replacement for lund plywood seats

[Gadgetman]

I have recently acquired a 20 year old 14' lund boat. Just the basic aluminum variety with wood on the seat tops. They had a nice laminated type surface when they were new but the years have been hard on them and they are starting to get a bit splintered.
Anybody know where to get the type of marine plywood that was originally on these seats? They are much nicer than putting on a typical plywood due to the splintering and weathering that happens to regular plywood

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I fish, therefore I am.

[Hemlock]

Gadgetman,

I too have an older Lund like that. I was going to re-do the seats one weekend this summer while out at the lake. I was thinking of using some sort of plastic, or else carpeting them using good quality marine carpet from Cabelas.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[Fisher Dave]

Redwood is the best wood you can replace it with for a somewhat reasonable price. Redwood stands up to the elements very well. There are other exotic hardwoods that will withstand the elements slightly better, but will cost around $50/foot .. were talking a fishing boat, not a millionaire pleasurecraft.

You can coat the wood yourself with a variety of varnish's suited for outdoor purposes. For the proper varnish, I would go to Home Depot and see what they recommend.

Treated wood is another option (marine grade ply) but this will not last as long as the Redwood without an exterior finish. Treated woods can be finished BUT you must 1st wait for the wood to fully dry which can take 1/2 the summer to accomplish.

Carpeting with or without adhesive at this point in time will do nothing more than hold in the moisture and furter promote rot. If you want carpeting replace the wood 1st and properly treat it as if you were not going to use the carpeting. From that point use the best outdoor adhesive and very good quality outdoor carpeting.

[Hemlock]

Fisher Dave, thanks for the input.

My carpeting idea would've included using treated plywood, rather than carpeting existing old wood.

Just one more thing, I've boxed in the front two seats on a standard lund, making it a carpeted deck with a storage hatch between the two seats and have really enjoyed the design for both fishing and scooting around the lake with family and/or dog.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[Surface Tension]

Redwood is hard to find now, cedar is readily available and rot resistant. Dont think you'll find either in plywood which is what you'll need for width and stability.
The boards will cup while the plywood will not. Plywood will de-laminate however.
I would go with 3/4" treated plywood. Pick through the pile till you find a sheet thats dry. Let it bleach out and dry a season then put on a few coats of Man o War Marine Spar Varnish, get the edges too. You can tint it with a little oil paint or stain it first then varnish. The difference between Marine Spar Varnish and ordinary varnish is the marine varnish stays flexible so less tendency to crack. Might be a good idea to put a new coat on every couple years also.
Like Fisher Dave mentioned any covering you put over the seats will hold moisture.

[This message has been edited by Surface Tension (edited 04-30-2003).]

[Gadgetman]

Hemlock, I like your plastic idea the best so far. Doesnt seem that anybody knows where to get the original Lund stuff. S.T. I may have to fall back on your idea of using plywood with Marine Spar varnish but dont really like the idea of having to maintain a clear wood finish of any type on a boat (sounds like work... ). What I would really like is the oem plywood. Anybody else got an idea?

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I fish, therefore I am.

[IFallsRon]

I took off the original plywood, flipped it over and turned it end for end and used contact cement to put on a woodgrain countertop material from Menards. I dressed up the edges with the router. Seats looked great. Finished up with a new interior paint job.

Remember to countersink the backside of the original seats and put the bolts in before putting on the countertop.

[Gadgetman]

IfallsRon, didnt the seat get too thick to slide in after you put the laminate on it? Sounds like a pretty good idea, tho I think that my original plywood may be a bit on the rotten side to reuse. Has the laminate been holding on well? I leave my boat in the lake uncovered all summer so am worried about the effects of weather...but thats why I bought this little alum. boat, to save wear and tear on my bigger boat.

[Valv]

I do have 4 sheets of marine plywood already laminated from mfg., light tan color
1/2" thick, 4'x 8' sheet.

Enail [email protected] if you are interested.

[Fisher Dave]

Hemlock ...

I did the same on making a front deck for my 14' Alumacraft. I also put in a rear deck, pulled out the center bench and put in a flat floor, livewell, rod holders, etc... The front deck I extended back about 16" from the 2nd bench and added an extra storage compartment. This area also created a large enough deck to give the person on the front pedistal ample foot room 360°, and added about 12 cubic feet of storage... the same area could be used for a mid-size livewell or baitwell.

I used marine grade ply for the decking and frame accordingly. The decks last about 5 years when not garage stored or covered during the summer, This is with quality carpeting. The carpeting outlast the decking.

The only downfall is the weight of the plywood. When I have to replace again i will put in .60 aluminum with aluminum framing, and put 1/4 marine grade on top of that for all horizontal surfaces and appy the adhesive and carpeting accordingly. All vertical surfaces will remain aluminum.

[rodbuilder]

Gadgetman,

I rebuilt my 1967 Lund last year. Totally gutted it, repainted inside and out, and new wood. I have the bench style seats as well. I just used 7/16" green treated plywood and capreted it with cabelas marine carpet (and adhesive). I used 7/16 because I thought 1/2" would be too thick with the carpet. 7/16" fit a little snug but it fit none the less. I also built a casting platform in the bow which is working great. I used 3/4" green treated plywood with carpet there as well. I just cut it big enough to span from the very front seat to the next bench. You may want to try that. Its awfully nice being able to fish from an elevated surface.

Just my thoughts

[Hemlock]

I like all the sharing of ideas, good stuff. Fisher Dave, I too have noticed significant weight gain with the plywood floor, and I like your idea with the aluminum. My decked in area must be 8 years old, and still solid. Boat is in water for 6 months and when it's out of the water, it's upside down on the dock, so it must be holding up pretty well. It's 5/8 treated plywood.

How would one round the edges of the plastic, do routers work on most plastics?

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[Sabaskong]

Two questions, Would it be ok to carpet treated plywood without letting it dry first?
For those of you who made an elevated bow, what did you use for supports to the bottom of the boat between the seats? Thanks

[eyes']

Hemlock, a normal router will work just fine. What I did for support was mounted angle iron on the two benches and ran a 2 by 4 accross on both sides imbettween the benches..these are flush with the top of the benches and act as great support.

[IFallsRon]

I sold the boat but last I knew the benches were holding up well. I had to wedge up the side angle brackets to get the boards back in but they snugged up nicely with a 2 x 4 and a hammer. I looked at that and thought about running the countertop right to the edge of the bracket but went ahead with the full sheet. With this method you could go with a regular plywood and seal the edges with polyurethane (there's a clear type at Mendards that I also used to refinish a door on the house. With the countertop, you always have a spot to shorten up a worm or snip up a minnow and it wipes up. Hard to do that on carpet. Plus, if your boat stays outside, you'll have an occasional wet seat.

[Canuck]

Rodbuilder: I want to paint the inside of my Lund (alaskan) but can never find the paint. Where did U get the paint for the inside of your Lund. I re-did my floor this year and used 5/8 treated plywood with 2X4s cut to the shape of the floor then used the Lund vinyl flooring. I had similar floors before but used outdoor carpet but it took too much to get the cat slim off every day.

[Guest]

TEST

[Guest]

You can still get that plywood that is used for boat seats,I think it has a fiberglas,instead of regular glue,has kind of a grid pattern(not totally smooth)to it,they look yellowish.

We have it at a local lumber yard,its spendy though. Pop me a e-mail and I will let you know who to contact.

[email protected]

[Crappie Killer]

I've also seen guys attach joist hangers to the bench supports, and use 2X4's as joists for the platform.

[rodbuilder]

Canuck,

I cannot remember the specifics. I went to Auto Value and told them what I was doing and they set me up. I do remember though that if you're painting bare aluminum, you need to use an etching primer, not the standard run of the mill steel primer. The aluminum needs to be scuffed with a brillo pad, sprayed with etching primer, then painted. If you don't strip the old paint off, you can probably get by with just sanding and repainting. Note!!: I was never able to find paint that sticks as well as the original paint that was in the boat. I stripped the interior 4 times, and still had some of the aqua colored Lund paint that I just had to paint over. It absolutely would not come off. I wish I could have found that type of paint, just in a different color!