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My 1960 Seacoaster has a standard bench back seat. The previous owner had vinyl seats attached to it with angle iron brackets, which I removed. I could just leave the bench seat, but I have seen several other boats of that vintage with a slat back fold down back rest.

I have triangular shaped wooden back stops on the gunnel, so perhaps there was a back earlier. Although I hate to do anything unauthentic, it would really be nice to have a fold down back rest. I am thinking of a simple 1x4" mahogany... three horizontal pieces, bottom, middle and top, and three verticals, at the middle and outboard ends. ... all fastened to the bench with a nice Brass hinge.

Has anyone seen a good representation of this type of back. The catalogs all show padding on the Seacoaster back seats... (I like Andreas' seat on the dual Johnson Thompson)

Thanks.

John,

Here's what the seat back of my 1959 SeaCoaster looks like. I can get you dimensions when the cover comes off in April.

Jim

Yes... yes... I like that.. I would like to get dimensions when you get a chance... no rush... I can tweak them to fit my boat, but they probably would be nearly identical.

Do you think that this was original? I know I putty'd up a number of holes, but I didn't look close to see which were from the old angle iron, and which may have been original hinge holes. I will have to recheck the center when I get mine out of storage May 1.

Are all the horizontal boards the same width? The top one looks a little wider, but that may be because of the viewing angle... Your boat looks great. Is that an extra seat to the left rear (starboard), or a cover over a tank or something..?

One more question (stupid one)... on the triangular seat back stops fastened to the inside gunwhale, there is a little white 1/4" plastic socket.. Looks like it is for some sort of wood dowel seating for a cover or something... any idea what these are for. I think they point forward at about a 45 degree angle.

Thanks Jim, for your response. I think I may have another project to do this spring/summer.

John,

I'm convinced the seat back is original. The construction details on this seat are the same as on the front seat. Also, the original owner didn't modify anything on the boat, except adding a larger outboard.

The top board on the seat back is slightly wider than the other two. I posted another photo to that Webshots gallery showing the seat back folded down. The mahogony box just inside the transom is the original battery box.

I didn't notice the plastic sockets on my seat back stops. I'll look when my SeaCoaster comes out to play this spring.

Jim

Better late than never John.

Here are my measurements (real dimensions, not nominal):

Top board: 4-5/8 x 3/4 x 58-7/8

Center & bottom boards: 3-5/8 x 3/4 x 58-7/8

Three vertical slats: 3-5/8 x 5/8 x 13-1/4

The tops and bottoms of the horizontal boards were all slighty rounded with a router. The top corners of the top board are rounded off. I'll figure out the radius later.

Jim

Great... Thanks Jim.... I have been thinking about this.... I will get my boat out of storage tomorrow or Sat... If you have any more pics, I would love to see them.. you can send to Johnwtreeman@aol.com.

Thanks again... now I have another project.