North River Geek Hydra-Sport Restore Progress Report

[northrivergeek]

these seats are heavy and big .. they prob will have to go freight do to size. and then they will have to be recovered, you would be better off in my opinion buying new seats as I did.. I was able to have mine recovered for free.. but unless you know someone who does it and will do it free or close to it. The cost to have these seats done in my area would be 200 or so for both seats ... so by the time you pay ship and recovering you could buy new seats ! But what ever you want to do

[basshole45]

yeah good point i can have the ones i have now redone for 90 a piece which isnt bad and thats putting the logo on the backrest so ill prob go that route thanks anyway,,What type and how much was those seats from that place,???

[northrivergeek]

I got my seats from boatingseats.com these where $399 for the 3 pieces, Bass Pro and others charge about 450 plus shipping, for the same seats .. these are made by wise and were drop shipped from Wise in Memphis.. took 3 days from the day ordered to my front door.. There are higher quality seats with springs etc .. but those sell for 800 -1500 .. yea they are great seats , but the cost was way over my budget.

But dont get me wrong Im extremely satisfied with the seats I got, They have an aluminum frame and heavy plastic seat and back and a 3 yr warranty. These are well made for the money.
I couldn't even by them cheaper even having a boat repair shop buying directly from Wise.. but its like anything .. its who you know .. I can buy boat carpet at or below what the company I bought my seats from.. but then Im 40 miles from the same place they buy from and had a few contacts that got me the lower volume price, if I buy 10 ft or 2000 ft.

Some seats are worth recovering like the higher end seats of the newer boats Nitro, Ranger, etc it would cost more to buy new than to recover those seats.

[basshole45]

k another question did you have to fab up mounting brackets or how did you attach them

[northrivergeek]

The seats come with hinges, you screw the hinges to the seat and the seats to a platform, the seats where designed for boats that have storage under seats or gas tank under seats.. since my boat orig had neither .. I built a 4 inch platform 2x4s and a 1/2 plywood top epoxied the 2x4s after dry fitting them, then after cured for a few hours glassed that down to floor ( No Screws ), then coated the back side of the plywood with epoxy, and screwed that with stainless and epoxied over all with 1208 biaxal cloth. Then after all that cured, layed my carpet , and after carpet positioned the seats screwed down and caulking the screw holes with 3m silicone on the threads of the screws to seal out as much moisture as possible.

I also drilled a 2 inch drain hole under the box and sealed the edges with epoxy before I sealed the platform, just in case any water ever got down under there it could drain out.

[Tom in Stl]

Great Job!
Let's hear about the test ride

[northrivergeek]

Took it out last Sunday .. I had about an hour to tinker with it before the heavens opened up and rained for at least 2 days straight.. 9 inches of rain later ...
I found that I should have installed an inline fuel filter.. before I fired it up ..
Trash in the gas tank got into my clean carbs .. now have to take the carbs of again and clean out what ever trash got sucked into the jets.. and while I was at it decided to check the thermostats .. ewewee good thing I only ran the engine a short while .. the thermostats where clogged up and the poppits where junked up too.. so I ordered new thermostats and gaskets.. will have them tomorrow, and will jerk of the carbs again, and try again later in week

[spinner man]

That is really an awesome job you done on your boat.