STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
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17supersportnorge
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STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby 17supersportnorge » Tue Jul 19, 2022 1:36 am

Q1: are bench seats for a STRIPER 15 ready-made and available for purchase?

--or--

Q2: should I go to a local wood seller and buy something?

Q3: would bench seats for a SPORT 15 fit a STRIPER 15?

My STRIPER 15 needs seats or benches. It only has a cooler for seating. I want two bench seats, forward and aft, with the aft seat having backrest and and cushions or full seats.

Give me ideas.

Give me pictures.

Give me URL's to vendors that sell bench seats with backrests and cushions for a STRIPER 15.

Would like an aft bench and a front bench. Aft bench preferably with cushion and back rests or full seats. Interested in ideas, pictures or links to shops that sell them if anyone has.

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17supersportnorge
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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby 17supersportnorge » Tue Jul 19, 2022 1:42 am

Q4: is the OEM seating as shown below in Figure 1 available for retail purchase?

seat.jpg
Fig. 1. The original STRIPER 15 seating.
seat.jpg (12.63 KiB) Viewed 2637 times


[Moderator's note: please do not use the PNG file format for complex images. Use JPG instead.]

jimh
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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating

Postby jimh » Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:53 am

I will try to answer all four of your questions.

But first, I believe when you are asking about "bench seats" you are really asking about the mahogany 5/4-wood thwart seats. Please confirm that interpretation of the seating you are interested in buying or making yourself that you refer to as "bench seats."

17supersportnorge wrote:Q3: would bench seats for a SPORT 15 fit a STRIPER 15?
A thwart seat for a 15-foot hull rested on a lip molded into the inwale of the hull on the cockpit sides. The hull of a SPORT 15 and the hull of a STRIPER 15 are made in the same hull mold. On that basis a thwart seat for a SPORT 15 hull should be compatible with a STRIPER 15 hull.

17supersportnorge wrote:Q2: should I go to a local wood seller and buy something?
To fabricate a SPORT 15 thwart seat will be very simple. The hard part will be finding a source of the wood. You will need a plank of 5/4 Philippine Mahogany, in the proper width and length. The next hardest part will be paying for it. You won't find wood like that a big-box home improvement store.

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating

Postby jimh » Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:59 am

17supersportnorge wrote:Q4: is the OEM seating as shown below in Figure 1 available for retail purchase?
The swivel pedestal seat illustrated in Figure 1 is still available from retail vendors. I don't know if that exact seat with the folding backrest is still made, but there are many, many pedestal seats available.

The mounting base and tube support are also still available.

Manufacturers in this trade are ATTWOOD, WISE, GARELICK, and SPRINGFIELD MARINE, to name just a few.

For many pedestal seats in the c.1980 to c.1990 period, Boston Whaler used SPRINGFIELD MARINE seats. SPRINGFIELD MARINE is still making boat seating. You should be able to find something useful by visiting their website at

https://springfieldgrp.com/products/seating/

I am not going to give you links to pictures of pedestal seats. If you understand how to use a search engine, you can just do an image search for "boat pedestal seat" or "boat pedestal seat base" or other similar search arguments. You get results that point to hundreds of images. There is really no need to give you a list of URL's to those images. Once you find an image of a seat you like, you can visit the web page where that image was used, and generally there will be some explanation of what is seen in the image.

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating

Postby jimh » Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:14 am

17supersportnorge wrote:Q1: are bench seats for a STRIPER 15 ready-made and available for purchase?
I don't think there is a warehouse full of the seats you are seeking ready for shipment to you upon your order.

Generally wooden components for older Boston Whaler boats are supplied by boutique artisans, who craft the wooden components on prepaid orders from customers who are willing to wait sometimes months or longer for delivery. Although many wood craftsmen have entered this business, they have had a history of leaving the business, as it apparently is not a particularly sustainable operation.

In general, if are looking for advice on obtaining Boston Whaler replacement parts from the OEM supplier, consult the REFERENCE article that provides that advice. See

Original Equipment Manufacturers and
Recommended Vendors

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/OEM.html

dtmackey
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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating

Postby dtmackey » Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:26 pm

jimh wrote:In general, if are looking for advice on obtaining Boston Whaler replacement parts from the OEM supplier, consult the REFERENCE article that provides that advice
There's one problem with Jim's recommendation to refer to the reference section for selecting a wooden interior builder. The referenced Black Duck Gallery no longer makes Whaler interiors as mentioned by the owner Walter Reynolds. I'm wondering if he maybe aged-out and no longer wants to work in the shop.

D-

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby jimh » Sun Jul 24, 2022 8:16 am

The list of former sources for wood components would be a long list. It seems like every small wood shop that thought they'd take a go at making parts for Boston Whaler boats has given up the trade.

My advice about where to look for advice was preceded by the qualifier, "In general," because in general the best one-stop source for information on recommended suppliers or still-in-business OEM suppliers is the REFERENCE article I mentioned.

I am not sure anyone is here to take all the advice offered. The OP has not replied to his own thread.

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby 17supersportnorge » Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:14 am

Thank you for your suggestions. Sorry for the delayed response.

Yes, I believe thwart seat is the correct term. I see bench seat is something else.

I found a local store that sells mahogany, so I'll get a thwart seat for the middle seats and a new bow hatch made there.

I remain undecided whether to go for a thwart seat with some kind of backrest or pedestal seats in the back. I'm guessing seating position will be higher and more comfortable with pedestal seats. I´ll get in touch with Springfield about those.

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby jimh » Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:18 am

The Boston Whaler 15-foot hull is a great small boat, but the seating arrangements were not always the best. There is a long history of owners modifying the seating to become more comfortable than the simple thwart seat planks with no backrest. The STRIPER model is a bit unusual in that its OEM seating was probably more comfortable than most other models.

There is an article in CETACEA showing several 15-footers with various seating arrangements. See:

FABULOUS FIFTEENS
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage50.html

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby 17supersportnorge » Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:43 am

Thanks Jim. I'm wondering if not a Montauk RPS would be the best option for me. I find the seating position too low on thwart seats.

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby 17supersportnorge » Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:49 am

Image
Fug. 2. A SPORT 15 CENTER CONSOLE

The SPORT 15 CENTER CONSOLE model has a good setup. The seats are still low, a a rigging tunnel is needed.

To have cooler with a backrest and cushion might be cheaper than an RPS and a npt bad solution.

Q5: can a backrest be mounted on a cooler?

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Re: STRIPER 15 Seating: Four Questions

Postby jimh » Fri Dec 23, 2022 7:50 am

17supersportnorge wrote:Q5: can a backrest be mounted on a cooler?
I doubt that would be workable.