The wife wanted a bit more seating in our 3500 Open. I fish the boat so my first thought was a fold down bench. Given the way the stern was glassed at the factory and the existing hinged, fold-up storage compartment, it would have been very difficult to make that work. There would have been large exposed areas into the stern bilge area. Ultimately I decided to try to replicate the bench that was an option on the original 3500 Open, and utilize the existing hinged door structure for support and to provide a large storage area that is easily accessible. Given the large cockpit on this boat, the bench is not problematic for fishing.
Before:
Materials: Fiberglass was not a cost effective option because that would have required a having finish carpenter build a mold, etc. We decided to build the structure out of an aluminum frame and roll an aluminum skin over the face instead of fiberglass. This allowed us to bolt the new unit right to the existing fiberglass piece and utilize the existing gas shocks.
For the seat, I had a one piece cushion made to replicate the contour of the other factory seats on the boat. We wrapped the cushion over 1/2" piece of king starboard to provide support. The cushion/starboard overhangs the aluminum base by an inch all around to conceal the joint between the two dissimilar materials.
The biggest issue we had was rolling the aluminum to the tight radius without blowout. A few roll marks are evident on the corners, but not very noticeable after powder coating and installing the unit. Also, to match the existing gel coat color exactly with the powder coat would have added about $500 in custom color match cost so we used a stock color and got it as close as we could.
Below are some before, in-progress and after installation pictures. Really happy with how it turned out. Jeremy Harms at Bradford Marine Specialists and Mark Derenne at North Beach Marine in Racine, WI provided great assistance with planning and project management. Boat Tailors in Racine did the upholstery work.
In progress:
After:
Storage:
Dave
Before:
Materials: Fiberglass was not a cost effective option because that would have required a having finish carpenter build a mold, etc. We decided to build the structure out of an aluminum frame and roll an aluminum skin over the face instead of fiberglass. This allowed us to bolt the new unit right to the existing fiberglass piece and utilize the existing gas shocks.
For the seat, I had a one piece cushion made to replicate the contour of the other factory seats on the boat. We wrapped the cushion over 1/2" piece of king starboard to provide support. The cushion/starboard overhangs the aluminum base by an inch all around to conceal the joint between the two dissimilar materials.
The biggest issue we had was rolling the aluminum to the tight radius without blowout. A few roll marks are evident on the corners, but not very noticeable after powder coating and installing the unit. Also, to match the existing gel coat color exactly with the powder coat would have added about $500 in custom color match cost so we used a stock color and got it as close as we could.
Below are some before, in-progress and after installation pictures. Really happy with how it turned out. Jeremy Harms at Bradford Marine Specialists and Mark Derenne at North Beach Marine in Racine, WI provided great assistance with planning and project management. Boat Tailors in Racine did the upholstery work.
In progress:
After:
Storage:
Dave
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