1982 SSV-168 Sunpad...

[dorelse]

Anyone have any idea how they accomplished the bench to sundeck conversion?

[76bayflite]

I've seen something like that before with legs on hinges that fold under the seat, hard to explain without an image.  Come to think of it I think I have some legs you could used to acomplish that, I'll let you know if I find em.

[Hyperacme]

Thats pretty cool !
Seat to sunpad ...
Wouldn't be to hard to do, pop out fold down legs, maybe like a cars hood ?
Another thing I missed in the Glastron/Carlson brochures ...

[dorelse]

Yeah, its obviously hinged together, and then when you slide the legs down, they lock in the 2 pieces.  I remember seeing old metal card tables that kind of did that...

That would make The General happy.

Its a cool little boat, had I seen/known about them, I could have gotten one of those as well.  I bet it'd move out with the 470 Engine conversion Rich has done.

[dorelse]

Sean - Let me know!

[WetRaider]

Hey Doran ... what about something like a drawer glide ... say your bench seat is 18 inches deep and the back is 14 inches high.  You could have a good 4 drawer glides set up under the 18 inch seat all attached with a small rail at the front end.  Have a handle sewn in the crease between the seat and the back so you can lift up that hinged joint to make it straight, then push back on your rail, extending the drawer glides towards the rear ... let go of the handle and the drawer glides would keep the two sections from falling back into place (almost like a drop leaf extension on a dining table).  Then ... you could have "wings" that were hinged to the gunnels that would lay flat against the side while the seat was down, and swing out perpendicular to take the weight of the sun pad. 

Or, you could go monster garage on a traditional folding table and cannibalize the legs ... you'd have legs that folded up flat against the bottom, cut to length and would have that metal ring to slide down and lock the legs in the down position.

Am I thinking you want this same set-up in your CVZ, or looking at something else?

[dorelse]

Yes, in the CVZ.

[CVX Fever]

Its a cool little boat, had I seen known about them, I could have gotten one of those as well.  I bet it'd move out with the 470 Engine conversion Rich has done

My dad has that boat in 1986 trim, renamed the X16. It rocks with the 140HP 3.0 engine. Throws the nicest, flatest wake you could ever want for slalom skiing. Tried to get him to sell it to me when we bought our place in WI. No dice, you know the rest!...LOL

BTW the rear seat in his doesn't fold into a sunpad and wasn't an option that year.  

[75starflight]

Doran, you could possibly use the hinges off of a futon to make that work.

[Tmstibbe]

Doran:

I owned a new 1982 SSV 164 with a mercruiser 120 I/O.   It was a closed bow, but the same otherwise to this 168.

The rear seat was hinged at the top of the seat back to the boat.  The bottom of the seat back was hinged to the seat bottom.  The seat bottom sat in a wood frame.  They used small blocks of wood on the underside of the seat bottom to keep the bottom cushion from sliding forward.  You would lift up the front of the seat bottom, slide it forward a bit, then lift into place.  there were small teak wood blocks mounted on the inside of boat to support the bottom of the seat back in a position parallel to the floor.  Then you would fold down 2 aluminum legs with plastic caps (similar to a card table) and rest them on the boat floor.

There was storage within the framing that was mounted to the floor, that would support the seat bottom section.  The framing was wrapped in vinyl.  The floor inside the framing was the same floor and carpet as the boat floor.  It was very simple to operate.  I didn't use the sun lounger position very much, but it sort of looked neat when only 2 people were in the boat.  It sort of converted the boat into a 2 seater.  What was nice about it, was that after you spent the afternoon boating and were back into the garage at home, you could place the rear bench seat into the sun lounger position, and it would help with drying out the boat.   We used this boat for a lot of water skiing with friends, and the boat always came back with wet carpet. 

Please notice the rear hatches on each side of the engine compartment.  Each were fiberglass, insulated, drained to the exterior of the boat.  They would hold 18 cans of beer each side.   Tom Stibbe

[Tmstibbe]

Doran:

The hinges that connected the top of the seat back to the boat wall common with the engine compartment were unique.  Each hinge had 3 parts.  Sort of 3 aluminum plates, with hinge pins between each plate.  The first and third plate had holes for screw mounting the hinge.  This allowed the top of the seat back to drop about 3 inches when placing this into the sun lounger position.  This allowed the seat back cushion top to be flush with the fiberglass on the rear deck.  If you decide to do this, I could probably draw a simple diagram how it was designed.  It is very simple.   The hinge was mounted about 3 inches below the top of the rear deck, then the middle floppy plate would be vertical on the seat back. the third plate was doubled over and screwed to the seat back.   ;)Tom Stibbe

[dorelse]

Tom - You're description of the boat was the reason I started looking for the model.

So did the seats all move in one motion?  I'm trying to figure it out in my head so I can build it this fall...the wheels are turning.

[WetRaider]

Doran -
With Tom's description, I think I've got it all figured out.  We can talk it through, if you want.  Tom - the descriptions were quite helpful - I can see it's operation in my mind. 

[76bayflite]

Legs I had have been thrown out...figures.

[MarkS]

They would hold 18 cans of beer each side.

[dorelse]

Legs I had have been thrown out...figures.

Thanks for checking Sean.  I think it'll be fairly simply to put them together regardless.

[Tmstibbe]

Doran:

Your thinking too hard.  The design is quite simple.  Think hinges.   Hinges at the top of the seat back, and hinges at the bottom of the seat back to the seat bottom.  Fold down legs mounted underneath the seat bottom near the front edge.   To get the top of the seat back to be flush with the rear deck of the boat, they used a three piece hinge.  One end of the hinge was mounted about 3 inches below the rear deck of the boat.  The third piece of the hinge was mounted the the seat back.  The middle section was about 3 inches.  With the seat back in the upright normal position, the hinge was doubled over between the second and third piece of the hinge.  When the seat back was put into the sun lounger position, then the hinge between the first section mounted to the boat and the middle section were at 90 degrees.

To keep the sun deck from collapsing, they put a small piece of teak wood mounted to the inside of each side of the boat.  These were located so that when in the sun deck position, the small wood pieces held up the seat bottom and they hit about 1/3 of the distance from the back of the seat bottom towards the front of the seat bottom.  Your probably wondering how you get the seat bottom and seat back up into the position when there were blocks of wood on each side of the boat.  Well, you lifted the front of the seat bottom about 3 or 4 inches and moved it forward to get the wood blocking mounted underneath the seat bottom that kept it secure in the wood framing underneath the seat bottom.  Then you carefully, while keeping the seat back and seat bottom at approximately 90 degrees, you rotated the rear seat upwards and were able to clear the wood blocks on the inside of each side panel.  Once you lifted the entire seat above the wood blocks on the side panels, then you could use the hinge between the seat back and seat bottom to create a flat sun pad..  Also, you had to fold the two legs down at that point.  It was fairly stable.