Avon Typhoon 4.6M - seating query

[typhoon]

Hi

I am new to all of this waterbourne malarky, but have recently taken possession of a 4.6M Avon plus Yamaha 50HP DETO from the late 1980's.

One piece of crucial equipment appears to be missing in that there are no seats present - does anyone know where I can purchase one or two decent thwart/inflatable type seats. The internal measurement from one tube to another is about 35 inches.

There are plastic rings on each tube which I imagine is for attaching thwarts using toggles.

The usual googling/ebaying hasn't come up trumps.

Many thanks for any assistance.

[prairie tuber]

Hi Typhoon, welcome to Rib.net

Can you post some pictures? It sounds like those seats are something that you might be able to fabricate fairly easily - perhaps more easily than to find one that fits.

[chris123]

As PT says a photo would be useful.

Avon typically have two seat types - a plank (originally plywood but now plastic) fitting in to mounts on the tubes, and an inflatable thwart with toggles that attach to loops on the floor.

As far as the inflatable thwart goes, genuine Avon ones turn up occasionally on ebay so worth keeping an eye out - this one went for £36 last year:

Avon Dinghy Seat Thwart Inflatable | eBay

There is an alternative here:

Inflatable seat - IBS Boat Supplies

but you would need to check the length. It will have a different valve to the boat tubes which (speaking from experience) is a bit of a pain, and won't have the correct attachment points.

They are also still used on Avon river boats:

Avon Military and Profesional - AVON RIVER RUNNERS

but getting hold of them may be difficult (and expensive).

I bought mine from what was to be Aladdin's Cave chandlery in Swanwick. They used to keep a range of inflatable spares out the back - they are now part of Force 4, so not sure if they still do:

Swanwick Southampton Chandlery - Force 4 Chandlery

Cheers

Chris

[typhoon]

Brilliant, thanks for this. I think the ebay item looks to be the most appropriate type. I'll post some pictures when the rain eventually stops.

Rather than toggling to the floor which is the rigid aluminium type without eyelets/toggle fastening points, there are eyelets on the tubes. Anyway, pictures to follow.

Cheers

[typhoon]

I've uploaded the pictures of the fastenings. There is one on each side towards the rear and one on each side towards the front, conveniently situated for the driving position.

I could use an upturned beer crate yahoo style as an alternative, although the yachties may get a bit sniffy.