Custom Seat building and design help

I have a 1986 Hydra-Sport BAss boat Im restoring and modifying to suit me.
The boat has 2 bucket seats with a fiberglass frame, Im wanting to add a small fold down seat cooler combo between the existing seats, for a third occasional passenger, Im also wanting to make it with out wood, has anyone here ever used Corian type counter top material for anything ? its Plastic material, and its strong, but can I glass over it ? either epoxy resin or polyester resin ?

I have looked all over the net for a seat pre-built that I can just mount between the seats but so far none with a cooler exist that I can find.

I have to recover my seats any way, so I thought while Im at it I would create the middle cooler seat I want .. any help here doing this, material suggestions etc

Thanx in Advance
Sean

 

The problem you might encounter with Corian would be UV rays degrading the plastic. After all, most plastics seem to suffer from UV. Those plastics used indoors like Corian would need to be investigated for that reason.
In any case, Corian is definitely heavy as a structural material.
Plywood, sealed with epoxy and covered with padding and vinyl to match the seats would be better.

Alan

 

Yes cover with resin. Most good uperholstry people will put plastic over the foam before they cover it. Just a little FYI. If the don't them tell them to, and use stainless steel staples. My interior wood has lasted 14 years and still going strong, new interior but the same wood.

 

if you will be removing covers, be sure to add UV-9 inhibitor to your resin...

 

Poly and epoxy resin saturated fabrics will not stay stuck to Corian. It does have pretty good UV resistance, but it's got other issues that make it a poor choice for holding up some one's butt.

Corian is an excellent countertop or shower enclosure material, but that's about it, as it's not structural in nature.

You should consider another material. Plywood is a natural choice and one the manufactures use. Epoxy coated, sheathed with padding foam and vinyl, a comfortable, strong and easy to make ice chest/seat. Seal the inside with a few coats of unthickened epoxy, then a layer of cloth. Make large radius fillets in the corners so cleaning is easy. Don't forget to add a drain so you can let the water out.

You could also make it as a solid laminate or a composite, maybe foam cored so you'll have built in insulation.

If it was me, I'd use thin plywood (1/8") as a mold, sealing this with epoxy. Then I'd use 3 or 4" of closed cell foam, epoxied to the plywood. After attaching the sides with big old fillets, I'd 'glass both inside (where the foam is) and out with a few layers of cloth. Fair and paint. It would be light, water tight, strong, can be shaped any way you can cut wood, self insulating and very rot resistant.