New to boats, questions about old screws and seat mounting

I think I posted this in the wrong area (boat restoration) so if a mod sees this, can you please fix my mistake? Thanks.

anyways

Hi everyone, new to the forum! This is my first boat, a 12 foot Fisher with a 8HP Mercury. Bug has already bit me, as I have lots of ideas but little experience. I'm going to list off some questions and hope I find some answers here. As you can see, I built a casting deck today, my plan was to build what you see in the photo and eventually just add the second piece (with carpet) to give it that flush look.

After removing seat, its clear that water is in the foam block under the seat, what can I do about this without creating a headache?

I'm trying to come up with a solution so that I have the option of full flat casting deck, or front seat installed for second person to fish with me.

There are a ton of little screw holes around the boat, can I just JB weld and sand them flat?

The drivers seat came loose last time I was out, bolts were not holding and they are just big holes now. You can see from the photo, what is my best option for adding seats that will actually stay put?

Any insight is appreciated and I will continue to update with photos.

Looking at how chewed up things are I'd probably go with toggle bolts to secure the seats. If you can't get stainless see if you can pass an aluminum washer through the post hole at the center of the seat cutout and set the toggle bolt through it - sacrifice the washer to any corrosion that occurs and not the structural integrity of the bench seat.

Odd that the foam that high up in the front is wet - that boat must have sat full of water for a long time.

The seats without the center holes - can you cut a hole there?

in my world, I would find some 2"x 1/4" alum. flatbar and cut
some 12" pieces, drill holes to match the seat base, affix some
1/4" or 5/16" bolts with adhesive to anchor them in place.
I would secure the bolts into the seat base as it would be mounted
to the seat or deck while the adhesive on the heads cure.
- or - if you have a tap, you could tap threads into the flatbar.
insert into the cavity bracing from underneath by whatever means
works in order to get the seat base bolted in place. and go from there.




sent from the desk of a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Specialist





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"After removing seat, its clear that water is in the foam block under the seat, what can I do about this without creating a headache? " Water soaked foam is going to take a LONG time to dry out. I'd flip her over and let her drain naturally for a couple of weeks, or until the foam felt dry to you.

"I'm trying to come up with a solution so that I have the option of full flat casting deck, or front seat installed for second person to fish with me." 12 foot boats with raise decks are going to be pretty tippy. Not for me, but I am old and clumsy.

richg99