New Pedestal for Seat

Well, I happily just finished my boat project for the weekend.

As one of my previous posts indicated, I just obtained a trolling motor and battery over a week ago.  One of the things that I immediately noticed was that the battery takes room, (go figure).  So while I was out and about this week, I brainstormed on what I could do to get the battery out of the way while using a minimal amount of space.  I devised a plan to put it UNDER my seat.

If you are at all familiar with NuCanoe, you can testify that there is no current product on the market that could accomplish this.  Another key to this thought process was the height of my seat.  I like being able to stand up every now and then to stretch, and I found the movement very difficult from the low position the seat had me in.  This is only an item of concern because I don't have the best back in the world.  I injured myself about 10 years ago and I've never gotten back to 100%.

So back to the project.  I decided to make a pedestal that would fit the battery case  underneath it perfectly.  I decided upon using 2X lumber for the frame.

In the following picture, you can see the steps I took to build this little contraption.

The 2X4 bottom footing that I used goes a little furthur back than you would expect.  This is because I mount cleats and some other items behind me.  This also gave me the ability to put down 4 anchors instead of 2.

The uprights are 2X8's turned sideways.  I cut a bevel to the top and bottom so that they are angled slightly in at the top, this was to help with bracing.

All the wood was glued and screwed together.

There is a piece of aluminum screwed in across the top of the back of the pedestal.  This is to keep the battery from sliding back when I'm pulling the boat out of the water.

I ended up using a variety of colors of spray paint to match my Hunter's Brown as closely as possible.

It looks a little taller than it actually is, but I can tell you, with feet on the floor, it's almost like sitting in a regular chair.

I still have a separate seat that sits lower if I'm only paddling.  Once again, I mainly made this to accommodate the battery when I'm bringing the trolling motor.

I know that all the lumber adds weight to the boat.  I use a trailer to move mine around, so I'm not overly concerned about that.  I'm thinking I may expand upon this idea and weld together a seat pedestal that matches the dimensions of this later on.  I have some light gauge angle metal and a welding machine, so the options may be limitless.

Laugh if you must, but I bet I'm fishing more comfortable than you.  LOL!