Suggestions for Saloon Seating

I wondered if pontoon boat furniture might be a good idea. Glad to hear others have confirmed it. Every time we go to Bass Pro Shops we get closer to dragging a pontoon boat home with us. Not very attractive to look at but they sure are comfortable to lounge on.

Bilgewater said:

Here's how I did our saloon. Made new furniture with storage everywhere. The piece spanning the two benches tips up to allow access behind the bulkhead, as well as allow the engine room hatch to open fully. The bench back tips forward to provide storage for charts and nav gear. The rocker can be stowed against the wheel to allow the starboard engine hatch to open. Behind the rocker is a fold away nav table.

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Nice looking work Bilgewater! I have a hankering to put together some built in furniture in the saloon myself one day.


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

My saloon sleeps three. The port settee expands into a double berth but we haven't had the need for it yet. We take daytime snoozes on opposite settees when guests are absent.

The problem is real comfortable seating needs to be built like a couch or quality chair , that means springs and padding.

NOT a cushion on a chunk of plywood.

The RV folks have what is called zero clearance couches with complex mechanisms that allow the bottom to pull out as the rear cushion goes down.

Comfortable to sit on and not bad as a emergency bed.

Has anyone tried raising an "L" shaped settee? My wife hates to look at the bulkhead across from the settee. Need an other 4-6 inches to be able to look out the window. She's 5' 10" so she's not a short person. (No offense to short people)

We need to do that too for the same reason and others.

The present seat in Willy is basically a wood box like structure. I'm thinking of building about a 5" open bottomed box extension to access the storage in the existing seat/box. Or just build all new. It's just simple carpentry.

But I agree wid your wife. Want to see out and for me I want to be facing fwd or aft .... not sideways.

Raised platform

MT Nest said:

Has anyone tried raising an "L" shaped settee? My wife hates to look at the bulkhead across from the settee. Need an other 4-6 inches to be able to look out the window. She's 5' 10" so she's not a short person. (No offense to short people)

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I have a u shaped dinette in my pilot house. The previous owner had it raised about 8". I have an extra set of drawers across the the base which come in extremely handy. This also improved the view forward for those sitting at the dinette. However it is so tall that short people need a stool to climb in. In my salon I have couch that is comfortable but a little low for my old knees. I'm going to raise it about 5" with a platform and slots for TV trays as we often eat sitting on the couch in the salon and at the bar in the galley. It turns out that having the dinette in the bridge it is only used when we are entertaining or underway. The Bayliner 4788 had an excellent arrangement with a well shaped settee that had huge storage underneath and a table that had a steel base that telescoped up and down and folding leaves to provide eating or entertaining heights. The steel base allowed the table to slide around the salon providing space flexibility. Having a built in settee allows storage underneath something a loose couch doesn't offer.

My project for next year will be recovering and bolstering the saloon settee. Taking out the dinette table and replacing it with an ottoman made a huge difference. However it needs deeper, thicker cushions and slanted backs. I think I have figured out how to do it. I also want to cover the cockpit bench seating with a stripe Sunbrella fabric.

Enough projects for this year. Time to stop and cruise for awhile.

Moonstruck said:

My project for next year will be recovering and bolstering the saloon settee. Taking out the dinette table and replacing it with an ottoman made a huge difference. However it needs deeper, thicker cushions and slanted backs. I think I have figured out how to do it. I also want to cover the cockpit bench seating with a stripe Sunbrella fabric.

Enough projects for this year. Time to stop and cruise for awhile.

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Next time your at "Flagler" go to Marine Exchange and peruse the Sunbrella selection. When the former owners owned it, it was the cheapest Sunbrella in the country.....according to them. YMMV.

PS Capn Don, Headed to NY tomorrow, then a tandem tow to Jamaica From NY. Be outta touch until mid Sept. Any plans for ST Aug?

Sailor of Fortune said:

Next time your at "Flagler" go to Marine Exchange and peruse the Sunbrella selection. When the former owners owned it, it was the cheapest Sunbrella in the country.....according to them. YMMV.

PS Capn Don, Headed to NY tomorrow, then a tandem tow to Jamaica From NY. Be outta touch until mid Sept. Any plans for ST Aug?

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Hey Capt. Jack. Grandson was home for the summer, and he just went back to St. Augustine for school. Don't know when I'm coming back down, but if you are in Jax will try to stop and see you and Larry. Maybe you can bring us some cheap rum from Jamaica. Have a safe trip.