The seats are replacement seats for tractors that I bought off e-bay. They were on sale for $80 US. I think they have gone up a bit since then. They have 6 inches of travel with a spring compression system that is adjustable for body weight. Works great! The down side is that they aren't stainless or aluminum so rust is an issue. the spring suspension components appear to be bronzed and don't corrode (so far). I replaced all the bolts with stainless steel, but the frame itself rusts. I pull them off, wire brush the rust spots and spray paint them every year. I rinse everything with Salt Away regularly. They have lasted 3 years so far. Compared to the thousands of dollars for full on marine suspension seats these are a reasonable investment. I can afford to replace them eventually. The seats weighed about 30 lbs each. I removed the sliding adjustable base and made two aluminum brackets to mount the upper seat portion which reduced the weight considerably (didn't weigh them stripped). I had them mounted to the regular zodiac bench which mounts to the floor track. Over time I did get track wear. So I have gone ahead and mounted the bench to the floor using backing plates inserted into the floor sections. Very sturdy and stable with no cracking or flexing in the floor so far. The seat sections themselves are plastic and have a plastic "cushion" that isn't exactly plush, but when I jam out to surf the 6 inches of travel is the smoothest ride I've had. My buddies were bent when they had to ride the normal padded boat seats I used while the current mods were being made.
nice blue seat
the suspension seat and removed slider base
track wear ( I had some of this even before I mounted the heavier seats)
the backing plates in the hollow floor section (not the actual seat install, the cross plate and backing plates are for my ski pole)
one bench support installed (note the extra aluminum added to reinforce the c section)
my local metal supply sells scrap c sections like this by the pound and they make great mounts. I used two pieces cut to make L shapes and bolted together to raise my console bench even higher.
My console arrangement and the seats are all mounted this way now. The space under the benches is much more useable and I raised my console while I was at it so the custom aluminum tank and AGM battery fit nicely underneath. This is the console bench arrangement (taken before I installed the tractor seats). I only use the floor track for strapping things down. The aluminum bar is for strapping down equipment and I have a surfboard rack that installs off them and extends out over the tubes.
the surfboard rack (the console with my old plastic tank in place)
The custom tank wasn't very expensive ($168 US) and it really opened up my floor space to wedge the tank and battery together. The tank is grounded so I don't have to remove it at the gas station to fill (carefully). Got all of my fixed weight forward and the boat rides so much better now. Hope you find my pinhead mod entertaining.
