When the captain of a commercial or private vessel takes a seat, they should do so knowing they’re going to have a secure landing into the seat. That secure landing is achieved through metal stamped boat seat mounting hardware, which keeps the seat locked into tracks and ensures it doesn’t move.
Boat OEMs, supplier programs, and other customer sources are always searching for ways to improve strength, corrosion resistance, ease assembly of the stamped mounting hardware components, and that stems from material selections, smart design, and secondary operations.
Winco Stamping explores those three topics with a focus on boat seat mounting hardware.
Improving Strength Through Material Selection
Material selection plays a pivotal role in forecasting how well a stamped component will perform in its intended environment. Marine environments feature some of the harshest conditions with constant exposure to moisture, vibration, UV radiation, and wind. When the right material is selected stamped boat seat mounting hardware components are designed and engineered to last, and material selection should be viewed through a design lens.
Marine OEMs will often use stainless steel and marine-grade aluminum for their stamped parts as they both offer corrosion resistance and durability. Marine-grade aluminum also offers a unique combination of strength, lightweight performance and corrosion protection.
How Design Improves Strength and Assembly
Material selection isn’t the only factor when it comes to improving the strength of boat seat mounting hardware components. The design of these hardware components can be engineered in way that uses the material to the component’s advantage all without unnecessarily increasing weight or material costs.
A good starting point is reinforcing stamped ribs, flanges, and formed features. This can increase rigidity while distributing loads more evenly and effectively throughout the part. Along with reinforcing these areas, utilizing engineered geometries can improve strength. Designs featuring gradual transitions and properly designed radii can reduce stress concentrations throughout the part.
Design also helps assembly with incorporating items like mounting holes, slots, tabs, or fastener locations directly into the manufacturable design. This speeds up the assembly process after a production run and in some cases, could even eliminate assembly as a secondary operation.
Value-Added Services to Consider for Increase Corrosion Resistance
While material selection should do the heavy lifting for increased corrosion resistance, a turnkey metal stamping manufacturing company can perform value-added services in-house that can further increase the corrosion resistance of stamped parts.
Common value-added services used to increase corrosion resistance include:
- Powder coating
- Anodizing
- Plating
Powder coating creates a protective barrier that shields components from corrosion, scratches, and UV exposure. It can be color customized as well to match specific branding marks or other planned boat features.
Aluminum hardware benefits the most from anodizing, which increases the surface hardware, wear resistance, and corrosion protection. This is a best practice for exposed components. And the usage of zinc or nickel plating can improve corrosion resistance while simultaneously improving surface durability.
Partner with Winco Stamping for High-Quality Boat Seat Mounting Hardware
Winco Stamping has served OEMs, supplier programs, and numerous other customer sources with high-quality stamped components since our doors opened in 1948. We’re a proud American manufacturer, located in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and as a turnkey manufacturer, our customers don’t have to worry about costly vendor handoffs and supplier delays as every facet of manufacturing is controlled by our team.
Engineering and manufacturing mounting hardware has limitless applications, and securing boat seats to the deck is a pivotal application. Our process entails performing DFM reviews and discussing production volumes, while reviewing potential material selections, and ultimately, heading to production.
Winco Stamping has continuously been ISO 9001 certified for decades now, demonstrating our commitment to practicing high level quality management practices. The components we manufacture for our customers are thoroughly inspected and tested to ensure they work as designed.
Issues with your current stamping supplier for your boat seat mounting hardware? Contact Winco Stamping and discover the Winco difference in your next program.