Posted: September 25 2007 at 11:39 | IP Logged

Interested in adding a folding bench seat for the transom to help on the crusing trips with wife and kids....

Would like one that both folds down and can be removed if im not going to be using it.

I found the below one from Birdsall.....

http://www.birdsallmarine.com/page10.html

Anyone have any experience with this one, or have a thought of a better option?  I dont think there was ever one that came from the factory as an option on the 2870...

Posted: September 25 2007 at 15:41 | IP Logged

I purchased a couple of the Kingfish folding deck chairs from West Marine.  they run them on sale quite a bit.  Easy to move around and store, but work well when just out cruising.  For hardcore fishing days the Kingfish deck chairs stay home and the beanbags come with. 

On my last boat I had a removable transom bench seat and I hated bringing it along. Granted it was not a folding seat, but it seemed to always be in the way when it was in the boat.

Posted: September 26 2007 at 13:58 | IP Logged

That does look like it would be comfortable.  Im just not sure if I want to be lugging on and off the boat.......may go look at one in person at BW and see how big and heavy it is.

As far as a mounted bench, its a good point on mounting the backing plates for a fold down bench on the transom....i dont know my boat well enough yet to know offhand if i can get between the fish box and the inside of the transom wall to get the nut on the bolt thru......i will look.

Posted: October 03 2007 at 01:03 | IP Logged

Tx, I had that type of seat on a Formula I used to own and it was very uncomfortable for any length of time. The bench seat puts you in a 90 degree position. It also puts alot of stress on the mounting brackets.  We have great luck with the folding camp chairs. They hold up well, store easily and compact, are very comfortable and can take rough riding sea pretty well. We also use them in the water when beaching on the island. Buy a better quality, oversized chair in the $30 range and it should give you several seasons of use. We got ones that even match our T-Top canvas.

Posted: December 08 2008 at 19:36 | IP Logged

We use marine bean bags. They work great. Very comfortable, portable, and easy to move around or store out of the way when we are not using them. We throw ours on top of our t-top or store them down below when we are fishing. Here is a link to where we get them from.

www.ocean-tamer.com