Help/Advise Needed - Seat Pole Modification

[DC]

G'Day All,
As some may know, I get around in a wheelchair and have hence set my boat up with a slightly modified chair that I fish from (see pic 1). Anyway, I'm looking at fabricating a seat pole so that I can use my seat in fellow Ausfisher, JB's, boat. The seat pole in my boat (pic 2&3) is a different set-up to JB's (pic 4). I've tried drawing my plan (pic 5). I think its a fairly simple job. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. I'm also after ideas on where I could go to get it done.
Thanks in advance.
Dane

[finga]

Dane mate, do you the suspension in your seat to work??
I think the ID of your seat clamp is about 63mm....or was that 73mm??....don't ask me why but that figure rings a bell for some reason....
Anyways if you don't want the suspension then it's an easy job to make what you have pictures for. The hard bit is to get the top tube the right DIA. to fit in your seat clamp.
With any luck it will be 3" or 76mm and easier to get.
Personally I'd be trying to get some round alloy billet roughly a bit larger then the DIA needed to go in your seat clamp and machine the billet so it slides into the seat clamp and also goes over the 50mm (but not all the way through...leave about 10mm on the top so the post can't go all the way through the 'sleeve' or 'cap') snug as a bug in a rug and then use a stainless grub screw or something like that to hold the sleeve/cap in place. Welding may reduce the strength of the aluminium post a bit.
The only reason I say that is because if the post needed is 50mm and the seat clamp is up to 76mm then there is a 1/2" gap to try and either build up or fill or do something with that'll give the required strength to hold you and your fish up off the deck.
Sounds easy :)

[finga]

Dane I just had a bit of a scout down in the dungeon and found 2 bits of billet 40mm thick with an OD of 70mm to make the sleeve or cap or collar or what-ever you want to call the chunky bit at the top and a whack of 50X3mm tube for the post.
Hopefully some others will have some other ideas for your little problem.

[DC]

Dane mate, do you the suspension in your seat to work??
G'Day Scott, the suspension does work in mine, but its not really that important for the occasional trip on board JB's rig.

I'll get the exact measurement on the seat clamp tonight. I'm pretty sure I get what you're describing about the rest. Where would one go to have some machining done around these parts?

Cheers

[DC]

Dane I just had a bit of a scout down in the dungeon and found 2 bits of billet 40mm thick with an OD of 70mm to make the sleeve or cap or collar or what-ever you want to call the chunky bit at the top and a whack of 50X3mm tube for the post.
Hopefully some others will have some other ideas for your little problem.
You must've posted this while I was typing the last reply. That sounds great. Your dungeon sounds like a treasure trove, lol. I'll get that measurement to see if its going to work.
Thanks,
Dane

[finga]

Machining is also done in the dungeon matey :)
When you get the diameter of the seat camp also get the length the sleeve/collar/cap needs to be

[Heath]

DC, Finga's right on the money with the sleeve idea.

[DC]

Scott, I got the measurements:
- Floor to top of existing seat post = 320mm (but we can look at the length of the 50mm pole after I get a measurement of the depth of the post hole, right?)
- Existing seat post = 75mm outside dia
- Seat clamp = 73mm when wound fully closed and approx. 5mm wider when fully open
- The pole slots into the seat clamp 70mm i.e. seat clamp = 70mm deep.
JB had the idea of putting some heavy duty rubber down the seat hole to act as a cushion. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Dane

[finga]

Righto Dane down to the workshop.
I'll just use both bits of billet to get the 70mm. Easy.
Should be finished later today ready for week-end testing I reckon ;)
PM your numbers again and I'll give a tingle to see if your home and bring it around.
Oh before all that talk of delivery is the bottom of the post capped or are JB's seat posts just cut off pipe??
If it's capped I'll need a measurement so I can cap it...if not I'll leave it a bit longer and you can cut to suit or....again anything is possible :)

The rubber idea would depend upon the depth of the hole in JB's floor.
Probably not worth the effort but anything is possible.

PS it wasn't a bad guestimation at the dimensions I made up the top eh ;)

[JB]

Hi Finga, the seat poles are just cut off pipe that slot in you are correct. Its going to be so good to have in the boat durin the classic. I'll just have to make sure i face the rear of the boat towards the fish, i cant have him outfishing me!!

Jas

[finga]

How deep is the hole JB so I can finish the masterpiece??
Cheers matey
:)

[JB]

No worries mate i'll have it for you by tomorrow.

[DC]

The rubber idea would depend upon the depth of the hole in JB's floor. Probably not worth the effort but anything is possible.

PS it wasn't a bad guestimation at the dimensions I made up the top eh ;)
I think the hole is fairly deep, but I guess it'd have to be fairly heavy duty rubber, yet still springy. I might pay a visit to Clark Rubber... that'll affect the length of the pole though... hmmm, probably wouldn't be worth it.

Yeh! How good were your estimates. I don't know what people are talkin about when they say "its hard to find good help these days", I certainly know where! ;D
Cheers for your help. Sending PM now.

Dane

[finga]

Done...all we need is a height and Danes away :)
I had to put a step in it as I couldn't find any billet 75mm so I used a couple of old alloy pulleys and turned the buggers down and that's what they had.
Anyways it was a good spot to put a couple of machine threads to stop the bottom collet going down and to aid the top cap from flying off. The top cap is also slightly tapered so the sucker is pretty tight on the post.
All we need now is a height so I can cut the post and then I go for a little drive to Dane's place :)

[Dignity]

Dave, Finga just got around to reading this post but if in the future you do want a suspension affair I have a spare set up which looks like JB's, my thought would be to weld a section of billet underneath the round foot and plug it straight in. Dont know if that would be strong enough, would be happy to donate it for this worthy cause.

sam

[tunaticer]

Might be a bit late but my first thought was why not hit up an exhaust place for a piece of stainless tube and get them to use thier dies to expand one end and shrink the other? get out of the whole shebang for a few bucks and 2mm stianless would be as strong as 5mm ally.

Jack.

[finga]

I even thought about that as I had some polished 2" stainless tube...but the glare 8-)
Would a 2" expand to a 3" without splitting??

Maybe if I capped the top of the stainless tube and turned down a poly roller to act as a bush?? Mmmmm ::)
Nah, that won't work...where do I get a 3" roller from??
Never too late for anything you know :)

[blaze]

Finga
your a credit to the human race mate, so often, na, all the time doing something for some else. Gotta be a lot of good karma coming your way.
cheers
blaze

[Spaniard_King]

Guys,

I have but one concern for the setup. In JB's boat is the boat setup to take the post sitting on the bottom of the hole??? or is the post hole designed to take the weight on the upper section of the post hole... don't really want dane pushing holes in the bottom of JB's boat now hey;D ;D ;D May need a flange welded on it:-/

Just a thougth!

PS look at my post time... been up since 2am::) .. Picking my new rig up today:)

[buzzard]

finga
this bloke might be able to help you out with the poly you want,his names karl
ph.no 38692677 at sandgate.I'm going past there either thurs or fri can help with pickup and delivery if it works out.

[finga]

Gidday Blaze...mate the karma is going to be a dirty huge old man knobby getting caught tomorrow...I hope :)
Dane does a lot for others and he deserves something back every now again. And besides..ya can't let anybody have any excuse for not going fishing can ya??

Gary....mate, I've been informed there's a plate at the bottom so Dane's seat will not turn into a plow or yabbi pump but a stopper may be a good idea just incase eh.

Buzzard...what a champ. I'll have to keep that number as I look for the stuff every now again. Ta matey :)

[DC]

Thanks for the replies guys, Scott deserves all his praise. Just a quick follow-up, its taken this long for me to finally have a hit-out in JB's boat. The pole fits perfectly and sitting up the front on the casting deck is so good - there's so much more casting room.
Anyway, here's a couple of pics. Thanks again Scott. There'll be many more trips to come now that I can jump on JB's boat.
Cheers,
Dane

[finga]

Gees it even looks the part.
Did you have to 'adjust' the height??
It was a pleasure to help matey :)
It was just a pity we didn't get anything on the scratchy :'(

[DC]

No Scott, didn't have to adjust the height. JB was still considering putting a small piece of rubber down there for cushioning but we gave the seat a fair pounding in the slop that was a result of the 13kn SE wind that was on it + post-Sunday morning storm that passed through, and it passed with flying colours. I was even sitting in the mother-in-law seat! So yeh, height was perfect, positioning great, just needed more hungry fish. We're planning another crack this weekend. This time down the 'pin.

[sid_fishes]

scott, mate you are a legend, i,m sure there are lots of us out there that thank you for your time to help out a fellow ausfisher cheers champ ian

[Fish Guts]

scott, mate you are a legend, i,m sure there are lots of us out there that thank you for your time to help out a fellow ausfisher cheers champ ian


very true Ian. good onya scott.

[finga]

Fella's that little job for Dane was just a thanks for the lots of things that he does for others.
Just paying it in advance :)