[Public-List] Cockpit bench seat covers

[Bill Wallace]

Has anyone replaced their bench seat wood - on my Alberg 30, they are plywood but with the seat cushions, they have delaminated rather badly.  I'd like to replace them with something which I can still sit on but will either dry out or won't delaminate but will still look nice if the cushions aren't down.  I was thinking of two options: adding 3/4" wide by 1/8" thick slats spaced at 1/4" (eg 1 slat per inch), probably mahogany unless I can find a bit of teak around here.  This would be on top of a new plywood cover which is laminated to thickness, but not cut to size yet.  Covered with cetol marine.  I figure with only 1/4" between slats it will still be ok to sit on but will dry.  I would only put the slats on the opening cover area, not the entire seat area.  I figure I can sit on the wood at that spacing in reasonable comfort.

Other option is to just replace the plywood, cover with cetol and make seats with a mesh bottom and the foam that allows water to run through.  I've never tried that foam, but it is supposed to work fairly well - the issue is that it still needs somewhere to go.

Anyone fixed this issue on their boat with success?

Bill.
Alberg 30 "Chewan"