Reinforcing hollow seat base with closed cell foam (Yamaha SX230, AR230)

[Bruce]

The bolster attachments had cracked the base of my seat making the bolster difficult to open and close.

I had speculated about building a metal structure to reinforce the plastic. After further consideration I decided to try reinforcing the plastic with closed cell foam. I have forgotten exactly what I used but suspect it was Loctite Tite Foam. The seat base and bolster has held up to two summers of use including two 10+ day Bimini trips since the foaming.

I believe this picture will illustrate the process. I drilled holes of sufficient diameter to insert the foam nozzle into the seat base and sprayed a small amount of foam into the base allowing it to expand to fill the void but being careful not to spray too much at any point. I then drilled additional holes to fill remaining voids. At the end the once hollow seat base was a much stronger solid structure.

Finally I drilled new holes trough the bolster mount.

 

[buckbuck]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple years ago. I tried foam but it only lasted a year. I ended up pumping it full of construction adhesive and reinforced with some aluminum angle. I wish I had thought of your solution.

 

[Bruce]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple years ago. I tried foam but it only lasted a year. I ended up pumping it full of construction adhesive and reinforced with some aluminum angle. I wish I had thought of your solution.

I believe the close cell foam that I used would fall somewhere between typical foam and the construction adhesive that you used.