Well, here it is, the end of posting on my observing chair. The first thing we did was to align the two pieces of foam and the sleeping mat foam pad that we had cut so that the foam was in the middle and the sleeping bag foam had a layer next to the wood/plywood of the seat and on top of the foam. To do we used 3M Super 77 which is a spray on foam. As we ran out, the next day I used some white Gorilla Glue to finish the job, and it held the top foam together quite well as it was loose before that.
I used a mallet and two hammers to hold down the foam and the glue. Worked like a charm!
The top picture is from the side, here is a front shot:
For a covering I had a suggestion to use a vinyl like on my Starbound chair but I choose to go a different route. I’ve noticed in my research that some of cut out denim jeans and used that to cover the chair. Well my 18 year old son had two old pair of jeans, a faded black and a nice deep blue and so I decided to cut them out in 7×7 squares, dew them together with a one inch seam and then using the sewing machine I stiched these together to form a 12 part, alternating square pattern on the chair.
I then used a staple gun to staple the finished cover to the playwood on the chair to the edges. Worked great though I probably put in too many stables. I have to admit I really like how the jean 6×6 finished squares came out to cover the foam.
Here is the finished chair!!!! Sat on it and it is super comfortable and a joy to sit on. It will get first light tomorrow night as me, Mat, Jeff, Jorge and a few others are heading out observing. I can’t wait!!!!! The good news is that though I’ll give a report of the chair under a first light of about 5 hours use, I won’t blog anymore on building it. So back to observing . . . well, I did buy the wood for an equatorial platform that I am going to build and the items I need for that. I am very happy with this chair and hope it gives me good service for many years!
Jay's Astronomical Observing Blog 