The Upholstery Forum

We just bought a Cabin Cruiser and do not like the seats at all. The smaller boat we had was very comfortable. The new boat has some form of plastic Shell or Bolster that the foam is attached to then wrapped with upholstery . I would like to fabricate a aluminum Shell? to work off of for the foam and finish. I have a metal fabrication business and would rather work with metal than wood. My question is, if I make the shell out of aluminum will attaching points be difficult since there wont be wood to staple into? I have the sewing machine and have made basic things but will probably hire out the foam and final finish work. I just dont want to build a shell and be told, no one will work with it. The seat is a 49 ish inch long bench seat on a 1992 Sea Ray 400 express cruiser. Old boat is a 1989 280 Sundancer with roughly a 60" bench seat.
I rebuilt the 280 bench seat a few years back to be rigid enough to support a head rest. I want a head rest on the new boat which is another reason for beefing up the new seat by fabricating it out of aluminum. We are inland and not in a corrosive environment.
Thanks in advanced

I work for a passenger railroad and have dealt with many upholstery shops for our passenger seats. We have aluminum pans on all our seats, there is no problem with corrosion or strength. There is one thing though, the pans have folded edges where plastic strips on the vinyl lock in to. Other places have used velcro which is glued to the pans. Another option would be to add wood strips to the pans and staple into that. I can give you more information on the pans and the design of them if you like -

That would be very helpful. I was first planning on using a 1/4" or 3/8" plate bent at the angle I decide on but now am thinking of going lighter and using inner trusses to make it rigid. Maybe have a boxed in area on the back to create an area for the headrest pins to drop into. Thank you for any advice.

I've a used variety of fasteners to deal with aluminum seat pans. #6 pan head stainless steel sheet metal screws, large head aluminum pop rivets and adhesive are all options. I recently tested HH-66 vinyl cement as my other contact adhesive would soften to a gooey mess from contact with the marine vinyl. As long as you rough up the aluminum with 80 grit and paint both the vinyl and the aluminum the HH-66 seems to holding up after a few weeks. The screws are nice because they are easily undone. Both the screws and the pop rivets need some foam on top of them though so sometime I have to use adhesive.