Seating in any of the RV side by sides

[Greg Arehart]

I'm willing to bet a repurposed office chair will not be as comfortable as "real" seats designed for the airplane, particularly on any long cross-country. I'm as cheap as the next guy, maybe cheaper, and don't regret for a minute the $ I paid for seats.

My opinion. Certainly worth a try and if it works for you, well, you've just saved 15 tanks of fuel.

Greg

[crabandy]

I've ridden in too many certified planes with broken down seats, and plenty of experimentals with homemade seats that leave much to be desired after 30 minutes much less 3-4 hours. There is not a lot of room to adjust/move around in the RV and comfort was a priority for me. I was taken back by the $$ that my Oregon Aero seats cost, funny that I can't say they're super comfortable but I can tell you I can sit 3 hours plus and not ever once think about a pressure point or readjusting my seating posture. Like when I borrowed a friends lightspeed headset for a 6+ hour flight to Florida, they weren't remarkably comfortable but I never once remembered them being uncomfortable. I haven't regretted my lightspeed purchase either.
I'm all for DIY and home building, but I'm guessing you'll spend more $$ and way more time on 2 or 3 iterations to get an acceptable result.

Good Luck!

[DaleB]

The great thing about an $8 used office chair? If it works and you like it, you just got off REALLY cheap putting seats in your plane. If it's a complete failure... well... big deal. You risked and lost the equivalent of - what - one trip around the pattern? Not bad.

Having said that... Mrs. Dale and I have logged a lot of hours on the Harley, many of them on long haul trips. Our original seat felt great, for the first couple-few hours. Then not so much. Its replacement feels very firm when you first sit on it, and you're sure it's going to get uncomfortable. It never does. 700+ mile days on the bike and we're still not worn out. So, I'm a big fan of firm seats. Most of the fancy looking office chairs I try are squishy. Of course if you weigh less than me, and most people do, you may have different results.

[Robert M]

Originally Posted by MikeyDale

What cha gonna do bout the split where the stick goes?

The split in the seat for the stick and the crotch strap opening will be part of the modifications. Hopefully, (the reason for the experimental chair) there will be enough leather to make the needed mods and still have it look good. Thanks for bringing up that point.

Originally Posted by Snowflake

I've gone through three "leather" office chairs at home. Every one has been made from "top grain" leather, which is just the top, cosmetic layer of the leather bonded to something else underneath. Every chair has died in about two years, as the leather starts to split near the stitching and eventually rips somewhere.

I'm on my first office chair in my house. It comes from Office Depot. No wear signs at all but, then again, I don't work out of my home. I will bet that I will spend even less time sitting in the plane than I do sitting in my home office but thanks for the info.

I'm very fond of my Classic Aero leather seats, and have no regrets about the cost.

The interesting thing I have discovered is that when it comes to home built aircraft there is this time vs money thing that takes exists. Either you have the time and little money or you have little time but plenty of money. I'm sure this isn't always the case but most builders I have talked to fall into either of these two categories. I think $1000+ for just sewing cloth to the foam you provide is a bit steep, IMHO.(http://www.classicaerodesigns.com/we...tCategoryID=14)

Originally Posted by Paul K

Robert,

Totally agree with everything you are saying. Just pointing out some possible ramifications of mounting an office chair in your high performance aircraft.

Yes and thank you. (I forgot to say that). Sometimes our best plans fail because we don't always think them through. You brought up some very good points and I will mull all this over before putting the finished product in the plane.

Thank you all for your great insight, response and information. This is the kinda stuff that makes this a fantastic website. Thanks again.

[JonJay]

I am an Oregon Aero customer. The owner is my neighbor, but he moved in long after I bought their seats. I can not say enough about how important your butt is after a few hours in the saddle. You can fly all day and not feel any discomfort.

However, I admire those do it yourselfers.

Black may not be my choice. Much worse in an RV than in a car sitting out in the sun. OUch!!

[Luke D]

Originally Posted by Robert M

The interesting thing I have discovered is that when it comes to home built aircraft there is this time vs money thing that takes exists. Either you have the time and little money or you have little time but plenty of money. I'm sure this isn't always the case but most builders I have talked to fall into either of these two categories. I think $1000+ for just sewing cloth to the foam you provide is a bit steep, IMHO.(http://www.classicaerodesigns.com/we...tCategoryID=14)

Hi Robert

I understand wanting to save money, and I'm all for it. Since you referenced our company though, I'd like to clarify a few things. It costs more than most people would think to operate a business that produces custom, labor intesive products with specialized materials. By the time we pay for everything, there is very little profit left over. Just as an example, the cloth that we use costs us close to $40 per yard. It's a top quality material though, and each lot is treated and independently tested to ensure that it meets FAA flamability requirements.

Because of the way it's made, the Vans foam you linked to requires us to take a few extra steps we don't do on our other seats. We do offer an option that's more economical than upholstering Vans foam. It's our CA-1 seat in cloth for $734 a pair ready to install complete with foam (these include the same high quality cloth I mentioned above). Plus they have some features the Vans foam doesn't. I don't think you're going to find a product comparable to the CA-1 at a lower price.

I think it's great that you're experimenting with off the shelf components. I've been involved with homebuilt aircaft since the early 90s, and I think that that's what experimental aircraft are all about. There will be a number of compromises using an inexpensive office chair in a side by side RV, but those may not be big issues for you based on your needs. We understand that not everyone will choose our seat. That's okay. I can say without any reservation whatsoever though that we offer a wide variety of price options for customers that are very fair based on what it costs us to produce these products.

If you have any questions about getting your office chair to work, feel free to give me a call. We've done over 2000 RV interiors, with the majority being side by side. I'd be happy to give you a heads up on the issues you might run into, and some possible solutions. Good luck with your project.