Helm Seats

Post by **dougl33** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:46 am

Does anyone know if the helm seats are through bolted (i.e. with nuts under the cabin headliner) or are they just screwed to the bridge deck? The reason I'm asking is that I bought a new base at West Marine that will allow me to raise the seat height. I don't want to start removing bolts only to find that I'll need to remove the cabin head-liner to re-attach the new base. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:52 am

Doug, On the sport fish they are lag bolted in place with sealer of course. Not sure about yours. Frank Price

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:56 am

I went through this a while back. I was trying to find one for the helm that was adjustable height, or at least taller, because I had a hard time seeing when sitting. On my boat there are glassed-in nuts under the teak bases. The bolts run through the teak plates and into those. The problem was that nobody makes a base that fits the pattern. I took measurements, made a diagram and sent it off to a bunch of different anufacturers that had bases I wanted and they couldn't match them. Danny at HighTide didn't have anything either. I ended up switching the chair bases which made the helm seat about 4" higher, and with the new chairs I bought that had thicker padding on the seat, the height was good. The passenger seat base, mounted lower on the curve of the bridge deck, was taller so that they both were the same height, so switching them lowered the passenger seat and raised the helm seat. Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 12:32 pm

Sean, You jogged my memory. It was held down with bolts instead of lag screws and has the glassed in nuts. The result is the same, Doug won't have nuts rolling around his headliner after removing the bolts. Boy , am I getting old... Frank

Brian Davin · Post by **Brian Davin** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:54 pm

On my '90, I had the helm seats off last year when I trucked it north. They, too, were bolts with fixed nuts underneath the teak blocks. Brian '90 Bertram 33' FBC Never Say Never Westbrook, CT

Post by **dougl33** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:31 pm

All are correct. The seats were bolted with fixed nuts. The only problem now is that as Sean said the holes on the new base don't match up. Any thoughts on what I should do? Are we positive that there are nuts fiberglassed in place? Maybe I can drill new holes in the new base? Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:40 pm

Doug, Anything is possible but if you re-drill any holes you'd have to get the pieces re-anodized at about 100 bucks. Frank

Post by **dougl33** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:28 pm

quote:Originally posted by franklyprice Anything is possible Frank, I think they're going to put that on your tombstone.[:D] OK. I'm a dummy.[:p] Why would I have to get the base re-annodized? What will happen if I don't? Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

lobsta1 · Post by **lobsta1** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 5:34 pm

How the heck are you guys getting the bolts undone? I spent an entire winter zapping them with Corrosion X. Still can't budge them. Al 1978 33 FBC NITES OFF

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:23 pm

They were really stiff. Also had to hammer a socket on a couple to get it to fit on the boltt through the base. Scarred the bas a little doing that but nothing I can't live with. Your boat is older so maybe your bolts are seized/galled completely. I would try those impact socket drivers. Put the socket on and hit with a hammer, they turn the socket about a 1/4 turn through the force of the hammer impact. Unfortunately if your bolts are completely galled then that will probably just break off the heads. But then you can drill them out and re-tap the nuts. If you do get them out, be sure to use tef-gel when you put them back so they won't seize again. Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:10 am

Al, Your bolts must have gotten wet and corroded . Luckily , mine came out easily , the only resistance being the sealer they were bedded with. Doug, The thing that most people don't realize is that all the aluminum on these boats is anodized , even the painted stuff. Anodizing coats the aluminum with a very thin, non conducting, very hard layer , which is the only thing that has kept all the aluminum on the boat from turning to a bunch of white dots, like my outriggers. The down side of anodizing is, once you scar it or remove it from a spot, that area actually corrodes worse than if the whole piece were left un-anodized. It has to do with the dispersment of electricity over larger VS smaller areas and the dissimilar metals and the electrolite(salt water). So, assuming your new bases were anodized, when you drill the new holes and leave the aluminum in contact with the stainless bolts, the holes get much larger, pretty fast. There's a place I use in Lynn that does anodizing. If you get that far I can help. Frank Price

Post by **dougl33** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:20 am

So what will need to be galvanized? The whole base or just the 6 new holes I need to drill? I had thought about just drilling new holes into the wooden base that's attached to the deck, but you guys are telling me that there are actually nuts fiberglassed into place underneath it. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

sbeer · Post by **sbeer** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:57 am

I had a spacer made to go over the base pole and into the chair bore. To the base is none rotating and the chair of course is. I put a foot rest on the base and it all looks great. Can not see going through all that unbolting and possibly stripping those nuts. You do that and your up a creek with out a paddle.If you do get the base off, you can have the base reanodized after you take it off and sand it smooth cause they will charge you not by the piece but by the dip. How many pieces fit into the tank. Its about 250 bucks. Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer

Post by **dougl33** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:26 pm

Good news. First, here is the new pedestal that I bought from West Marine: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... ctId=22333 It is a two piece unit where the stanchion fits inside the pedestal and slides up and down inside the sleeve (pedestal). Fortunately this stanchion fits perfectly inside my old pedestal. I only had to drill and thread a hole in the old pedestal to attach the handle to tighten it. It works great and I didn't have to screw around with the old teak base. Even when its all the way down its already about 3 or 4 inches higher than where it was. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

lobsta1 · Post by **lobsta1** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:35 pm

Doug, Are your seats Pompanette? Do you know what the pedestal size is? Al 1978 33 FBC NITES OFF