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Lemke RV-8 Seats Arrived Today

fl-mike

Well Known Member
I went with the nappa leather, seat heaters, and the inflatable lumbar (works great!).
Of course I had stop all work to put in the floors and seatbacks to see how it looked!
Robert made some custom arm rests for my front consoles and some side pockets from paper patterns I sent him. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice one little flub, but not something to be too upset about! Overall a very easy and enjoyable transaction. Roberts prices are very reasonable. Shipping took about a month, Germany to Florida.
I have Classic Aero leather seats in my 6 and they have given over a decade of great service. No complaints at all. Lemke offers a similar product and competitive pricing.

Sorry about all the blue paint protection tape!

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Those look really nice. Is that an air vent on the right rear side panel? If so, how is it plumbed?
Yes. Summers are hot in Florida! I wanted to be able to have some air on the GIB's face.
I built a plenum box under the floor. The panel is a custom formed sheet of Kydex. Formed with an MDF sandwich with a square hole and an olive oil bottle pushed down while soft to get the radiused and angled recess. Took a few tries and the MDF really stunk up the house! The nice part is that you can keep reusing the Kydex. Then trimmed, drilled the holes, etc. (photo is staged after) That bay is sealed off since I didn't have room to put a tube bell behind the eyeball vent (a 3D printed part might work nicely here). A "U" bite out of the floorboard to route the hose. Tested with a shop vac to find the leaks. Hopefully it will be worth the effort.

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Thanks for the additional photos. It looks really nice. Well done and an inspiration to add these details that make a difference. So the a NACA scoop is still in the wing, right?
 
Look good! What is the bolt and metal strip to the left of the red stripe on the pilots seat back?
 
Look good! What is the bolt and metal strip to the left of the red stripe on the pilots seat back?
I have found that rear seat passengers can struggle to lift/pull themselves up out of the seat on the taildraggers, so those bars flip up above the seat so they have something to pull against. There are stops on an extended front seatback upper stiffener so all the forces are on the beefy seatback side rails. This was inspired by guys saying the fastback roll bar provides the same advantage. I toyed with adding the rollbar, but front seater's like to sit on the front seatback when getting in, and the rollbar gets in the way of that.
I was able to try it out yesterday when I test fit the seats, and seems to work okay. Another "experiment". Easy enough to remove if it does not live up to the idea or is too confusing!
I don't have any photos of it in action, but here is a shot earlier in the build that shows the general idea.
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Nice work Mike.

All the attention to convenience and comfort for the GIB will be appreciated.
Maybe by me if I get invited back down for another ride!

Best,
Peter
 
I went with the nappa leather, seat heaters, and the inflatable lumbar (works great!).
Of course I had stop all work to put in the floors and seatbacks to see how it looked!
Robert made some custom arm rests for my front consoles and some side pockets from paper patterns I sent him. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice one little flub, but not something to be too upset about! Overall a very easy and enjoyable transaction. Roberts prices are very reasonable. Shipping took about a month, Germany to Florida.
I have Classic Aero leather seats in my 6 and they have given over a decade of great service. No complaints at all. Lemke offers a similar product and competitive pricing.

Sorry about all the blue paint protection tape!

IMG-1184.jpg


IMG-1192.jpg


IMG-1190a.jpg


IMG-1189.jpg
Very nice.

I'm just looking at ordering from Lemke now for my RV-8A. What colours / colour numbers did you go with here - are these the seats shown on the Lemke website? Did you go with their carpet and stick boot options too? (is anyone putting carpet in the baggage area?)

I'm assuming that you are flying now - how do the seats look after a while in use? Would be nice to see an up to date pic of your cockpit.

Gerry
RV-8A #83934
 
Very nice.

I'm just looking at ordering from Lemke now for my RV-8A. What colours / colour numbers did you go with here - are these the seats shown on the Lemke website? Did you go with their carpet and stick boot options too? (is anyone putting carpet in the baggage area?)

I'm assuming that you are flying now - how do the seats look after a while in use? Would be nice to see an up to date pic of your cockpit.

Gerry
RV-8A #83934
Gerry,
Colors are:
Main Color 1382 Anthrazit
Middle Color 1358 Grey

No carpet in my 8. Just some patches of the soft anti-slip in selected areas.
Hopefully Robert has improved the stick boots. The rear boot was way too big, so I cut it down and used extra grey leather (I requested some with the order) to make the rear stick/vent/power port cover. Had juuuust enough! I never installed the front boot. Seems unnecessary.
I sent Robert patterns for the arm rests and side pockets. I would do the side pockets differently next time, as these waste the natural space in that area. I may modify them at some point.
I understand that Robert adds slots for the front should harness' now. Mine go over the pad, so I have to cinch them down tight, otherwise that compression slack would be bad in an accident. He offered to update my seatback, but I think the shipping would be prohibitive.
Holding up fine except the the staples on the back covers, which you can't see anyway (in tension in the reverse curves, so they pop out.) Inflatable lumbar is awesome (shorten the hose). Have not had a need to use the heaters yet, except to test. I think they are "okay", but not as effective as my Toyota seats. I'm sure the rear-seater will appreciate them when the time comes. ( I did re-wire all the heaters to connectorize them where I wanted and to put the relay behind the side panel.)

I'll try to take some photos of the final installed product this weekend.

In general, I think Classic Aero is still top-of-the-heap, but Lemke is close behind and much cheaper (at least when I bought). The Classic Aero Aviator integrated seatback gives you a scootch more leg room due to the curve, but you can't wear a backpack chute without replacing the seatback with the standard Vans, so that is a consideration if you will wear a chute. Lemke or CA Sportsman, you just take out the seatback cushion when wearing a chute.

Yeah, looks like my seats in his gallery. I would buy again. Robert is very easy to work with and always improving.

This is a build photo.

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