Building The Vera Cruise

[Milhouse]

Looking great Carl!

I like the idea of fold up seats that come down from the sides.

[mrintense]

Thanks for the responses guys. I've been thinking long and hard on this subject. I've always wanted to have room to move around in the back. The boat is not as roomy as I had hoped when I originally started, so my focus has always been to maximize available space. The cabin was shortened in length for this very reason, to provide additional aft cabin space.

I laid out new tape to get a better idea of how much space would be required for the benches. Too much, even the aft bench. I also wrote down all the alternative ideas I could think of and evaluated pros and cons for each case. The fold up options sound good in principle, and I am going to research this more. I have some images of some seating products that I want to check on further.

I spent some time trying to come up with a folding seat option that retracts into the sides, but the limitations of space required far too many engineering complications, so I passed on that idea for now.

Here's the thing. A friend of mine has a wooden boat with nothing in the aft cabin except a couple of storage cabinets. What he does is have some very comfortable folding chairs. With the bimini top up, it's nice to be able to move the chairs around to keep out of the sun. And There's plenty of room to move around.

I've been leaning towards this approach as well. There are several advantages and no real downsides. Here's why. Building an open aft cabin, with no fixed seating, Other than the helm station and fuel tank box, will allow me to get the boat into the water sooner. I'll have all the space back there so it won't be as cramped. If I want to do something different in the future, I'll still be able to do that. And if I can find the right kind of fold up seating, I can still put that in. I also have some really cool chair ideas in the form of pictures that I can use for the loose chairs.

There's still room under the motorwell for battery storage and I have storage available in the cabin as well.

So given all of that, I've decided for now to focus on the helm and fuel tank cabinets, get them and the motorwell and the forward cabin finished and splash this puppy. Of course I still have to paint and do the electrical.

[chugalug]

Takes alot of thought.I built a small drawer for my batteries under Chugs motorwell.Just the weight of the two batteries hold it in place.That spot is the pivot point so shouldn't get jostled around much.I also mounted battery switch on the front.I have a starting battery and a deep cycle for # 2.

[hoodman]

I think that's a good plan, Carl. Leave the space open. You may like it that way or come up with a better plan for fixed seating after you start using the boat. You'll be out on the lake and say, "You know it would be nice if..." And you'll still have room to do it

[JimmY]

Sounds like a good plan. That's the thing about building your own boat, you can always change things later.

[dmac]

Hi Carl - Doug here, still following your outstanding build. Many cruisers find free-standing chairs with arm rests to be much more comfortable than bench seating. You have the helm seat but your wife might appreciate a real comfortable chair to sit on while in the boat. Also, if you are out on a day cruise and decide to pull up to a beach or piece of land somewhere for a picnic, swim, hike or some such, you can take your folding chairs with you and use them outside the boat. Great versatility. I can hardly wait for your boat to splash - I'm looking forward to that almost as much as I am looking forward to my own chance to start a build (fingers crossed)! Cheers

[TomB]

Carl,

Now you're talking. Here are a couple of ideas.

www.amazon.com/dp/B015PIRBDU/ref=sspa_d ... s9dHJ1ZQ== for a bench seat.

Used this one on a charter fishing boat, very durable, comfortable, $$$

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... ecordNum=7

Tom

[nc721]

Hi Carl. Nick here. Really like the idea of leaving everything open and using folding chairs. Keeps things flexible and if you are going to do much fishing that open space will be much appreciated.

[mrintense]

Thanks Tim, Matt, Jim, Doug, Tom, and Nick for all the encouragement and responses. It does take some of the load off my mind that this is the right decision.

I got my battery boxes the other day and they will fit just fine under the motorwell. So they've been put in my part "stash" along with the other stuff. I've got four plastic storage bins plus about half a dozen smaller boxes, all full of parts now, waiting for their installation date. It's nice to know I have this stuff and acquiring it over the years has reduced the upfront expense by spreading the costs out.

Progress has a bit slow this week so far. We're getting the house painted (about two months sooner than planned) which required me to scramble and do a bunch of tree trimming and shuffling things away from the house.

But I've got the panels for the fuel tank facade rough cut to size. They will need a final trimming to size and shape to fit together and into place properly. I was going to try and veneer them this afternoon, but the wood I have been using for vacuum bagging needs to be painted for a better vacuum seal. I put a coat on yesterday, but I think I am going to give it a light sanding and apply another coat. So that will likely put me back another day.

[Tony Hain]

Carl,
I have only one concern with having non fixed seating. If you are out and the weather becomes rougher, non fixed seating could move and being folding possably collapse. You can get away with it in the mean time but I would be aiming for at least one other fix seat for your wife.

[Roberta]

If you haven't already looked there, check out Great Lakes Skipper for seats. They have many choices of new over stock seats once meant for major boat manufacturers. Many sizes and shapes.

Looking Great, Carl.

Roberta

[mrintense]

Tony,

Thanks, I appreciate the rough weather concern, however, my wife and I will strictly be calm water boaters. If the weather shows signs of getting bad , then we will not be boating. I am not making light of this, but I know my wife and she will not go boating if the water is rough. Furthermore, for now at least, leaving the back as open seating makes more sense as I really do not have a good idea of how I might want the seating to be later after I start using the boat.

Roberta, thanks I will check them out.

And just an FYI, here is a picture of a boat with seats that I particularly like. They are not folding, but they are elegant looking and they appear to be a quite stable design. They also appear to be fairly easy to make.

[acflynn]

Those look really nice, Carl - with a vintage style. But don't forget the critical arm rest/cup holder aspect! There's elegance, and then there's functional elegance.

Keep up the great work!

- Andrew

[hoodman]

After going without cup holders for a summer I can confirm that they are in fact critically important.

[DrBryanJ]

Those seats look very nice, but watch the weight or they will become permanently in place.