Posted this a while back in the Ranger Forum, figured it might be better used here...
Well, it is time to replace the seats in my 97' 487vs as they have been held together with duct tape for the past few years. Personally I do not like the bench seats that come standard in this model and I wanted a "updated" look to the interior. I started looking for options and realized if I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg, I should probably go with a 3rd party seat manufacture instead of straight from Ranger.
I ultimately decided on Llebroc Industries 201 bass boat seats and man am I glad I did. Llebroc makes seats for several boat manufactures such as Champion and Phoenix. they also had the best color options that I have found during my search which I particularly liked.
Below is going to be the process that I went through when replacing the bench with my new buckets....
The first thing I needed to do was to remove the old vinyl and foam that is attached to the seat pan. the vinyl seemed to be much easier to remove than the foam. To help remove the foam I used a heat gun and sharp scraper/ razor knife. The remaining foam and glue residue I then removed with a sander attachment on my 18 volt drill. Then, as you may be able to see in the pictures below, after removing the vinyl and foam I realized that the base of the seat pan was rotten.
After a little research I realized that I would have to remove the rotten section and replace it. I found in a few other posts that other had simply fiber-glassed another piece of plywood on top of the rotten section but I was not willing to half @ss this and needed to repair it properly.
Once I cut out the rotten section, I was able to separate the 2 pieces of fiberglass that had been sandwiching the wood and realized just how bad it was. It was reeeeally bad....
Next, I went and purchased a 1/4" - 8' x 4' sheet of pressure treated plywood. I chose pressure treated because it will have a greater resistance to rot and give me the greatest probability of not having to ever make this repair again.
I ended up using one of the sides of fiberglass in previous picture as a template to cut out of the plywood.
After the plywood was cut out, I test fit the piece and did a little trimming to insure a proper fit.
Once I had a good fit, it was time to start fiber-glassing. If you dont know how to fiberglass, I suggest checking out some how to's on youtube. It's really not that bad of a job with a a little practice.
I started glassing on the top and did layers of mat on the joints where the original section of the seat pan met the new plywood that was being added. The rest of the plywood received 3 layers of mat as it seemed to be pretty ridged at that point.
I then moved to the bottom of the seat pan. Keep in mind you do not want to add to many layers to the bottom. If you do, the seat pan will not fit in the "hole" in the boat.
There was also a lip on the front base of the seat pan originally. I mad sure to cut that piece from the original seat pan and also fiber glass it to the front of the plywood.
After all of the glassing was done, I made sure that the new seat pan fit properly in the hole.
While it was sitting in the hole, I realized that I would have to remove a significant amount of the backrest on the seat pan. I took a marker and marked where the seat pan and the back deck met as a cutting line.
I then took a jigsaw and cut down the line that I had just made on the back rest of the seat pan. Per the seat installation instructions, I needed a minimum amount of height to the back rest to properly mount the mounting hardware for the seats. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT CUT TOO MUCH OFF OR YOU WILL BE SCREWED! After the back rest is cut, test fit again to insure proper fit.
Before you go onto the next step I would recommend installing the hardware for your seats to test fit before you begin carpeting.
Next, is carpeting. After I test fit the seats on the pan, I removed all of the mounting hardware and prep'd the seat pan by cleaning it with acetone. I had no idea what I was doing but luckily it turned out alright. One thing that I would suggest if going with contact cement is DO NOT use the water based wellwood contact cement. The water based is garbage and does not work. Use the original solvent based to get the proper hold.
When I was completed carpeting, I re-installed the hardware and the backs of the seats before installing the seat pan into the boat.
I then installed to bottoms of the seats to complete the install
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