Cooler Seating Suggestions

[ocbinva]

Well I did not want to mount my new seats until I go the boat out to see where the best balance was at. So this past weekend and played around with seating. I learned that while on the move by having my son (17yrs, 6’2”, 230) in the middle of the boat it planed allot easier. If he sat near the bow it worked but we got allot more splash. Now one of my favorite things is the open floor plan because I fish brackish bay inlets and rivers for specks, drum, and striper. In this boat so I do not want any permanent mid mounded seats and no carpet. I am looking at the removable seat post but not sure I have the clearance under the floor plus I hate to have to pull up the floor just to put a backing plate on it.. So I was thinking of putting a seat on my marine cooler/live well mounted lengthways down the middle of the boat. Use floor mounded D-Rings to snap in place while traveling. This would allow me to move it to other areas of the boat when it’s just me or when I need to fill the cooler with water to hold the fish or even crab I catch. And nothing would be sticking up to trip over. IF any of you have done something like this please send me a picture or two. Thanks!

16' Tracker Guide V-16
15HP Yamaha

 

[wmk0002]

Sounds like a good plan. Four d-rings in the floor paired with turnbuckles would certainly lock the cooler down in place. Fastening a seat to it would totally depend on the cooler design though.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Igloo brand coolers have a pad you attach to their coolers to use the cooler as a seat.

 

[ProduceMan]

These are pretty sweet and more corrosion resistant than metal d-rings. https://www.westmarine.com/buy/deep-blue-marine-products--cooler-mount-chocks-tie-down--13509930

 

[hipster dufus]

i have been thinking of doing something similar. iam even thinking about mounting a seat base on top of the cooler. i thought about just drilling a hole, but i dont think the seat would swivel well. i have an old cooler i can use as an experiment. im also gonna use d rings with some straps i have. the other thing i loohed at was stadium seats, the kind that clip on bleachers, they wont swivel though. it is not something i would do to a yeti or similar cooler. let me know what u have come up with.

 

[ocbinva]

Well I was looking at those floor mounted holders however when I do not have the cooler with me I'm worried about it being a toe killer. My biggest concern right now is trying to ensure I maintain a good boat balance. I sit on the right side to use the tiller so I may have to keep cooler to left plus that opens one side to be easier to move around. I have an extra boat seat but I think it'll be too heavy I have also been looking at the Stadium seats but I wanted to be able to swivel. I will post pictures when I figure out what I'm going to do.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[hipster dufus]

another idea i jack around with is a box w/ a seat on top. extra storage. then again no cooler. im kinda leaning towards the seat base on top. still have a cooler and i can remove the seat when i want to.the middle seat is for the third person and that is a rare occassion.

 

[ocbinva]

I am 210lbs and my 17 year old is 6'2", 230 so a mid seat makes the boat plane much easier when were both on board. Storage is a premium and I want a live well so a cooler seat will serve two purposes. I fish primarily inlets and brackish water of the Chesapeake so I cannot leave a stringer hanging over the edge. I have had sharks steal my catch before. The only thing I have not done yet was fill cooler with water and have son in the boat at the same time to figure out balance.

 

[DaleH]

IMHO no 'D'-rings are needed to secure coolers ...

On my offshore toona boat, I simply glued 8 rubber pads 1" in diameter to the bottom of the 120+ quart cooler and it never moved from where I put it.

A far better comfy seat is a bean bag chair! I had a large 'L'-shaped yellow one and it was the most popular seat out on the back deck. I'd always find a crew member asleep sitting in it on the way back in, regardless of how bad the seas were.