an entire piece of vinyl, you must trim it to give the boat bench seats a clean look.