Lowering Seat

[dougd]

Back in early spring right before my back surgery I had ordered a sliding pedestal seat from Wenonah. It came in while I was laid up and not moving very fast so it sat for a good long while before I was able to get to installing it in the Lettman aka the Caddy. Without going into the story too far the end results were the seat was to narrow and sat just off set of the two glassed in keelson's in the bottom of the boat. I figured it was too late to send it back and went with a cob artestry attachment which ended up the seat putting me to high up and the back band I use became useless.

Since it's glassed in I need to cut the verticals in the seat, then cut a little more off and put an aluminum insert in to tie the two back together, I may braze them back together if I have the balls to give that a try. I have about 3 1/2" on the vertical to play with for the cut. I am thinking about using a hacksaw blade but am worried about the cut "wandering". Was wondering if anyone who's worked with metal had any thoughts about this project?

dougd

 

[Sven]

If you have a miter saw and a carbide tooth blade I would go that route. I have cut some pretty thick aluminum this way.
i would not use a new blade, an old one works just as well. A blade made for cross cutting wood is fine. I usually use a “seasoned” blade for this which I deem no longer good for finish carpentry.
produces a very clean cut...make sure you have safety glasses on though....

 

[alsg]

Sven is right. You definitely can cut aluminum with a woodworking carbide tipped blade. Either on a chop saw (miter saw) or even a table saw. In addition to safety glasses, a shop apron is a good idea. Also, disconnect any sawdust collector from the chop saw/table saw before doing so. Hot aluminum chips and sawdust is a bad combo. A little WD40 spray on the blade is a good idea to prevent the aluminum from sticking.

 

[Guest]

Sven is right. You definitely can cut aluminum with a woodworking carbide tipped blade. Either on a chop saw (miter saw) or even a table saw.

I think the cutting issue is that the seat is well glassed in place, and it would be easier to make straight, even cuts through the upright legs with the seat in situ, and then remove the seat pan shorten the remains of the uprights.

I’d square up a pencil line all the way around the upright posts and try to follow that line all the way through. Since the uprights are going to be shortened once the seat is out those could be hit to flat and even with a grinder.

How to make the initial in situ cuts? Hacksaw? Dremmel tool? Light saber?

 

[stripperguy]

Those cuts can easily be made in place with a Sawzall or any reciprocating saw, make the cuts high up on the verticals. After the seat is free of the boat, I would cut all of the remaining verticals off, and reconnect the seat frame to the verticals.Or use an angle grinder, they're very easy to control, cut quickly and you can see the cuts clearly. You may need to recut the verticals that remain in the boat to the planned height, but that should be easier to do once the rest of the seat and frame are out of your way.

Brazing?? Gonna be hard to do on aluminum...Any form of welding (TIG or MIG, Electron Beam?) might cause harm to the hull. You might be better of to mechanically fasten the remnants together, either directly, or with some flat or angle brackets.


(BTW, before I became a design engineer, and rental property millionaire, I spent 30 years as an apprenticeship served toolmaker, modelmaker and R & D technician)

 

[dougd]

I do have a sawzall with a new metal blade and that might be the way to go. Will do a dry run first to see if I can fit it in there. I actually have a plan to do a mechanical fastener vs brazing as the first thought was what damage can I do to the hull with that much heat. Going to be an interesting project. Thanks all for the suggestions.

 

[Holmes375]

When cutting tubing by hand a worm drive hose clamp often makes an excellent cutting guide. I wrap the tube once with mask tape, affix the clamp and go to work. A good trick for cutting something you can't access with a power tool.

 

[goonstroke]

...
Since it's glassed in I need to cut the verticals in the seat, then cut a little more off and put an aluminum insert in to tie the two back together, I may braze them back together if I have the balls to give that a try. I have about 3 1/2" on the vertical to play with for the cut. I am thinking about using a hacksaw blade but am worried about the cut "wandering". Was wondering if anyone who's worked with metal had any thoughts about this project?

dougd

I did cut down one of those wenonah pedestals, and I used a hacksaw, followed by a rasp, followed by a small file to get any drybag eating barbs. It did it in-situ and didn't have any trouble. The square tubing they use is quite thin.

Maybe mine was gratuitously epoxied in, but I was surprised at how well the two longitudinal members held their positions with the cross pieces gone. I don't have them tied together at all now and it's plenty firm. I have the tubes almost all the way down (on the bottom bars with about a half inch of spacers). When I had them higher I used 1x1 hardwood trim as crosspieces/spacers.

 

[Holmes375]

Ooops... didn't realize it was square tubing