Pompanette: 79 Years of Helm Chairs, Hatches and "Anything That Opens and Closes"

Pompanette talks helm chairs, teak fighting chairs, hatches and its new M-Series doors on Next Boat Journey. Thursday 5 PM on Dock Side Live Radio.

Some of the most important parts of a boat are the ones you touch every day: the seat you ride in, the hatch you open, the door you step through.

Pompanette LLC has been building those parts since 1947. At IBEX 2026, Dock Side Live Radio sat down with Brian of Pompanette to talk about helm chairs, fighting chairs, hatches and a new door system built to fit the way owners actually use their boats.

Two Facilities, One Big Product Line

Pompanette turns 80 next year, and it operates from two facilities. In Tampa, the team handles upholstery, molded hatches, portlights and all of its teak design and finishing. Tampa also builds the company's rocket launchers, stainless steel pedestals and rod holders, along with teak components for chairs and tables.

In New Hampshire, Pompanette's commercial line produces cast aluminum hatches, windshield systems, windows for pleasure boats and clamp vent windows. That facility also serves military boats and even non-marine crane cabs.

From a Boston Whaler to the Boat Show Floor. Like every Next Boat Journey guest, Brian started with his first time on the water. For him, it was summers in Michigan on a friend's Boston Whaler, four guys kneeboarding all day long. "I'm surprised we survived that, but we did," he laughed.

Helm Chairs vs. Fighting Chairs

Walk past the Pompanette booth and the first thing you notice is the chairs. Helm chairs are where the captain sits and drives. This year Pompanette featured its Triton series, the company's higher-end line with teak ladder backs, plush upholstery and bolsters. It is the look many owners see across today's center console market, especially in Florida.

Fighting chairs live back in the cockpit. They are the big, fancy teak chairs paired with rocket launchers, all built in Tampa. Pompanette offers three series:

• Murray Elite, the premium line

• Pompanette International

• Pompanette Tournament, a painted chair that serves as the entry point into the market

If an owner wants something custom, Pompanette starts with its standard chairs and a long list of options. For upholstery patterns and specific looks, the team works directly with an owner's interior design company or connects them with Pompanette's engineers.

Built for Salt and Sun

Salt water and sun are hard on everything aboard. Pompanette protects its teak with a multi-step finishing process built on decades of experience. Brian noted the company supplies as much teak, or more, than anyone doing teak components, and it also offers refinishing.

What to Think About Before Upgrading Your Helm Seat

Pompanette fields a lot of calls about helm seat replacements and services its chairs every day. Brian's advice to owners is to look beyond the cushion:

• The pedestal. An adjustable pedestal that moves up and down can make room for a nap.

• Heat. Heated elements can be added to the chair.

• Shock mitigation. It can make for a smoother ride.

"There's a lot of modern technology that goes into chair making nowadays that wasn't around 20, 30 years ago," he said.

Hatches, Doors and the New M-Series

Pompanette builds both molded hatches and portlights in Tampa and cast aluminum hatches in New Hampshire. At IBEX, the company also showed the M-Series, a door and window system with more than 50 configurations. Owners can choose a single hinged all-glass door, a bi-folding door, a sliding door, a tandem sliding power door or a vertical drop window. Pompanette entered the M-Series in this year's IBEX Innovation Awards.

For builders, the M-Series can fit the exact same opening whether they choose a sliding or hinged door. For owners working on one-off projects, it means designing the flow of the boat around how they entertain guests. "No different than owning a home and doing a layout in your home," Brian said.

A New Look at Windshields

Pompanette also brought a full-size windshield to IBEX. The new design uses heavier extrusions built for direct frit-bonded glass, flat or curved, with optional wings. Because the system is modular and floats to the curvature of the glass, one extrusion can fit a 40-foot model and a 45-foot model with a different radius. That helps builders plan ahead, cut engineering time and keep costs down.

The One Thing to Remember

Asked what listeners should take away, Brian kept it simple: "We have a solution for anything that opens and closes."

Learn more at www.pompanette.com.

Next Boat Journey featuring Pompanette airs Thursday at 5 PM on Dock Side Live Radio, with encore presentations Saturday and Sunday at 5 PM.

Thank You to Our Founding Partners

Next Boat Journey is made possible by our founding partners: Big Bumper Company, Dockmate, SOS Boat Screens, Sirius Signal, Let's Go Boating TV, Ocean Vault and Florida Mariner. Thank you for helping us bring these stories to boaters everywhere.

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