Upholstery

rasbury

I recall seeing someone mention...you peel off your old stuff and send it to this guy...he sends you back new stuff and you put it back on the bases...ringing any bells?

aero3113

Here you go @rasbury !

http://www.copycatupholstery.com/

davidbrooks

@rasbury i did it and posted tons of pics. Let me know if you have any questions i can help with.

rasbury

Great david, thx...cool thing is these guys are not far from me at all..maybe I can just take the pieces to him so its complete....going to start with the transom seating area and then work forward...

davidbrooks

@rasbury here is the link to the thread in which I posted the information on what I did regarding full story. The guy was really good to work with but in the end he outsourced the work to a lady in Myrtle Beach who did all of the work for me. So I can't comment on the quality of his work.  https://rinkerboats.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/10982/time-for-new-upholstery/p1 

rasbury

I have contacted Copy Cat and pulling all my seating out for the 270 and will have them re do the carpet also. He is telling me that for the 12 pieces, around 1800 bucks and that is re installed to the back boards which I think is an awesome deal. They are within driving distance so I can drop them off which I plan on doing tomorrow....will update! I'm excited! It will look like a new boat, probably a good time to sell! My wife actually told me we need to shop for a bigger boat....and I mean like a fly bridge type boat..

Aqua_Aura

Can't wait to see the photos ras, should be a huge improvement. 

rasbury

I'd need a second job...

rasbury

This was a recommendation from someone on the site...if it goes to crap I will remember who real quick.

PickleRick

Bayliner makes a nice 288 flybridge.   Came in a 5.7, diesel or 7.4.  The 7.4 hits mid 30s

Same 9.5 ft wide hull as mine.  

davidbrooks

@rasbury i havent regretted it at all.

J3ff

Any idea what he would charge if you you did the work to pull them off and put them back on? My seats... Especially the rear needs some attention

rasbury

@J3ff I assume you mean pull the vinyl off the backing and send to them? That is what they do...I'm close enough to drive as it was only 40 mins and they are not charging much to put back on. All the foam is still good. They do an online thing where you take pictures and measurements and they will give you the price...Tavares  FL, copy cat upholstery.  @davidbrooks...what do you not regret?

davidbrooks

@rasbury I don't regret any of it.  By doing it myself i paid a little extra attention to somethings that i was pretty sure no one else would.  1)i soaked the foam in vinegar and let it sit in the hot sun for two weeks to make sure any mildew and smell was gone.  Wrapped the foam in a new covering.  2) created new backer boards from 1/2 plywood.  My existing stuff was getting bad in spots.  3)bought a new plastic backing for the curved piece.  IT WILL crumble when you take it apart as the staples are so close it pretty much creates a cut line and 4) got some new air tools out of the deal.  But it was tough.  Don't get me wrong.  I just like figuring out stuff sometimes that i can do myself.  Don't forget that they can also stitch in a Rinker logo in the material if you want.

SeaHare

I just used copycat upholstery this spring.. To be honest... I regret it.   Not because they did a poor job but because I found it VERY difficult to put the new stuff on and do a good job. For the most part, the covers turned out great from CC. The curved seats and backrests i found were impossible to get to look/fit right. I went thru soooo many staples and redid it numerous times.  In the end, I came to the conclusion that upholsterers must come from alien semen... 
Im probably going to have mine redone....again...by pro's next spring.

PS... I consider myself an ultra DIYer.. I have never had my boat to a mechanic no matter the size of the project/repair/upgrades... HOWEVER, putting on those upholstery covers, I met my match...

YYZRC

I agree @SeaHare - I have tackled upholstery and unless it's just a simple wrap, it never works out for me.

rasbury

Yes to all...I have pulled the out drive and the motor but this is the devils work to come out right. I am close enough to them I could take everything over and just let them do it.

The backrests on the bow were impossible to get off, not sure why rinker has nuts and bolts top and bottom and not hooks and snaps so will redo that so I can take off for cleaning.

I'm excited for how I know it will look plus the new carpet. I thought about doing seadeck but with no carpet and the camper pck up it was real noisy...the carpet absorbs a lot of sound...plus boating in the winter...

davidbrooks

if i remember right the nuts and bolts were due to a slight curve.  I agree though getting to those top nuts needed my arms to be about two inches longer than they were.  The hardest one to get right though was the port side backrest.  Getting the curve to match the boat and not have wrinkles in the material took a little while.  If you do need a new backing it can still be ordered from Mallory.  It is just going to take about 6 weeks.

rasbury

Thanks @davidbrooks
I'm going to do something different on the back no matter- I want to be able to take them off and clean them a little better than you can installed plus the fiber glass under the hand rail....

rasbury

I did get my stuff back and it looks great! Also, I got him to re do the carpet so it is the Berber type with the rubber backing on it....did a really nice job. I got all the seating done (12 pcs) plus the carpeting for $3200.00 which I thought a pretty good price. Once I have it installed I will post pictures. For anyone planning a re do over the winter I would strongly suggest a look at this company. https://www.copycatupholstery.com/

davidbrooks

@rasbury glad you had a good experience.  I really liked the lady i dealt with also.

rasbury

well @davidbrooks, my excitement is waning.......I put my boat in the water yesterday and have a slip rented for a month...you know, for the FL boating season before it gets to hot...JK, had to dig at our northern friends...so, my first impression of the work that was done is still good I think. Good workmen ship and the quality of the vinyl I was concerned about which I was relieved when I saw the final product. The issue I am having is the fit- have not reached back out to them yet but will. I still need to put the captains chair back together but I think that will be ok also.

The seating back at the bow seems fine. I did make a little change as that crap was bolted in and the seat backs not removable- which would be great to clean so I will add the "hooks" like on the curved section with snaps on the bottom so I can take them out. As far as the wood in the seat backs, the bow seating were the only ones that seem to have started to rot and those were replaced. I do want to try and seal all this wood a little better also....

The seats I'm really having the issue with are on the port side. It's almost like "they" disregarded the seat material and just built the new off the wood that was there which should not have been a problem:: so here is the question and I am not knowledgeable on this stuff at all and have never done it- so if you look at the actual seat/butt part of the portside front seating ( a head of the cured part) I now have a big gap on either end- like maybe the way the vinyl was made, the foam actually extended farther than the wood base, does that make sense? I know that wood was not replaced. The other issue is on the seat back curved part which is a plastic material...and they tole me that by the time they pull the staples out that would have to be replaced which was no problem but instead of being say 2" thick, its about half that....as well as the seat back of the next part moving forward which is ok and I can live with it, but again, the forward leading edge of it does not match up with the forward leading edge of the seat base- and that seat base look like it should go under the curved part but because it is now thinner, big gap there.

I'm going to take pictures of it when I have the helm seat put back together and get with him....really disappointed. My seating was not really in bad shape- the seat base next to the helm had a seam that was splitting because I kept standing on it to get my mooring cover off and on. The rear seating had some side splitting but was not visible. From cleaning, some of the "color" was coming off some of the edges and really thought about have it repaired and not replaced. I'm thinking also if I had just sent him the skins to be copied, I would not be having this problem. I bit the bullet to do something for myself for a change so really  disappointed in the results- and then there is the carpet....again, mine was intact but worn and the backing was coming off making a mess etc....and I can see this being very hard to :"copy" but the edge that buts up to where the hatch is on the main piece of carpet got off track at an angle so there is about 1" where you see the floor- don't see anyway to fix that other than replace it. The old carpet was intact so really seems like a half **** effort to trace it properly.

But, the true answer to this is what he does to fix it. I will post some pictures when I get all this put together for him to look at. I did not expect the re do to be better than factory but I did expect it to be close- but understand they do not have templates to work with.

GMSLITHO

Raz while the helm seat is off you should raise it I used a 2X 4 turned on end then covered it with sea core .It was a great upgrade 

rasbury

that is a great idea @GMSLITHO
I always thought the seat was low but guess I got used to it!

YYZRC

I am going to raise my helm seat 3".  Last season I sat on one of the bow cushions and it was perfect!

davidbrooks

Sorry to hear you're frustrated. Definitely need to see some pictures to have a better understanding of what you're talking about. One thing I can tell you is that if there are any wrinkles they will come out after a couple of hot days.

rasbury

Oh I wish it were wrinkles...

Lake_Bum

I got sick of having to use extra cushions on my drivers seat, so I swapped pedestals.  I can raise it to any height needed now.  
Upholstery is in my future for the engine cover.