New member just picked up a 10 Meter Express

[Blueflu]

I've been on the water for over 30 years in NJ. I just picked up an 85 10 Meter Express in great shape. It's got 454 Crusaders with 580 hrs, a new 6.5kw gen with no hours and completely reupholstered in and out. It was purchased from a family member who had it for the last 15 years so i am familiar with the boat and its performance. My question to the forum is regarding the cockpit furniture, more specifically the bases to the seats and the sink/refrigerator unit. I have been chartering boats for the last 13 years and plan to do a lot of inshore fishing with this one and do not like the upholstered setup. I would like to update them to fiberglass units which I have seen on some models. Does anyone know where they are available from or have you done this type of upgrade. Thanks for any help.

[Moderator]

Welcome to the site . I moved your post to the Trojan boat forum as its about boating

[Flyboy]

I have seen some made out of plywood and then Gel Coated, they look like they are fiberglass but are not. Would think these would hold up fairly well.

[RWS]

The factory seating for the most part is wood, covered with vinyl.

It is 100% modular and can be removed to allow for different uses such as fishing/cruising/etc.

Among other benefits the factory forward seats, L-bench seat & wetbar yield tremendous storage capabilities.

The negative is that these units are very, very heavy. Updating to fiberglass would surely reduce some weight and allow for a fishing platform. You might incorporate the raw water washdown system into a livewell as I have done with mine (portable)

You will find numerous factory photos and additional information here:

www.trojanboat.com

RWS

[jhalb]

Welcome to the forum. If you do decide to upgrade there are members looking for the original setup. You might try to sell on the for sale section.

[Blueflu]

I was hoping someone did this update. Yes they are heave as hell. I'm a big fisherman and do some chartering and would love to get rid of the L seat and sink/refer unit and replace them with a tackle center and cooler space but I do a lot of family cruising too. I've already built my portable live well. I purchased a 35 gallon round and it's ready to go but haven't decided how to fill and where to drain it. Was going to run a 1-1/2 bilge hose for the overflow into the cockpit scuppers and maybe tap into the raw water wash down hose to fill it. How did you do it.

[Blueflu]

Also removed the cockpit seats. In my opinion the only thing that should be in the cockpit are people. I kept the brackets though and plan on selling them.

[RWS]

I use the existing raw water washdown pluming for my livewell with quick disconnects.

When the livewell fills up the excess water runs out through a drain near rte top with a strainer on it.

That hose is simply run over to the scuppers at the rear, and sticks out of one of those.

The livewell setup is easily attached to the deck floor utilizing igloo cooler stainless steel hardware.

ITS ALL GOOD!

P.S. suggest keeping your deck furniture either to sell to another Trojan guy or to help for the eventual resale of yours.

RWS

[BobCT]

The rear bench seats are not heavy at all with dry plywood. Mine weighted a ton and it was because of the saturated plywood and foam. I also eliminated the hinged bench legs and went with four SS legs, those are heavy too. They easily weigh 1/2 of what they used to now.

Bob