Seems like I am always making changes to my boat to make things easier for Lynn and myself so here is my new improvement, been reading about those suspension seats like the guys use on Lake Erie, but the $300.00 per seat cost turned me away so time for some good ole redneck engineering. I had stopped at a TSC store just to look around when I spotted a tractor suspension seat, Well I stopped today and picked them up, naturally not one hole lined up but that is ok, cause the plate has plenty of surface to drill more on.



Here is what the unit looks like after removal of the tractor seat. The seat gets bolted right to that base.



This is the back of the unit the knob at the top is the suspension adjustment, there are two big springs which bring the seat back up and a shock absorber that handles the weight coming down along with the springs, they are mounted inside that box.



Heres the unit on it's side, has 5 inches of Vertical travel and a total of 6 inches fore and aft, three inches each way. This thing is built like a tank so I feel I'm going to get years of enjoyment out of it. It also has 5 positions of tilt if you need it.

This is the bottom of the unit where my pedestal will fasten again none of the holes lined up so I drilled new ones and bolted them in with S/S hardware.



Pedestal is mounted and ready for the seat.



Looks real good and bolted up nice after I put a plate on the bottom of the seat to reinforce the unit.



Side of seat assembly, very pleased with the way it came out. Got them mounted in the boat today and can't wait to try them on the water, they are going to be real comfy, just sitting in the boat and simulating waves, yea I know I have lost it but it never bottomed out no matter how hard I hit it, and I'm no light weight, should be real good on the back, Shiver on the River is in three weeks at Leavenworth and that should be there first real test, that water always is choppy down there anytime we fish. Each unit was $86.00 each and I'm going to put one of the tractor seats on my mower. So I saved a bunch of money doing it this way

Doc  12/29/2007