Furry seats

[BogMonster]

I've got a problem brewing with the seats on the Vipermax. I had some concern about them when I got the boat as the bases were untreated ply but was told it would be OK as they're all made like that. I intended to try and peel back the upholstery and seal it with yacht varnish or something before summer ended but never got around to it due to lack of time.

Sadly I was right and the underside is soaking up moisture and now going mouldy as per attached pic so if nothing is done I suspect it will rot within a year or two and I'll end up needing new seats

So, a question for other Osprey owners, have you got this problem or if you haven't, what did you do to your seats? What do the Osprey seats look like when you pull them apart - is there just foam on top of ply or is there a supporting structure inside them? I did wonder about pulling it apart and fibreglassing over the ply on both sides to seal it properly but just pondering the best way to sort it at the moment.

Suggestions please!

[whisper]

Sounds like condensation, do you have ventilation in your seat bases?

[willk]

That's a fairly brutal/poxy bit of workmanship Stephen

THB, you're stuck with it so put some fence preservative on there and paint it black. In fairness, the ply will probably last longer than the vinyl covering anyway. A lot of builders have moved on to molded plastic bases with a flange that fit the opening on the jockey. A suggestion would be to remove the bases from the jockeys when they are out of the water - it will keep them dry and freshen the storage space too. Forget ventilation - it won't work.

[Hightower]

I got my upholstery made locally. I made up all the bases on mine and coated them all with Fiberglass resin. The upholsterer then bagged up the seat base and foam in plasic before fitting the seat outer. Obviously this is going to be hard wrok for you, so I would coat the area with Fiberglass resin and stick a layer of seat material over the top of the mess to pretty it all up.

Job done

[Leaderscharter]

I just re did all of mine, it is amazing how much water they carry when rotten, I coated them with a layer of epoxy but I think that the staples holding on the fabric will eventually will eventually lead to moisture ingress. It should delay the process some.

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

I've got a problem brewing with the seats on the Vipermax. I had some concern about them when I got the boat as the bases were untreated ply but was told it would be OK as they're all made like that. I intended to try and peel back the upholstery and seal it with yacht varnish or something before summer ended but never got around to it due to lack of time.

Sadly I was right and the underside is soaking up moisture and now going mouldy as per attached pic so if nothing is done I suspect it will rot within a year or two and I'll end up needing new seats

So, a question for other Osprey owners, have you got this problem or if you haven't, what did you do to your seats? What do the Osprey seats look like when you pull them apart - is there just foam on top of ply or is there a supporting structure inside them? I did wonder about pulling it apart and fibreglassing over the ply on both sides to seal it properly but just pondering the best way to sort it at the moment.

Suggestions please!

Um..... if you forget about the problem it will simply go away

Ours are exactly the same. Best remedy is to leave them off when the cover is on so that air can circulate. Besides (assuming yours were done at the same place ours were) the vinyl will fall apart far sooner than the ply. It is very poor quality stuff.

[BogMonster]

No there is no ventilation in the bases at all, and they are glassed onto the deck. That seat pictured is actually the jockey console seat which is the worst one but the others are similar. With the wind we get here when you get lashing rain it can drive in under the seat cushions - in fact a mod I made recently was to put some sticky backed draught excluder foam around the top of each pod to try and stop this, which has been reasonably successful.

Fence preservative sounds like a plan, that should soak in nicely, hadn't thought of that. Seats by Cuprinol

While I have got a full size cover, I don't use it as the wind here makes it nigh on impossible to control and I am worried about it flapping and chafing the tubes. It was mainly to protect her in transit for the voyage down. Long term plan is to have a garage to put her in somewhere so the problem will go away then.

[9D280]

I'd give it as good bath in bleach first & let it dry out. Problem with the spres is unless you can completely seal it (which I guess isn't going to happen unless you totally dismantle it & then re- upholster) the mould WILL be back. I have used a 75% bleach - water solution in an old kitchen cleaner spray (wiould have gone higher, but the less visxcous mix wil lget a little further under the skin of the wood, and spray a lot better). A couple of baths with that and hey presto, no mould.

Then hit it with the varnish etc......

[Nasher]

The seats on my ocean were like that when I first brought her.

They were so bad that I build my own replacements, but that did mean of course that I had the benefit of being able to completely soak the ply bases in preservative on all sides before attaching the foam and covers.

Unfortunately I also think that unless you take the covers off to treat underneath it will keep coming back.
It may be worse in fact, because your treated bit will look good and strong from the outside whilst festering away inside.
Then a bit like a Land Rover rear cross member it will fail all of a sudden, and the ply will come away from the hinges.

Why Rib builders can’t build this sort of thing to last I don’t know.

Sorry I can’t be more constructive.

Nasher

[Ian M]

Doesn't help you much, but I coated my seat bases with epoxy, and all seems fine so far. Sorry about the reflections, in a bit of a hurry.