One of the problems with a boat like the 175 is the lack of cushioned seating when using the boat for activites other than fishing. I searched for examples of bow cushions on this model and did see one for sale (unfortunately you had to buy the boat too) that covered the entire raised casting platform up front. I called a couple local marine canvas folks and got a price between $800 and $1,200 so that was out for the moment.
I found that you could buy large rectangle cooler cushions from igloo with snaps, but that would look weird and be a potential trip hazard due to the uneven surface. I took some measurements of the casting platform area and entered it into my cad program and plotted out templates with a goal to talk to another marine cushion shop in the area.
I wandered into Marine Connection Liquidators in Ft Pierce (no ties to that business) and they had literally hundreds of cushions - rectangles, squares, all sorts of oddball shapes. They had a some bigger cushions and found the pair in the first picture. Dirty and way too big, but when I cleaned a small corner, they were stark white underneath, no rips, scratches, or scuffs, and the seams and zippers were tight. At $60 for the pair, the worst I could do would be to cut then with a utility knife and white duct tape the edge, so I bought them.
Once I got them home they cleaned up with soap and water, a little 409 here and there, and a magic eraser on a couple small tough spots. Now to get them to fit. I had a shop in Jensen Beach trim them - they kept the inner and lower edges from the original cushion, preserving the smooth vinyl band. They cut the excess off along the curved edge, installed new welting, reattached the mesh bottom, shortened the back zippers and reinstalled the cushion snap straps for $200 for the pair. They said the cushions looked like they had never been used and the foam was like new. After installing a few snaps through the deck, they look great and aren't going anywhere. All in, maybe $270 a little running around, and maybe a couple hours doing the templates and installing the snaps.
If I'm going out fishing, I'll leave them in the garage, otherwise they only take a minute to snap in place. You can still access the fish box which I use for dry storage when not full of ice and fish as the cushions lift in the center when you open the hatch cover.
