Seat heater elements

@manoseven

Thanks for the pix.

I was looking to do it differently, but maybe my elements are not the same size as yours.

I want the driver seat to be warm the width of the seat, so with the elements I have, I'm thinking of using two elements and just shortening the one towards the back of the seat that is a little long (see below). The pix view is of the front of the cushion and the front element is just about the right size for the width of that piece of foam. You can see that the back element is a little too long, but since you can trim the length, that's no problem. I'll also have to deal with routing the wires on the sides, but it will be on the right side so no-one will see it. Also, I won't have to deal with cutting a slot and pulling the flap down between the two foam pieces to staple them. :)




For the observer seat bottom, it looks like I need three elements (with the pull down cut out) to cover the seat. I want the raised front of the seat bottom heated (like the driver seat) so it looks like I'll have to cut a slit through each and pull the flap of the skin down. On the other hand, I am not an observer too much in my boat, so maybe I don't worry about it... :)

I was going to put one or two elements on the observer seat back, but either I didn't mark it up or didn't give good enough instructions, because the person that did the skins put foam on the back of the seat back skin (the driver and observer seat bottom skins don't have foam where the elements will go). So I guess I'm just not going to do the observer seatback since no-one will feel it.



Anyway, I'm working on it tonight (getting everything situated) and will probably install the observer seat back and driver seat back skins (and those three cushions--not looking forward to that part...). Then tomorrow I'll make the final decision on element orientation and do the seat bottoms.

@manoseven, wish you were in N Cal; would love to come watch/help you do it this weekend. But we'll see how it goes. It's supposed to rain most of the weekend so may not get out to the course anyway. But worst case it gives me more time to get the upholstery and heating elements done (don't have a tow vehicle this weekend either so glad it's raining...).

Question for anyone that knows: How are you supposed to use the "clips" that came with the elements? Just stick them through the edge of the element material and then into the seat foam? What's the chance of the elements 'slipping'? I bought two sets of elements. One was a set of four elements, and it came with the hooks, and the other (same manufacturer) was a set of two elements, but didn't come with the hooks....

slmskrs wrote: So, I did the driver's seat the way I showed. But I decided to follow @manoseven's layout on the observer seat bottom. The other way would have been too much of a hassle.

How about those directions that came with the elements?? Ha ha it looks like they used Chinese to English translator on Google and didn’t have anyone that spoke both languages proof read it! I was cracking up reading through those!