My boat came with cove seats, and I dislike them immensely. They take up prime space on a pushpit, especially on a cruising boat where such space would be useful to carry an
outboard, mount a BBQ
grill, store fenders, et cetera.
I've noticed that greenhorns who come aboard beeline straight for the cove seats, which means I have to explain that they've just selected the wettest, windiest, bumpiest seats in the entire
cockpit.
Cove seats look great on a sales brochure where it's always sunny and the models never wear more than bikinis and yet never get sunburns, but on a real cruising boat where people prefer to sit in the shade under the
bimini, or out of the spray near the
dodger, it's hard to imagine a less useful feature.
Lest I sound completely negative about cove seats, I should add that I found them to be a useful place underneath which to mount an extra set of stereo speakers.