There was a time when I made all of the webbed seats, yokes and thwarts for shop rebuilds. I think I first ordered a seat from Ed’s because I was in a hurry. It was well made and, upon reflection, relatively inexpensive considering what it took me to DIY a simple wood seat .
To DIY a seat I needed to rip and router, sand and varnish some lengths of ash for the frame. I am slow in the shop, and prefer to wait for good weather to varnish.
And varnish, and varnish. Three coats at least. A few more on the butt ends. Given a preference for good weather this could take me weeks. Stretched webbing, stainless steel staples. Time and materials are starting to add up.
So, materials + labor + a couple of weeks? Why the heck am I building seats? And those were the most simplistic of flat bench seats. Making a DIY contour seat is beyond my point of befuddlement.
Having accepted that, it was easy to see that the same applied to all but the most customized thwarts and yokes.
When I made seats and thwarts and yokes I would typically do a production run and cut and router enough pieces to do several boats. I still have a bunch of shop stock of yokes and thwarts needing final sanding and varnishing.
And I still just order from Ed’s instead.