restoring wooden seats on small aluminum boat

[Morning Star]

I bought a 13'3" aluminum boat last week. I'll use it on the rivers, lakes, and bays during the 6 months when I can't use my ocean boat. It's original seats are a thin plywood which have started to fall apart. The one who I bought it from nicely covered them cedar tongue and grove cedar about 12 years ago. The cedar is dried out but not splintering. When it gets wet it has a bit of a dark film on it that comes off on ones clothes. I would like to sand it to smooth it out a bit and put something on it to coat, preserve, and make it look better. Do you have any suggestions.
William

 

[Shadowcruzr]

Do you just want to refinish the cedar or replace the thin plywood?

 

[Morning Star]

Paul,
This is just a crabbing boat (maybe sometimes "get us to the scuba place" in the bay) so I'm really looking for a quick job and not a restoration. So I decided on refinishing the cedar. I went ahead and tried something and it looks like it's going to work fine. I had a bunch of Thompson's deck sealer so I soaked the thin original plywood and let it sit for a couple of days. Then I bought some Minwax Helmsman "Spar" Urathane. I called the manufacturer and they said that this product weather like Spar Varnish without the yellowing. I've put on a couple of coats on the cedar and on the thin plywood (to keep it from falling apart as it does cover/protect the styrofoam under the seats). I'll put it together tomorrow evening (Wednesday) and get ready for a crab dive on Friday (other end of the Alsea Bay/Waldport, Oregon where it is hard to get to without a boat.
William