| Submitted By: | justin(at)systemwise.co.uk | ||
| Email List: | Europa-List | ||
| Name: | Justin Kennedy | ||
| Date: | May 7 2007 | ||
| Subject: | A way of making comfortable seats for the Europa... | ||
| Description: | I have had some Europa builders ask me for photos of my seats in response to a posting I made to the Europa List. I have a bad back and that prompted me to look into the seating more closely than I otherwise might have. These seats have been a great success and I my view make a big contribution to the enjoyment of our aeroplane. They have a high "squirmability" factor which is an improvement on seats moulded to your own shape. I have had them covered in Leather by an upholsterer but I made the structure myself quite easily from foam. I enjoy the comfort every time I fly. My wife and I have tested it to 3 ½ hours. No pressure points J Europa_seating.jpg is a scan of the drawing which shows how the seat is constructed. My Drawings are freehand and not to scale. I apologise for not doing them in CAD but it takes me so much longer and foam doesn't behave in straight lines anyway, I have posted this so it can be copied in whole or in part. Give the whole lot to an upholsterer and he will make it for you. You will have to supply him with the high impact foam for the bottom of the seat squab. It is available through the gliding fraternity or other aviation suppliers. The pictures are pretty much self explanatory. The Velcro edge on the back of the seat squab is a bit too much. In hind site I would use only 1 inch wide here. In the end I had to Redux the Velcro to the fibreglass because ripping off 2 inch wide Velcro pulled the Velcro off the fibreglass. Redux solved it though. The gap below the seat back and above the squab varies depending on where the small of your back comes. You can adjust the height of the seat back by varying the position of the flap on the Velcro at the back of the head rest. Seat back 3 & 4 show me pushing down the backing of the seat back to reveal the lumbar roll within. The upper part is only 1 inch thick foam in the middle section. In Seat Back 5. The weird shape of the seat back is to match the shape of the Europa. Notice the exact centre of the seat is slightly inward of the center of the head rest. This is because that is where my body's centre was when I sat in the plane. I do not have the window sill mod but it has never bothered me because I am held in the seat in a position that keeps the sill out of arms way. So sit in it and decide you centre line before making the seats. Also I have a site gauge tube running between the seats which has to be visible. The inboard wedges are cut back slightly so the sight gauge is easily visible. Don't cut too much away as the inboard wedges help you to maintain your own space. They stop the two occupants being thrown together. Ensure the seams at the top of the seat back a strong as many a bum will slide over them. Squab1 & 3 show the seat squab. The Squab is built on a piece of 1 inch high impact foam as used in gliders. This assumes you have levelled off the floor with pieces of blue foam. No heavy ply is required as the high impact foam is rigid enough and distributes the load. The wedge is continued around the back which turned out to be more comfortable with trial and error. The cockpit module has a slope up at the front of the seat. I built the seat squab straight and let the slope up bend it. The leather upholstery man took a dim view when I suggested darts in the leather at the side to accommodate this. Squab 2 shows a side view which in turn shows the support under the knees. It makes a big difference to the comfort if the support goes forward beyond the seat edge. This necessitated making a place for the control stick on the centre section. In fact I cut the wedges about 8 inches too long and then folded the excess under the squab at the front. The posh piece of black cloth on the bottom was the upholsterer's idea and gives it a good finish. The foam is ordinary seat density foam. When cutting it yourself use a hacksaw blade on it's own. It give a better finish if you give it lots of sawing action. Glue the wedges to the 1 inch foam with any suitable glue with the cut edges against the 1 inch foam so that the machined edges are next to you body. Best of Luck with it, | ||
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europa_seating.jpg | Photo 1 | |
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Gap.jpg | Photo 2 | |
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Pilot_Seat_Back.jpg | Photo 3 | |
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Pilot_Squab.jpg | Photo 4 | |
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Seat_Back1.jpg | Photo 5 | |
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Seat_Back_2.jpg | Photo 6 | |
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Seat_Back_3.jpg | Photo 7 | |
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Seat_Back_4.jpg | Photo 8 | |
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Seat_Back_5.jpg | Photo 9 | |
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Seat_Back_Attachment.jpg | Photo 10 | |
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Squab1.jpg | Photo 11 | |
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Squab2.jpg | Photo 12 | |
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Squab3.jpg | Photo 13 | |
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Squab4.jpg | Photo 14 | |
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Velcro.jpg | Photo 15 | |