Seat Removal?

Has anyone ever taken the center seat out of an aluminum boat?
I have a 14ft Alumacraft with the three bench seats. I would like to remove the center seat but, I’m scared that it is a main support. Is there a way for me to get that darn thing out of my way. Just interested to know if anyone has done it and wished they didn’t, or glad you did Might just be, I have to learn to live with it

Thanks for any information!
Bret

if it is a riveted boat the center seat is the structural support

Yes I have on a 14′ starcraft. It dose make the sides very flimse, I would NOT recomend it. The seat you take out also contains the bigest chunk of foam in your boat that is there for safty if you should ever swamp it. I ended up puting it back in and making a deck from this seat foward.
Good luck.

I’ve removed the “center seat” in 2 different mid to late 80’s Alumacraft T-14s ‘s , and had absolutely no problem with either of them. . One got a floor /livewell /rodbox/frontdeck as well , the other was left open . Keep in mind , these are light horsepower boats – not alot of tourque.

I have on a few different 14′ and 15′ alumacrafts. The center bench, no problem. Do not remove the rear, or either of the front 2(bow and bench behind it) benches.

Do you plan on putting anything else in the boat? If you do plan on a storage area, livewell, floor? If you do install extras.. just attatch it to the floor and the side of the boat and it will strengthen it if you question the structural integrity.

It seems like a entirely different boat after removing that center bench.. no more hurdles to jump and room to move around. If you put in storage.. it adds even more room.

Its a good idea to add some CLOSED CELL foam to the boat somewhere if you make more additions for flotation. Closed cell foam will not soak in water and get heavy. If the area you put the foam is water tight(cant come up from bottom either), it doesnt really matter what type of foam… they all float.

I did this on a 14′ boat before.

It worked great. We removed the center bench and put in a floor. This was done on an old “off brand” name hull that the metal was very thick. Again, worked great!!!!

However,
I “was” going to do this to a Lund 14′, but chose not to. The hull on that older Lund seemed too weak to do so.

With that said, I was going to cut out the center 18″ of the middle bench, making storage boxes out of each end of that bench. Make sense?

My plan was to cut out a “square”, leaving part of the bottom support in place of that bench.

My next plan was to lay a false floor in place. I needed that bottom square cut out of the bench for a center support brace for the floor. That “raise” in the center cut of the bench would be flush with the side walls of the hull. Therefore, I would be laying the false floor flat.

Does my writing make sense?

I ended up selling the boat before I did the work.

Call me on this if needed and I can explain much better over the phone.

Like previously stated, it gives you a WHOLE new boat.

You just have to love this place (IDA)

I appreciate all the info. I now have the confidence to get that thing out of my way
I took a very good look at the boat tonight and don’t think it will be that tough. I am going to put in a floor. If needed, I like Gary’s idea of maybe a bench on both sides. I could always use some storage for plano boxes I then could also tie into something for support and still be open through the middle

Thanks again for the input guys
Bret

Bret-You need another small boat to pull behind just for Plano boxes