Need advice on repairing stitching in vinyl seat

LaRea

My 12-year-old cockpit seats look great, but are starting to show their age.  In one small spot at the helm, the stitching is coming apart -- see photos.  I could remove that section of the seat and take it to an upholstery shop, but are there any other fixes I should consider? 

There are a few other spots where you can see the seams beginning to fail, so I can imagine reupholstering the entire cockpit in few years.  What I'm looking for now is a short-term fix to keep this one spot from getting worse.  

rmrstlmo

I have a couple of spots on my 2000 340 that look very similar.  Ive been told by two different vinyl shops that the vinyl is failing and the seat has to be remade.  Hope you find a better solution.

Willhound

An upholstery shop could fix it but as per above, it would involve sewing in a strip that would cover both sides of the seam and stitching that together.  Don't know if you'll like it, but for short term some clear silicone will help keep the stitching in place.

LaRea

I was thinking maybe some sort of patch glued to the underside of the seam, maybe combined with a dab of silicone from the top.  I could probably do that myself.  It's a simple rectangular seat section ... probably the simplest one on the boat.  

Willhound

LaRea said:

I was thinking maybe some sort of patch glued to the underside of the seam, maybe combined with a dab of silicone from the top.  I could probably do that myself.  It's a simple rectangular seat section ... probably the simplest one on the boat.  

Yep, absolutely.

TonyG13

I recently used Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Repair Adhesive on one of our leather couches at home. It worked great, but it was on a slit, not at a seam.

Here's the video we watched on the repair technique...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJCGK1BN-Ms

I think if you can get a backing piece behind it, it will hold fairly well.

The key was the flexible adhesive. Other adhesive (i.e., super glue) will turn brittle.

Liberty44140

I had the same on a seat seam. I used curved needles and hand stitched it back together. It was a seam that had tubing too. Now can’t tell it was pulling apart at all. Something like this:
https://www.joann.com/dritzhome-curved-upholstery-needles-4-pkg/5597463.html?adlpxid=pla;382545396380;161147303901;m;9015339;placeholder;5597463;pla;local;1923&gclid=CjwKCAjw0ZfoBRB4EiwASUMdYWfUxGHdc2ujz-wAVGsFvCVydOMu5MJzFBj8xZQLEyJdR501KWzm3RoCyroQAvD_BwE

LaRea

If you look closely at mine, the stitching is intact.  It's the vinyl material that has failed.  Seems like I'd have to get behind it and glue on a patch like the video shows.  

Dream_Inn

I've had the same issues.  I just keep replacing mine over the winter, one or two cushions at a time.  Most of them, they've only had to replace the vinyl on one side of the stitches, making it a much less costly repair.  Oh, and a couple years ago they did a tightening (restitching stretching the vinyl).  That worked for one to two seasons.

Liberty44140

LaRea said:

If you look closely at mine, the stitching is intact.  It's the vinyl material that has failed.  Seems like I'd have to get behind it and glue on a patch like the video shows.  

yep - you have to grab a little more material outside of what ripped.

mattie

Our 08 Rinker had the identical issue at two spots. Solution was a newer boat....not a cheap fix.




Lol.

zaverin1

Ye it will tear again.
you need to re upholster

Handymans342

Put $500 on the seat and it will magically fix itself