Rebel, Elite, and Moose: Seats & upholstery
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:18 pm
Hi Mike !
I totally agree with Drew - and I went one farther ! The guy who
did my seats was an experienced aircraft rebuilder - he said "Never drill
holes in a seat frame - period !". He was an experienced upholsterer,
with his own equipment, and his approach is to SEW heavy canvas 'slings'
wrapped around the seat tubes. This gives a rounded sag that fits the
buns and back comfortably - MUCH nicer than a hard, flat aluminum plate !
This stuff is upholstery canvas, and plenty strong for this use.
The foam is the cut to fit, and extra pieces glued on to give
the desired shape - triangles at the sides give extra support, like
car bucket seats, and then the whole thing is covered with naugahyde
on the sides, for wear resistance, and upholstery cloth in the middle,
for better cooling and comfort. He did 2" of high density foam on the
bottom, 2" of medium density, and 2" of soft, then a 2" slab of
the 3 ply Temperfoam for the top layer, on the seat only - not
that much weight on the back ! :-)
I heartily recommend that Rebel and Elite seat bottoms be made
at least 8" high - not only will you have much better forward
visibility and a more comfortable seating position, but your
voice won't go up 3 octaves every time you get in and out ! ;-)
(Watch that seat belt attach triangle ! :-) )
Even the Moose can benefit from thicker seat bottoms - at least
2 of us always used a cushion on top of the factory seats for
a better position. The only exception might be if you are
OVER 6 ft 6" tall ! :-)
Unfortunately, my upholsterer moved on to other things, so
is not available for more work ..... :-(
He sure taught me a LOT about how seats should be made, though,
and I'm really grateful !
.......bobp
-------------------------------orig.-------------------------
On Saturday 05 November 2005 12:23 pm, Drew Dalgleish wrote:
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I totally agree with Drew - and I went one farther ! The guy who
did my seats was an experienced aircraft rebuilder - he said "Never drill
holes in a seat frame - period !". He was an experienced upholsterer,
with his own equipment, and his approach is to SEW heavy canvas 'slings'
wrapped around the seat tubes. This gives a rounded sag that fits the
buns and back comfortably - MUCH nicer than a hard, flat aluminum plate !
This stuff is upholstery canvas, and plenty strong for this use.
The foam is the cut to fit, and extra pieces glued on to give
the desired shape - triangles at the sides give extra support, like
car bucket seats, and then the whole thing is covered with naugahyde
on the sides, for wear resistance, and upholstery cloth in the middle,
for better cooling and comfort. He did 2" of high density foam on the
bottom, 2" of medium density, and 2" of soft, then a 2" slab of
the 3 ply Temperfoam for the top layer, on the seat only - not
that much weight on the back ! :-)
I heartily recommend that Rebel and Elite seat bottoms be made
at least 8" high - not only will you have much better forward
visibility and a more comfortable seating position, but your
voice won't go up 3 octaves every time you get in and out ! ;-)
(Watch that seat belt attach triangle ! :-) )
Even the Moose can benefit from thicker seat bottoms - at least
2 of us always used a cushion on top of the factory seats for
a better position. The only exception might be if you are
OVER 6 ft 6" tall ! :-)
Unfortunately, my upholsterer moved on to other things, so
is not available for more work ..... :-(
He sure taught me a LOT about how seats should be made, though,
and I'm really grateful !
.......bobp
-------------------------------orig.-------------------------
On Saturday 05 November 2005 12:23 pm, Drew Dalgleish wrote:
seatHi Mike I had a seat back break on the ground a couple years ago. I would
suggest not drilling the seat frame at all. just wrap the aluminum around
the frame and rivet it to itself. This is what I did after I welded my
rivetedback together with an inside doubler tube and all the holes filled.
Drew
---------------------------------------------------------
At 09:51 PM 11/4/2005 -0600, you wrote:Do the seat backs have the aluminum skin put on the back side or isHi all,
Building seats these days. The instructions are getting worse as I go on.
to the front side of the frame.Thanks,
Mike Betti
771E
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