Big man, Small seat

[jnicholson@toledomirror.com]

Just purchased my first Donzi. Love it. But. My Butts to big. I found some wide Wise seats that I think will work better than the super tight buckets that came with the boat (1995 18 Classic). My problem is how to anchor the seats to the boat. The previous owner reset the hardware and my big butt pulled the lag screws right out of the fiberglass.
Does Donzi encapsulate some kind of anchor block in the seat riser? Or is their some kind of fiberglass anchor that can be installed?
Peace,
Jim
LaSalle, MI

[mrfixxall]

Just purchased my first Donzi. Love it. But. My Butts to big. I found some wide Wise seats that I think will work better than the super tight buckets that came with the boat (1995 18 Classic). My problem is how to anchor the seats to the boat. The previous owner reset the hardware and my big butt pulled the lag screws right out of the fiberglass.
Does Donzi encapsulate some kind of anchor block in the seat riser? Or is their some kind of fiberglass anchor that can be installed?
Peace,
Jim
LaSalle, MI

the only way to fixx it is to get under the pedestal and through bolt it..you will either have to remove the deck or get a 3-4'' hole saw and cut a hole in the middle of the base and install 1/4'' t nuts and remount the pedestal with ss 1/4 20 screws..Follow this link they have ss t nuts.


http://www.stafast.com/products/tnuts.html

[mattyboy]

my 16 had a seat bolted directly to the floor no pedistal , most likely you are gonna find that the outboard part of the pedestals are on the wrong side of the stringer and you can't get to them like fix said about pulling the deck.
the guy who had my 16 before me driled a 4 inch hole in the stringer to get his hand thru to bolt up the outboard side of the seat( something I would have never done)


I seem to recall an episode of ship shape TV they replaced an old pedistal with one that had a backing ring with fixed nylock nuts in the backing ring. the ring went underneath and after line up the two starter holes and geting them going every thing was done from the top side think it was made by garelick not sure might pay to search the ship shape tv website

[mattyboy]

something like this

http://www.garelick.com/product.php?pnumber=75057

[Ranman]

A 1995 18 Classic has the raised "boxes for the seat pedestals. You should buy the Garelick sliders and through bolt them using 1/4-20 SS hardware and LARGE, thick fender washers as backing plates. These sliders will fit your Donzi and a number of different seats. You will need a helper with small/skinny arms to help you reach the outer mounting holes for each seat, but it CAN be done by reaching through the fuel tank sender access hole located under the center cooler hatch.

To make things easier to assemble, I put a large, thick fender washer on a 1/4-20 hex bolt and stuck both through the hole from underneath and used a washer, lockwasher and nut on the top side. You have to get the bolt lengths just right, but once you get everything assembled, you can tighten from the top usually without with needing a wrench on the bolt head from underneath.

One other trick. I used twist ties to hold all four of the bolts in place (so they don't fall into the bilge below and then set the Garelick slider on top of the bolts sticking through then installed the nuts and washers loosely. Once started, I pulled off the twist ties and tightened down the nuts.

Search for Garelick on this site and you'll find a ling to the sliders and lots of other info as well.

[Tony]

Whatever way Ranman says to do it...do it that way.

When I first met him he reminded me of Shaquille O'Neal. :eek:

[Cuda]

I put a set of bucket seats made for a Donzi in a 20 foot Formula I redid. There was a screw in deck plate right between the seats. I was able to drill holes in the deck, put bolts through the pedestals, put large fender washers on the bolts, and then used self locking nuts on it.

[VetteLT193]

A 1995 18 Classic has the raised "boxes for the seat pedestals. ....

I don't think that is the case for 1995

[mattyboy]

he does mention a seat riser so I would have to say Randy is right .

[VetteLT193]

he does mention a seat riser so I would have to say Randy is right .

probably, just a round about way of asking for clarification.

[Ranman]

I don't think that is the case for 1995

I reckon I''m not 100% sure, but I have owned a '96 and now a '97 and I know that '94 and on (well until 2009) are AMH boats so I'd bet lunch that the '95 in question has the molded in raised seat mounts that accept Springfield ond/or Garelick low-profile seat sliders. I'm even pretty sure you have to go "way back" to get to the "flat floor" boats that used pedestals.

P.S. Tony, you funny comedian, ha ha!

[fogducker III]

I have a 1995 18C and you CAN NOT access up under the seat pedastal......due to the fuel tank bulkheads and foam. I replaced the seat bases and decided to use the stainless "togglers" method, it worked very well.....the other method, mentioned above, is to cut a 4" or so hole in the top of the base to access up and under the base....use good quality fasteners and a Garrick base and you are good to go........:wink: