I first saw one of the Platt-forms boxes early in 2006 when a good friend of mine Dave Collier purchased a Series4 and I have to say that i was totally impressed at the time, so much so that I said at the time that if I ever replaced my Boss 6 drawer one of these would definately be in the running and here it is my new box..............
Made in England, the whole box is constructed from aluminium sheet and all catches used are the tried and tested metal toggle type seen on many boxes such as the original Boss box.
Starting from the top of the box The seat measures 13" x 17" with 2" of high density foam padding covered with what appears to be a tough hardwearing rubberised material, with a pole channel making it suitable for those that like to sit on their pole butt. This is fitted to the centre section by means of two lift off style hinges and retained by two front mounted toggle catches.There is also a rubber seal round the seat base ensuring that no water can leak between the seat and the compartment below.
Moving onto the centre section, underneath the seat is a compartment for pole rigs that's around 1½" deep including the recess into the seat and there is a moulded plastic liner dividing the tray in two which has a ridge in the moulding allowing you to pop up the winders allowing easy removal..There is space for around 25-30 rigs to be stores dependant on the size of winders used (No winders are supplied with the box) I've also added two trays of the Fox orange winders on top that allow me to store another 28 rigs, which has the added bonus of holding the rigs in place when the lid is lifted. The locking pin for the drawers is also located in this compartment.
Underneath this first compartment are the 3 cross drawers running the full width of the box and thes can be opened from either side. The top drawer is 1½" deep while the two lower ones are both ¾" deep. All the drawer contain moulded plastic liners dividing them into two seperate sections. All drawers are opened with high quality knurled aluminium knobs. the total height of this unit is 6"
All of this is retained on the box section mid frame with two lift off hinges and two toggle catches allowing access to the base unit. Yet again there is a rubber seal fitted to the base of the centre section to prevent any water leaking into the base.
The mid-frame unit housing the legs has a width of 25" and all welds appear to be 1st class. This utilises standard size square legs that are 18" long and are finished off with good qualityscrew in mud feet ( a word of warning however, as I know that Dave Collier had some problems with these coming unscrewed and dropping off when his box was new, though a bit of muck and dirt seems to have cured this now.
) The legs are secured by what appear to be good quality hand wheels that are very similar to the Penrose ones.
These fittings however are not of the non-marking variety which may be considered a minus point by some, though it's not a concern for me.
Below this is the 6" deep base section, which again has with a one piece moulded liner which probably knocks ½" of the internal dimensions. The base can simply be removed by undoing two toggle catches if needs be. Needless to say there is yet another rubber seal between the base and mid-frame unit to keep water out.
The footplate supplied is a 4 bar square section one, again all welds appear to be 1st class.The legs are identical to those used with the box.
Nowdays there is a trend for a non slip coating to be fitted to footplates but this one doesn't have it, which may again be a minus point to some. The footplate isn't a hinged folding design but locates into a 90°bracket which is adjustable on the box legs, This provides a totally stable footplate allowing you to stand up on it without fear of it folding up. To store the footplate it can be slid under the base unit, however if the base is set lower so that isn't possible the legs can be slid into the brackets to store it as shown in the photo..........
Finally to lift or carry it, the box has two carry handles securely rivetted to the mid-frame and it is supplied with a top quality detachable Air Strap® carry strap, probably the best on the market and well worth looking at if you're looking for a replacement strap for your own box.
So there it is, I've used it once and it feels absolutely bombproof. The overall build quality is IMO the equal of any box that I've seen in recent years. My initial thoughts haveing spent 6 hours sitting on it are that it is probably the most comfortable pole seat I've used.
I've pointed out in the review what i feel may be considered minus points by some and there are another couple i feel may be an improvement. Firstly the moulded plastic liners in the drawers may not be to everyones taste, but they are very securely fixed in place, if these were easily removeable it would make the available storage space a bit more versatile. Secondly, it would be nice if the legs were extendable, similar to the new Preston legs as it would make the box easier to level on uneven surfaces. It's fine for platforms though
Hopefully this will be of help to others and I'll revisit this when I've used it a bit more.
Review of Platt-forms Series3 Seat Box.
"Minxed" to the max.
Linear Mode
