leaning post pics and suggestions?

[ddd222]

hi guys, looking to change from the old seats to a leaning post, had a good oppurtunity from an older 21' mako, that would slide on existings pedestals, but someone else beat me to it. Would not like to spend the scratch for a custom one, and also concerned about the footprint left from old stantions if those come out. Can any of you show me or explain what you did faced with the same situation? Not replacing deck and starting from scratch so thats not an option, thanks in advance guys!

[steved]

I'm facing the exact same situation.  My decision so far has been to wait until another opportunity comes along, or maybe to work something up myself by using the seat bases and a padded crossbar of some kind to be the leaning post.  I agree with you about not wanting to mess with removing the original suports from the deck.

[Tailgunner]

I know you guys are in a different situation than me but I'd thought I'd share.

I'm in the process of building one from scratch. Since I'm not a welder and I don't have much scratch, I'm going with a 3 sided fiberglass style. I'll design the rear opening to accept my 20gallon live well.

I figure two sheets of 1/2" MDO and some fiberglass should do it. I won't be doing anything as fancy as the Todd, just 3 sides and rod holders in the top. The hardest part is finding a pre-made pad for a reasonable amount of money. I can design the top to fit the pad.

[sandbarbilly]

Hey Tailgunner, it's not that hard to make your own cushion. Build a plywood back that you can install bolts or those wood nuts that lock into the wood. Glue some foam padding on it. Stretch over some marine fabric (readily available with the pleats already molded in) and staple to the back of the plywood. You'll end up with a few "hospital corners" like when you tuck in the sheets on your bed. Or you should be able to find a little old lady with a sewing machine to stitch it up and then just silicone the back of the seams.

[sandbarbilly]

Hey ddd222, I thought long and hard about doing the exact same thing. Todd makes an adjustable leaning post that fits over the seat posts. I don't think it measured up to fit mine. But you could build a basic flat top leaning post with rod holders mounted, maybe a drop down in front with a pad. Then just mount standard seat spiders on the bottom to fit your seat post measurements. You'll have to mess with the height a little. Some aluminum tubing of the correct I.D:O.D. and a little "FIGURIN" should do it. You should be able to slide it right off and slide the seats back on. Over the years I've seen two tops on Ebay that would have given you a good start. One was mahogany the other was starboard.

[ddd222]

thanks for the info guys, keep it coming!

[warthog5]

Tailgunner  It still wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate some fire Ext box's in the side's.

[Tailgunner]

Tailgunner  It still wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate some fire Ext box's in the side's.

I have the fire extinguisher in the console. I was thinking of incorporating plano tackle boxes in the leaning post.