Inflatable Seat Clamp

[Brinormeg]

Anyone came across the clamps the likes of Excel use to the attach their bench seats to the tubes (thwart or whatever the correct name is).

I can see plenty of the other types on sites like Temu , Amazon etc
But not the type I need.

Perhaps I’m just not putting the correct terms in the searches, here and on google.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Anyone came across the clamps the likes of Excel use to the attach their bench seats to the tubes (thwart or whatever the correct name is).

I can see plenty of the other types on sites like Temu , Amazon etc
But not the type I need.

Perhaps I’m just not putting the correct terms in the searches, here and on google.

Not quite sure what you mean, but I use Tarpaulin Clips to to stop the seats moving on the bolt rope.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tarp-Clips-...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

[Brinormeg]

Yip...PD...I use those as well to keep the seat from sliding around.
But it was the black plastic C bit screwed onto the seat board itself I was looking for online to try a little project over the holidays, while waiting for half decent weather window and an agreeable crew to be available ��

Along the lines on a fishing rod holder from one of the other guys on here. I'll post a link from YouTube if I find it.

Bloody dog a nuisance when trying to fish and with the seats in.

Was going to try something like sib fishing idea and remove the seats, but my holder, fish finder etc is on the seats. Will have a rod holder on the transom like you did today if this rain ever stops as well but already have the triple holder set he uses off temu.

https://youtu.be/bUu3KZYuTEA?si=tLMeUJtFY9-Uk4XO

[Steve509926]

Hi Brin, I have definitely seen them somewhere on line! Give me 24hrs to remember where, then I'll probably forget why I was looking for it in the first place!

[Fenlander]

When I fitted a second seat to the Aerotec I bought the seat kit from a company in Germany supplying Bengar products and it had the slide along C-section style seat brackets. See post 41 in this thread for an image of the kit...

https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/one-pe...tec-83658.html

The site is German language but here are the brackets I think you want...

https://www.bengar.de/kunststoffprod...uben_530_1721/

You may be able to buy them on Amazon via Amazon.de

Do be aware there are some more U-shaped that look just like the C-shape from some angles in sellers images and are the more common ones to see in the UK.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Hi Brin, I have definitely seen them somewhere on line! Give me 24hrs to remember where, then I'll probably forget why I was looking for it in the first place!

I'm sure I've seen them somewhere too, but I know the feeling well! I really do worry some days!

Went out the other day and was doing well until I realised we didn't have the fuel on board and was motoring out of the harbour using what was in the outboard and fuel pipe

Goes to show how economical the efi ob are I suppose.....was quite a row back in

Have fell in with several pvc glove and apron dispensers.....just a pitty they are white...but I think they might be handy for prototypes if nothing else. Will see how they cut, heat, bend, glue and are generally easy to work with over the next few days....if the bloody rain stops.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/one-pe...tec-83658.html

https://www.bengar.de/kunststoffprod...uben_530_1721/

You may be able to buy them on Amazon via Amazon.de

Do be aware there are some more U-shaped that look just like the C-shape

I've emailed excel and await a reply but a good find David. They do look very similar and yes I noticed the other wrong type.
But while browsing I coincidently came along this on their amazon shop. Similar to whst I was planing to design although a good bit taller because of the larger tubes we have. Maybe a couple of cheap elasticated nets and make it slightly deeper than this one to hold our battery box.
Only issue I forsee is it might get in the way for rowing a little......but will see.

[Fenlander]

Those Bengar folks do a range of items for inflatables way in excess of anything available in the UK. Such as their seat cushions I have which are the best density for comfort I've sat on in an open boat. Also their seat kits in various widths and many many more items.

You can spend ages looking through the website finding things you never knew you wanted.

[Steve509926]

Diane has just come up with a good point. She seems to think that the bench seat holders/sliders that I saw was on the old (Terry Wright) Excel website. Although I hate to agree, I think she's right.

[User name]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Anyone came across the clamps the likes of Excel use to the attach their bench seats to the tubes (thwart or whatever the correct name is).

I can see plenty of the other types on sites like Temu , Amazon etc
But not the type I need.

Perhaps I’m just not putting the correct terms in the searches, here and on google.

These are slightly different to yours, but maybe they'll still work for what you need?

[Brinormeg]

Weathers been completely crap for the first week of my holidays so I've been messing about under a gazebo experimenting with different plastics I got my hands on.
Its actually been quite interesting and something I've never really done before.

A couple of pins made to stop the the transom wheels jumping out, resulting in either the outboard or sib bouncing off the ground.
Also wheels modified for more clearance to stop the tyres rubbing away the bottom of the sib.

Heated up the plastic dispensers and bend them into prottypes for holding the fishing gear, fish finder and battery etc at the side of the sib when fishing.
The blue lunch box cool bag holds 2 battery's perfectly. Will make up a box one day but the bag does the job.

Upgraded removable transducer brackets.

Removable rod holder on the transom with the use of one eye.

[Brinormeg]

Excel couldn't supply the seat brackets so just stole off one of the seats for now to see if my set up even works. If successful I might just buy a sheet of black plastic which would look better than the white maybe, and order brackets as well.
The yellow wheels were a little smaller than the ones that rubbed on the airfloor.

Why are my photos going side on now?

[Steve509926]

Hi Brin, looking good. Is there anything holding the rod holder to the floor, or is it just held on with the Excel seat bracket?

You get side in pictures if you take them in portrait, I take all my pictures in landscape.

[User name]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Excel couldn't supply the seat brackets so just stole off one of the seats for now to see if my set up even works. If successful I might just buy a sheet of black plastic which would look better than the white maybe, and order brackets as well.
The yellow wheels were a little smaller than the ones that rubbed on the airfloor.

Why are my photos going side on now?

That's a pretty clever design. What type of plastic did you use? If it's uPVC, that stuff can shatter like glass when it's cold, so that might be something to watch out for.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by User name

That's a pretty clever design. What type of plastic did you use? If it's uPVC, that stuff can shatter like glass when it's cold, so that might be something to watch out for.

Not sure what type of plastic it is tbh, how would I know what is?
This is only a trial as I got the plastic for free, so nothing to lose by playing about with it, given that it might not work out anyway.
Was really easy to work with and manipulate, but sharp bits flying about in an all inflatable boat, might not end well.
How cold are you speaking about….Scottish summer temps this year or into the minuses

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Hi Brin, looking good. Is there anything holding the rod holder to the floor, or is it just held on with the Excel seat bracket?

You get side in pictures if you take them in portrait, I take all my pictures in landscape.

That could be an issue Steve, particularly with the air floor, that it bounces and catapults everything out of the sib if it gets choppy, or because of the weight above.
With boats with the oars inside, or a solid floor, there would be a form of tie down but not with the Volaire.
I see in the Bengar version they have an extra strip glued on lower to utilise 2 brackets I think.

On mine I’m hoping the weight of the battery would hold it down to a degree to counter balance just the rod weight and I would probably use a pair of brackets if keeping the main unit this wide.
There is one tie down ring at the transom end I could utilise you can just see in one of the pics, but not further forward at the bow end until you get to the bow itself.

If the plastic I had was larger, I could have had a longer bottom foot that might have wedged between the floor and the bottom of the tube. But an issue I never considered was the difference in depth from the floor to the bracket strip…from the transom end compared to the height towards the bow.

Will play about a bit more and see what happens when we do finally get on the water to try it out before considering buying and glueing anything to the sib. If we had a workshop, it would be a nice off season project, but a real pain messing about outside.

[User name]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Not sure what type of plastic it is tbh, how would I know what is?
This is only a trial as I got the plastic for free, so nothing to lose by playing about with it, given that it might not work out anyway.
Was really easy to work with and manipulate, but sharp bits flying about in an all inflatable boat, might not end well.
How cold are you speaking about….Scottish summer temps this year or into the minuses

As your Gaelic cousin from across the water, I know exactly what you mean re temps... It's still fleece jumper weather here and it's mid July.

I don't know the specifics off-hand, but anything below about 8-10C and it becomes quite brittle, even more-so at colder temps and any impact can shatter it into shards. It's the same stuff that windows, doors, gutters etc are often made from and you'll get a better idea of what I mean if you search "uPVC repair" on Google images.

If you try a bit of Butanone pipe solvent on a couple of scrap pieces and it melts/glues them then thats a good indicator that it's uPVC, but on eyeballing it, I would say it likely is.

[Fenlander]

>>How cold are you speaking about….Scottish summer temps this year

A significant reason I changed from supplied plastic bladed paddles to wooden oars was one of the OE plastic paddle blades shattering when using as a push off on rocks in Scotland a few years back. This was in the height of the summer either July or Aug... about 14deg air temp.

[Brinormeg]

Just an update and a few ideas for anyone else keen to try fishing off their sibs.

Some more trial mods now we have been out fishing for real, with and without seats, dogs etc

Mostly free or very cheap(being an Aberdonian) although Temu has been my best friend for the storage nets and attachment bases, making everything modular to go with our different setups.

The latest addition being a bait station (hospital Surgeons try).....and mods to the movable cheap cutting boards the fishfinder is attached to, for the times we decide to have a seat.

I know its not all matching as yet, but it did the job for us.

We've done surprisingly well and had 4 very successful fishing trips recently with a few buckets of good sized Mackeral and even a few Haddock thrown in.

Besides the bloody awful weather, winds, swells and sea sickness when trying rigs etc...we had a great time

Thanks to our most recent Mod for the fishing gear which we caught a lot of the fish on.....the look on my sons face as he started reeling them in was priceless.

Cheers Fenlander

[Fenlander]

That’s good to hear.