Suspension Seats

ScotSeats · 13 August 2009, 13:30

Hi,

We are a family run business based in Ayrshire, Scotland who specialise in building additional seating for commercial vehicles, 4x4's, buses, taxis and trains. For the past few years we have been supplying boat builders mainly Redbay boats with our Scotia range of seating for there RIBs both on fixed pedestals and on suspension bases basically the same as KAB seating bases as used in trucks etc. Some of you may have seen our stand at the Seawork show a few months ago.

We are currently working on increasing our range of boat seating for both commercial work / passenger carrying boats and leisure boats. This new range of boat seating will include jockey style seats on suspension systems, we intend to have a couple of variations of this seat on a budget version aimed more at the leisure market who are looking for improved comfort/safety over stanadard jockey seats but without spending the huge amounts of money they would currently have to for an Ullman seat for example. We will also be producing another seat aimed for the more serious RIB user who is looking for the ultimate in comfort and safety even in the heaviest of seat conditions.

For larger cabin boats we will be producing helmsmans seats working to the same principles as above, a more budget version for leisure use and another seat for the more serious RIB/boat user.

I would be very interested to hear people ideas of what they would like to have in a suspension seat and even opinions on what they would change on seats that are currently available.

You can view my website for more details www.scotboatseats.co.uk or www.scotseats.co.uk for my general website.

I could also be in the market for a RIB for myself to use for testing/demonstrating our seating and also for personal use. Probably looking for something around 5.5 to 7 metres max as would have to be ok for towing. Due to what we want a boat for we would be happy to take something which was needing interior work done or was almost bare inside.

Anyone who has anything or wants to speak to me about seating can email me jonathan@scotseats.co.uk

Thanks
Jonathan Young
Sales Director
Scot Seat Direct Ltd

Poly · 13 August 2009, 14:54

Jonathon,

Welcome to RIBnet.

There is quite a lot of interest here on suspension seats and seating in general. If you search there have also been a couple of people looking for reupolstering in Scotland. I hope this market will prove worthwhile for you.

I realise you are looking for market feedback and also for a "demo boat" - but suggest you talk to John Kennett the site administrator/owner about his very reasonably trade membership rates - as people here are generally much more enthusiastic about supporting those who fund the site.

ScotSeats · 13 August 2009, 15:07

Polwart, thanks for your reply and i will speak to john so can join as a trade member.

codprawn · 13 August 2009, 15:42

Remember weight is a big killer of some of the boat seat systems like Stidd - all that weight sticking up so high does nothing for the centre of gravity!!!

ScotSeats · 13 August 2009, 16:10

Weight is a key factor to our designs we are working with both carbon/kevlar composites and aluminium frames so we will be keeping weight to an absolute minimum while still keep enough strength in the designs

ScotSeats · 17 September 2009, 16:48

For the people who have already been at the Southampton Boat Show or are planning going you have seen or be able to see our new Shock Mitigation JOckey seats fitted in the new Redbay 105 Patrol Boat we also have a seat on show on the MRL stand.

These seats are the very first prototypes of our new seats and the first tests were carried out on Friday at the show there are a few minor changes to be made but on the whole the first responses from people are excellent. Some of the sort of comments we have been getting are "that is the first time i have been out on a RIB and not thought about standing up."

Our new seats have 3 forms of shock mitigation built into them 1) swingingarm style system with spring assisted progressive damper 2) The Shuffle system which gives sideways and twist movement 3) mitigation foam under the seat cushioning for the final fail safe shock mitigating system.

Afer the Southampton show will will be carrying out some major testing with accelerometers attached to both boat hull and seats to show how much shock the seats take out. We will be expecting to have the seats fully in production and on the market within 4-6 weeks.

I have attached a couple of pictures and anybody wanting more info can contact us on 0845 643 4248 or email: jonathan@scotseats.co.uk

Anyone wanting to test our new seats, we will be doing test days throughout the country but are also offering if you fly to either Glasgow or Glasgow Prestwick Airport we will pick you up let you try the seats in our test boat treat you to lunch and return you to the airport and if you buy 2 or more seats we will refund your flight cost ***within reason we will have a limit on flight costs no 1st class British Airways flights please

J S · 17 September 2009, 16:51

Saw your seats on the redbay at the boatshow Very impressed

, Just thought they were slightly too high for that boat console config.

James

ScotSeats · 17 September 2009, 17:00

Thanks J S, i should have mentioned in the post that the pods in the boat and the seats were built separately and fitted at the show so the seats were mounted proably 4-6" too high this is an easily solved problem with the height of the pods being changed.

The seats at the show also did not have our height adjustment system fitted which will be finished in the next couple of weeks and will come as standard on all seats.

Extras available: Side supports, grab handles (various options) and foot pegs.

The system is also available in a twin shock system with our helmsman type seats which can be fitted with 4 point harnesses etc.

bedajim · 18 September 2009, 11:54

So do you have a target price for the seats shown ? and whats included? as in mountings/pod etc

Jim

ScotSeats · 18 September 2009, 12:15

Still firming up prices exactly but the retail price for buying 1 or 2 seats will be £2395 which will come with a mounting plate ready to mount onto existing pods in the boat or direct to floor. We can supply pods aswell i am still firming up prices for these i will post a full price list soon.

Regards
Jonathan

Pablo · 18 September 2009, 13:22

I'm surprised to see that you haven't fitted wrap round kidney back rests. Maybe they're not required on suspension seats? I was thinking of this sort of thing:

ScotSeats · 18 September 2009, 13:34

We can offer wrap around backrests similar to what you have shown but on some boats there isn't the space for these so we have them as an option i will upload pictures of them shortly.

Regards
Jonathan

Pablo · 18 September 2009, 13:43

I've only tried them once but I quickly became convinced that they are great

JSP · 18 September 2009, 13:51

Now this is personal opinion only, but I see the back rest as something to stop you falling off the back of the Jockey when you slam and go from standing to sitting faster than your stomach. Always thought the wing type back rests where more for show.

Pablo · 18 September 2009, 14:02

Having tried them going round in circle at 40 knotts in 1m waves I thought they were fantastic for keeping you in place. You didn't need to make any effort what so ever to stay on your seat when hit by waves on the beam. That and a back rest all add up to less fatigue when navigating for long periods in rough seas. I am talking about "small" boats here and not 8m+ things which I have no experience of ... yet !

howe · 19 September 2009, 10:37

I bought Ullman seats for the Round Britain Race on Black Gold and understand that the reason Ullman don't fit kidney type backrests is that in extreme conditions you can catch your ribs on them. We fitted toes straps which were essential, and had them so that the ball of the foot was directly under your backside. The setup worked well for us although I never consider the seats very comfortable for long runs but that goes for all jockey type designs in my case.

Gavin

paul holder · 19 September 2009, 17:29

my rib & many others have pod seats with back rest .which mean in any type of chop we all stand up .if you could desine & build a suspension seat that would retro fit on to these pods this would be great

iandl · 19 September 2009, 17:52

I quite like the wrap around backrests .....they give a feeling of being gripped .....

I

codprawn · 19 September 2009, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScotSeats

Thanks J S, i should have mentioned in the post that the pods in the boat and the seats were built separately and fitted at the show so the seats were mounted proably 4-6" too high this is an easily solved problem with the height of the pods being changed.

The seats at the show also did not have our height adjustment system fitted which will be finished in the next couple of weeks and will come as standard on all seats.

Extras available: Side supports, grab handles (various options) and foot pegs.

The system is also available in a twin shock system with our helmsman type seats which can be fitted with 4 point harnesses etc.

I hope you won't even consider fitting harnesses to open RIBs???

IBWET · 20 September 2009, 07:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScotSeats

Hi,

We are a family run business based in Ayrshire, Scotland who specialise in building additional seating for commercial vehicles, 4x4's, buses, taxis and trains. For the past few years we have been supplying boat builders mainly Redbay boats with our Scotia range of seating for there RIBs both on fixed pedestals and on suspension bases basically the same as KAB seating bases as used in trucks etc. Some of you may have seen our stand at the Seawork show a few months ago.

We are currently working on increasing our range of boat seating for both commercial work / passenger carrying boats and leisure boats. This new range of boat seating will include jockey style seats on suspension systems, we intend to have a couple of variations of this seat on a budget version aimed more at the leisure market who are looking for improved comfort/safety over stanadard jockey seats but without spending the huge amounts of money they would currently have to for an Ullman seat for example. We will also be producing another seat aimed for the more serious RIB user who is looking for the ultimate in comfort and safety even in the heaviest of seat conditions.

For larger cabin boats we will be producing helmsmans seats working to the same principles as above, a more budget version for leisure use and another seat for the more serious RIB/boat user.

I would be very interested to hear people ideas of what they would like to have in a suspension seat and even opinions on what they would change on seats that are currently available.

You can view my website for more details www.scotboatseats.co.uk or www.scotseats.co.uk for my general website.

I could also be in the market for a RIB for myself to use for testing/demonstrating our seating and also for personal use. Probably looking for something around 5.5 to 7 metres max as would have to be ok for towing. Due to what we want a boat for we would be happy to take something which was needing interior work done or was almost bare inside.

Anyone who has anything or wants to speak to me about seating can email me jonathan@scotseats.co.uk

Thanks
Jonathan Young
Sales Director
Scot Seat Direct Ltd

Here's an idea,

A lot of people have standard pods not through choice (various reasons to many to mention),who are now thinking, after having the boat, that suspension would be the way to go,if you could design a retrofit suspension unit that could be fitted to existing pods 'internally' so it could be moved to the new rib and the existing pods go with the sold rib, if you know what I mean ....I think that market would be considerable and presently unexpolited. you could do a 5.85 Ribcraft as a freeby for a good idea..

One other issue;the best position for wind deflection on my and most others ribs is directly central behind the consol, (between the pods) where there is obviously no seat. I find pods uncomfortable over significant distances. If there was a way of having an occasional standard type seat that shared the load between both front pods and allowed you to sit in the middle out of the wind but when not in use fitted inside the pod ....I would buy it...

The market for new builds presently must be getting smaller.