DIY Suspension seat?

[Lark]

Have any of you guys made your own suspension seat? I'm wondering about modifying a standard jockey seat using aluminium bar for the frame / strengthening and using an adjustable mountain bike shock absorber to offer the shock mitigation. Any thoughts appreciated...

[Under the Thumb]

I've always thought one of these would be a good base to start from

Tractor Seat - Mechanical Suspension ALSO FITS FORKLIFTS / DUMPER / MOWERS | eBay

I know its not stainless and the powdercoating might be a bit rubbish, but the mechanism is very simple, robust and adjustable.

Take the big seat and back rest off, replace it with a jockey seat and back rest so it isn't so wide, then it will fit on to a standard pod base.

I keep eyeing up the one on my dumper, I might get round to it this winter.

[Lark]

Originally Posted by Under the Thumb

I've always thought one of these would be a good base to start from

Tractor Seat - Mechanical Suspension ALSO FITS FORKLIFTS / DUMPER / MOWERS | eBay

I know its not stainless and the powdercoating might be a bit rubbish, but the mechanism is very simple, robust and adjustable.

Take the big seat and back rest off, replace it with a jockey seat and back rest so it isn't so wide, then it will fit on to a standard pod base.

I keep eyeing up the one on my dumper, I might get round to it this winter.

How does the suspension work on these?

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Under the Thumb

I've always thought one of these would be a good base to start from

Tractor Seat - Mechanical Suspension ALSO FITS FORKLIFTS / DUMPER / MOWERS | eBay

I know its not stainless and the powdercoating might be a bit rubbish, but the mechanism is very simple, robust and adjustable.

Take the big seat and back rest off, replace it with a jockey seat and back rest so it isn't so wide, then it will fit on to a standard pod base.

I keep eyeing up the one on my dumper, I might get round to it this winter.

Didn't Scots start out as Trcator seat makers?
The Marine ones don't look much like those ones though!...I'd be carful about trusting Poached technology and applying it to your Boat though....you may do more harm than good if you get it wrong!
I think Bedajim on the Forum made a decent "Self-made" version of Ulmann variety by all accounts...he is a Fabricator though.

[Neil Harvey]

A guy called iandl on here did it years ago.
He posted all about it.
I think bedajim used his moulds and modified his design to improve it.

[C-NUMB]

Wonder if this one is any good? Not like Ullman but possible better thab standards jockey ones? Wavesoft · Boat Seat Suspension Cushion for Powerboat Seats

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

Wonder if this one is any good? Not like Ullman but possible better thab standards jockey ones? Wavesoft · Boat Seat Suspension Cushion for Powerboat Seats

...You kidding?
Reckon you'd be better off with a whoopee cushion!
Or go a Crash weight GAIN Diet!
That thing would Bottom out slipping off the Trailer!

[Rokraider]

One the problems with a suspension seat is getting a setup that can stay in synch with the crashing motion of the boat. On the off roaders, we don't use them anymore as if it gets out of synch with the vehicle and bottoms out whilst the vehicle is travelling upwards, the shock is enough to really hurt your back. Although I have not looked closely at the proper seats for boats, I imagine they have quite a long travel and very progressive damping.

[Ribochet]

Here's one I made earlier



Seriously these are potentially dangerous pieces of kit and can cause severe injury if they are not "fit for purpose".

[bedajim]

Yep here's a couple I threw together too

Dampers took some setting up but good now

[tom's]

Hi, nice post, I'm actually doing a couple of suspended seat. It's a long job, but they should be confortable. With a fox Shock and cushion, It would be better!

[Jim Robinson]

Saw these in Athens this very comfortable in moderate sea

[Jim Robinson]

Also folded down so you could stand

[tom's]

Originally Posted by Jim Robinson

Saw these in Athens this very comfortable in moderate sea

Yes, but the damping is still limited on these seats. In fact the kinematic is not optimal because the damping is thanks to the rotation of the seat about an axis ... is far from the comforts of Ullman's or Scott 's seats with 150 mm damping.

What's this Rib? Technohull?

[Lark]

http://www.coastalpro.co.uk/mech.html this is the kind of thing I'm thinking of making.

[tom's]

What's the price for the Coastal pro mechanism?

Are you CNC machinist to doing this job?

[Lark]

A bit over £900 I think Tom. No I don't have access to cnc and I don't think I would need it. Aluminum castings are available 'of the shelf' and can easily be cut and drilled as required.

[tom's]

Interested to see how will you doing the mechanism.

[Lark]

The current Facebook status for powerboat and rib magazine gives me some pause for thought. Injury caused by a seat bottoming out and I think that was a Scott seat....

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Lark

The current Facebook status for powerboat and rib magazine gives me some pause for thought. Injury caused by a seat bottoming out and I think that was a Scott seat....

Not really the injury would have been caused by driving hard off the top of a wave and landing in a big hole - skipper error not the seat. The downside of suspension seats is they lead you into a false sense of security by compensating for lots of minor bangs, but they aren't miracle machines and if you go off a cliff its still going to hurt. They aren't really intended to avoid the massive big shock - they are to avoid the repetitive low-mid level stuff that fatigues you on a long bouncy day, or adds up over a long period to sustained damage.

They are nice bling in leisure boats but I'm sceptical that most weekend leisure users really need them.