Replacing/beefing up back of boat seats?

[biotroller]

The vinyl on me seats is in good shape but, there is a lot of flex, not in the hinge but the wood that the seat back attaches to it. Anyone ever replace the wood in the back of the chair or beef it up? I may tear into them tomorrow. There are a few staples holding the vinyl in place along the edge, I am thinking about removing them & either replacing the wood (I am not sure if it is wood) or riveting a piece of aluminum to it beefing it up. Any thoughts are appreciated!

[Jerryv]

Yes. In my old boat the seats were made with plywood backs, a piece of foam, and a vinyl cover that was stapled on. The staples were in a piece of trim that hid them. One of the seatbacks dry rotted. If you are careful pulling the staples, you can cut a new piece of wood using the old one as a pattern and put it back together with a staple gun.

Jerry

[PCDOC]

Had to do this to several seats over the years. Easy to do, just takes some time. The last seat only had a 1/2" back. I replaced it with 3/4" marine plywood.

[REW]

The use of 3/4 inch is a good idea for a seat that gets pounded.

[Spin]

I have. Use stainless staples when putting it back together.

[biotroller]

Is the foam/padding attached to the wood?

[Jerryv]

In mine it was not. The stainless staples are a good idea if you can find them.

Jerry

[biotroller]

HOLY COW!!! I think I pulled my 1,000,0000th staple, only to find out the for has adhesive attaching it to the wood! I only pulled the staples around the bottom of the seat so far. I'm not sure if I want to continue this! I may end up buying new seats.