Mark 1.5 helmsman seat cushion

[pablosgirl]

I was at the local boaters consignment shop this weekend and found a really nice neoprene foam helmsman seat cushion that was made for a Catalina 34 mark 1.5 boat.   It is one piece that spans the whole aft seat and has the hump in the middle over the teak insert.  It is approximately 2" thick in the non-hump areas and 7" thick at the hump.  If you are interested, talk to Paul Yurga at the Boaters resale Shop (713) 614-8884 http://www.virtual-harbormaster.com/

[Ken Juul]

My 1.5 has 3 seperate cushions one for the teak insert and one each of the side seats.  It is a unique find, but it's size kind of negates the usefullness of the walk thru.  Where are you going to put it when you want to get out?  After a couple years of struggling with where to put the teak insert when using the walk thru I decided it is not used enough to stay on the boat.  Its been on a shelf in the garage for 3 years and not missed.

[Mike_S]

So Ken,

Do you just not have anything at all in the middle?  We are always lifting that teak seat in and out of the slot and have yet to come up with a good place for it.  I'd thought about cutting some slots in it to hang on the stern pushpit, but with the grill on the one side and the outboard on the other, that's a no go for us ...

[Ken Juul]

Yes Mike,  we sail with the middle open.  On the Mk1s with the narrower sterns there are just so many other options.  Stern Perch seats, sit on the side coaming, auto.  Prior to installation of the chart plotter it was possible to see forward sitting behind the helm, no not.  So the center seat/cushion stays at home.

I too struggled with where to place the seat when access to the swim platform was needed.  It usually got stuck on the side deck, but then it gets in the way of going forward.  I could never get the hang it on the rail/life lines to work for me either.

The two small cushions for the rear side seats got wet the last time we were out, took them home to dry out.  The inside foam is stencilled C34, so they are either factory or from a cushion warehouse not custom.  Thinking the solid cushion may be aftermarket?

[Ron Volk]

Mike,

I also removed the center seat & cushion and garaged them, it really opens up the area aft of the wheel.  I also added perch seats on each side which made the cushions designed for each side unusable as the perch seat supports rest on the hatches so I added snap connectors on the perch seats and now use the cushions on these seats.