Very comfortable. Weighs about 5 pounds, the backrest/headrest
is removable, the seat itself lifts in and out in about 5 seconds,
and it has two inches thickness of Temperfoam in the seat portion.
Upholstery by Wilmer Duncan Upholstery, 4900 Memorial
Boulevard, & my next door neighbor.
Note:
This seat will not fit
unless you reshape the control stick.
With that admonition in mind, here's how to make
the seat.
Start with your basic plastic boat seat, as found
in the Wal-Mart sporting goods section.
As is, the seat bottom is too wide, there is no
room for the passengers feet to fit alongside it, which makes
your FSII a single seater, you need to cut the seat narrower,
so that when you get done, it will look like this. After you cut
the seat narrower, it needs an edge to wrap the fabric and foam
around so it will be smooth and comfortable. I used white flexible
plastic water pipe from Lowe's, it is called H/C PEX plumbing
tube, comes in 3/8" X 1/2" X 10' lengths and is inexpensive.
I attached it to the edge of the seat by drilling holes every
inch or so and sewing it on with safety wire.
Here is the seat frame. It is 1/2" X .035 chrom-moly.
Note the socket in the back and a loop in the back top. this allows
the backrest to slip in and out easily. It needs to be removable
to access the fuel tanks and refuel. Be careful when fitting,
it is possible to get things rubbing on the control cables or
turnbuckles if anything hangs down too low.
The backrest is secured with an AN3 bolt and a simple
safety pin through a hole in the socket.
The backrest vertical tube is a length of 6061-T6
1" X .049.
The top of the steel frame is not attached to the
plastic seat, the seat simply rests against the metal frame. The
backrest/headrest is a sheet of 3/16" plywood covered with
foam and secured with four screws through two aluminum brackets.
The seat frame drops into the original Kolb frame
with a slip on pair of fingers on either side of the seat frame.
You lift up the back part of the seat, slip the two fingers over
the original front seat frame tube, and let the seat slide forward
a couple inches. I welded spacers onto each side of the original
Kolb frame to keep the seat properly located in the center of
the frame.
Then at the back, there is a vertical tube sticking
down from the seat frame on either side, and once the front fingers
are all the way in place, then the back will drop into place and
keep the whole thing from moving back and forth, or left to right.
Once the pilot has the seat belt on, then the seat cannot move
out of it's position.
This is the down and locked position. The frame
of the seat extends far enough back to rest on the fuselage carry
through. It is mandatory to tie all wires and cables out of the
way, or else you could pinch them if carelessly aligning the seat
into position.
But it will not fit unless
you reshape the control stick!
