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I am in the final stages of putting the stern seat back together. I have sealed all the wood with Kilz (2 coats) and will be coating it with a top coat of mildew resistant bathroom paint. I did not do things like pull off all the foam and seal under it so there is still room for water to get in. The question is, originally they had a layer of thin (1 mil) plastic over the entire seat. It did not do a good job of keeping the water out, but did an excellent job of not letting the foam dry. I was thinking of skipping the plastic sheet but wanted to see if I might be missing something?
From the sounds of it I would leave it off. I have learned you are better off to let something quickly dry rather than try to keep it from getting wet. Because more times than not you get "It did not do a good job of keeping the water out, but did an excellent job of not letting the foam dry."
I've never rebuilt an RPS or Stern Seat (upholstered parts), I would agree with the plastic sheeting making it a longer drying process, but I think if you put new plastic sheeting on under the uphostery, with all the seams/edges on the underside of the seat, it would stand to reason gravity would allow the water to drain off without getting into the foam (at least for a period of time). A couple of questions
How old is the seat and how is the quality of the foam? Is your Whaler stored outside? does your mooring cover protect the seat?
I'm not trying to hi-jack the thread, but I've often thought that if I ever rebuilt an RPS Cushion or stern seat, I would replace the plywood base with Star Board and the foam cushion with closed foam cushioning (the kind that has the rubberized coating on it, I don't know the proper name) and then upholster over it. I also think it would be a good idea to put a few of those round (grommet size) vents into the upholstery around the edges to cut down on drying time. Obviously this could get expensive (Not trying to spend your money Kamie) but it would make the seat maintenance free for a pretty long time. Good luck
I would skip the plastic - and add a few holes like Mike said. That way when water gets in there(which it will) it will have more than one option for escape.
The foam is standard 2 inch upholstery foam. Once free of the vinyl and plastic on my porch it took about 30 - 45 minutes to totally dry out.
The foam is glued to the wood with spray glue. The stern seat is actually 2 separate parts. the back is plywood in my case there is a seam down the center, with foam glued to the inside from the top of the back around the curve. The foam stops about 4 inches from the bottom to allow for the seat section. There is also thin upholstery foam across the outside of the back to give the illusion of cushioning. The seat section is a single piece of plywood with support glued/nailed to provide a place to screw the top to the bottom. There is also 2 inch foam on the seat. I considered remaking the bottom out of starboard, but it's really heavy and really expensive. The seat for the 18 is 68 inches wide and 19 inches deep and 3/4 of an inch thick. My stern seat dry was 90 to 100#, I can't imagine how much heavier a starboard one would be. It make the back out of starboard you would need to be able to bend the starboard. This is done on the plywood by making a series of cuts thru the board and bending it. If you can do the same with starboard and can handle the weight it may be an option for the back of the seat as well.
I do plan to drill a couple holes in the bottom to let it drain, especially in the center, toward the back but that won't really help the back very much.
I bought the seat used but in great shape. Until last year, the boat sat outside with no cover during the summer. Once I removed the T-Top I added a mooring cover but not sure it helped all that much with water until this year with it was resewed and waterproofed.
Cover, Cover, Cover, You have to cover the seat when outside, I rebuilt my seat two winter's ago, and I was going to use "Starboard", I was at the marine store and was trying to get the right size ( a problem, and very expensive), an "old boat guy" was working there ( I love old boat guy's, they know everything). He asked why I was using "Starboard", I said because, I don't want to do this again, he pointed out that the new exterior plywood's of today are much better than even a few years ago, he suggested that I use that and just seal up the sides, so I made it out of that, and sealed the sides (and whole seat) with "Zinser" 1-2-3, ( 5 coats) then went over it with polyurethane, then off to the auto. upholstery shop (stainless steel staples). I had a cover made for the seat and that keep's it totally dry. "Old guy at the marine store Hint": Add a little bit of "Remove all" paint remover to Regular paint, this makes the paint "Mildew Resistant" without the high cost of "Zinser" or "Kilz". Ya can't beat "experiance", no-way, ya just can't !
mw
I just redid the RPS Seat on my 17, and got the same advice about the wood. Using the old, rotting wood as a template, I cut the new seat from 3/4" exterior plywood, smoothed the edges, and painted with 2 coats of exterior latex. I was able to re-use the foam and the seat upholstery. The most expensive part was the SS hardwear and SS Staples. Good as new!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will post photo's when I get finished. The funny part is, now that the seat has been out, I kinda like the extra room on the boat.
