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RV4 seat cushions--recommendations

T

Ted Farmin

Well Known Member
Vans doesn't have cushions for the 4. called classic erodesign and they don't either, called Cleveland tool and their price is $775 for the set. Looking for
other ideas. What have some of you done or is this the best way to go? :confused:
 
Seat Cushions

This is not a reply to Ted's question, but I do have a seat question of my own. I feel kind of stupid about asking it but here goes.... What holds the upholstered seat cushions down to the airframe? Is it velcro or adhesive or something else? I'm thinking velcro.
Thanks,
Bruce
RV9
 
I bought Becky Orndorff's seat cushions for my RV-4. She was very willing to work with me to customize them. The stitching did seem a little fragile though.

As far as how I hold them down, I currently use butt power. I should probably anchor them down though. I'll probably use the sticky velcro strips to get it positioned right and then pop rivet the strip to the floor, and then stitch the other strip to the seat bottom.
 
Last summer I bought a -4 which had an amazing ability to put pain in my posterior in less than 30 minutes. The previous owner had included some Oregon Aero pads for the front seat so I went ahead and ponied up the cash for the back set. A local upholstery shop did some nice leather work and now my butt and I couldn't be happier. It wasn't the cheapest way to go but I consider it money very well spent.

Find them at www.oregonaero.com (a supporter of this fine website).
 
I have Becki Orndorff's seats in our RV-6a

Becki has a broad selection of materials (pads and cover) and selection sheets that she (and we) used to custom make the seats for us and provide the material for the complete cabin upholstery (carpet, side panels, sound proofing, etc.). She also has an upholstery video that she made to show how the do all the upholstery work. With that I was able to do a very satisfying job in our plane. VERY VERY personal, good service and product.
 
Roll your own

Ted,
For my -8, I bought a box of tempur foam from Jim and Janice Fix at Hi Tech Foams http://www.seatfoam.com. This kit contained all the foam I needed for many layers of custom fitted backs and bottoms as well as armrests and headrests. I glued and sculpted them to my wife and my bodies. Buying the kit allowed me to use three densities of Nasa foam: hi for the bottom layer, med for the middle layer and lo density for the layer closest to the skin. (Oregon Aero uses only one layer of tempur foam, I think, I could be wrong there). Glued them to alum plates and handed them over to a local hot rod upholsterer.

Oh, I also found an FAA burn approved snythetic leather called Ultra leather http://tapiscorp.com/index.html. Feels butter soft, easy to sew, relative to leather, certified FAA burn tests, and is breathable, so it's comfortable. A little more work on my part, but my seats are custom to me, and they fit my body perfectly. The best part is my wife's seat: she now hates the 'store bought' seat in our old Mooney and cannot wait to fly in the Rv. It's the man/machine interface and to me is the most important thing to spend a little extra time/cash on. BTW, total cost for the whole thing was around $600.
Art
 
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