Fitting of hekm seats

1peejay2

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30 Jul 2005
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I would appreciate any ideas, thoughts, advice or suggestions on fixing free standing helm seats firmly to deck.
During recent rough weather our freestanding helm chairs became ballistic missiles. So much so that SHMBO has refused to sail again until they are firmly fixed to the deck

Our helm is above our cabin. The deck is teak on steel (she's a steel boat). Would it be acceptable to drill through, say three of the arms and fix through the teak to the steel deck or would it be sufficient to fix to the teak deck alone?

Are 'sliders' available for helm chairs? Could they be fitted on a DIY basis?

Thanks in advance

Valentine

Any advice would be gratefully received
 

tritonofnor

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12 May 2003
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I did exactly as you are suggesting with my first helm seat. Drilled through the "arms" at the base to fix an office type chair down. Later found that the gas strut and the chair could be lifted right out of the base, so I found a bit of steel tube with the same internal diameter as the outside of the gas strut, and then welded a square base onto it to fix down to the wheelhouse floor. In your case I would definitely drill through the steel deck and bolt through if I had access to the underneath.
Sliders for seats are available from most major chandleries. You can also get hold of Helm seats using the Desmo bases which are used for table legs from the same suppliers. A complete helm seat with slider, base support, etc could be had for around 150 quid. Do a google on "Wise boat seats" for options.
 

1peejay2

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30 Jul 2005
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Grateful thanks to Tritonofor and Longjohnsilver. I'm checking out the details and hope to have resolved the problem pretty soon.
Thanks
Jay
 
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