Time for new upholstery
davidbrooks
Member Posts: 1,342 ✭✭✭✭
I thought i would start a new thread on this. I decided it was time to redo the upholstery on my 2003 342. It was getting brittle in areas, seams where starting to come apart...possibly from my cleaning and no matter what i tried i couldn't get rid of a mold smell that was just driving me nuts. I pulled all the seats out and to get the Captains seats out you need two people. Then started to get estimates. Typical local upholstery shop that i go to quoted me $4,400 for everything. They are also really backed up and couldn't get to it till June. I found http://www.copycatupholstery.com/index.html and decided to give them a shot. They came back at $2000. You basically send them just the skins and they will make new ones for you in that shape. You can choose the exact design or customize. I am going more with a look similar to what @javhav did but with just a few tweaks.
I pulled all the cushions apart and went to work getting the mold out of the foam. LOTS of bleach and vinegar. One big soaking in a tub of bleach water and one dousing in vinegar. Let them sit out in the sun to dry.
Several of the cushions plywood was rotted so i made new ones out of exterior grade 1/2 plywood. All others were treated with chemicals to get rid of the mold and then painted with a primer to seal them. Two of the cushions on the port wall have plastic (styrene .090) backs. They were brittle, cracking and i think the staples were the only thing holding them together. An email to Rinker (Malary Wagner Malary.Wagner@polaris.com). Notice the new email. They will make the new seat backs for ~$65 and shipping. Which is a good deal because anywhere else i was looking to buy a full sheet of this and then have to cut out all the holes myself.
Taking apart the captains seat was also a chore. The L bracket that holds the seat back to the base is aluminum and the bolts through it are stainless steel. After 17 yrs they had fused together. That meant i had to drill out the holes and break out the tap and die set to re-thread them. I am gonna put up some pics so you can see what the cushions looked like. They were all in about the same shape. I am doing my best to save the foam as it would easily add another $1500 if i had to replace that as well. In addition to the vinyl here is a list of the other stuff i have ordered for this project.
Pneumatic Staple gun $85
10k Stainless Steel staples $65
Cushion underlining (bottom of the seats) $100
Misc Foam 4"x1/8" $300
Paint $50
2" and 2 1/2 Stainless Steel screws and washers to replace a lot of the corroded ones. $25
Plywood $50
It is gonna be about a month before i get the new skins back but i will take some pics re-assembling. The other thing is to get a good pair of tough gloves. My hands and arms are all gouged up from the staples and i get reminded of how stupid i was for not wearing gloves every time i use hand sanitizer now.
I pulled all the cushions apart and went to work getting the mold out of the foam. LOTS of bleach and vinegar. One big soaking in a tub of bleach water and one dousing in vinegar. Let them sit out in the sun to dry.
Several of the cushions plywood was rotted so i made new ones out of exterior grade 1/2 plywood. All others were treated with chemicals to get rid of the mold and then painted with a primer to seal them. Two of the cushions on the port wall have plastic (styrene .090) backs. They were brittle, cracking and i think the staples were the only thing holding them together. An email to Rinker (Malary Wagner Malary.Wagner@polaris.com). Notice the new email. They will make the new seat backs for ~$65 and shipping. Which is a good deal because anywhere else i was looking to buy a full sheet of this and then have to cut out all the holes myself.
Taking apart the captains seat was also a chore. The L bracket that holds the seat back to the base is aluminum and the bolts through it are stainless steel. After 17 yrs they had fused together. That meant i had to drill out the holes and break out the tap and die set to re-thread them. I am gonna put up some pics so you can see what the cushions looked like. They were all in about the same shape. I am doing my best to save the foam as it would easily add another $1500 if i had to replace that as well. In addition to the vinyl here is a list of the other stuff i have ordered for this project.
Pneumatic Staple gun $85
10k Stainless Steel staples $65
Cushion underlining (bottom of the seats) $100
Misc Foam 4"x1/8" $300
Paint $50
2" and 2 1/2 Stainless Steel screws and washers to replace a lot of the corroded ones. $25
Plywood $50
It is gonna be about a month before i get the new skins back but i will take some pics re-assembling. The other thing is to get a good pair of tough gloves. My hands and arms are all gouged up from the staples and i get reminded of how stupid i was for not wearing gloves every time i use hand sanitizer now.
It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere!
Comments
First i started with cleaning and drying out all the foam pieces. They had to sit out in the sun for several days to really dry out. Then each one was wrapped in 2mil plastic.
Each frame piece had the hardware replaced and several coats of paint to seal it. The seat parts also had a plastic mesh material stapled over the bottom part.
Place the cushions and center them
This step is critical. Once you staple down the interior panels there isn't any shifting. So make sure it is centered.
I bought 4 In weather striping material to put on the sides and keep the vinyl off of the wood. They all had this in the beginning but it disintegrated when i took them apart.
Then the hard part starts. Get everything stretched over and start pulling and stapling. I worked in the center of each side out. Then opposite side and then corners last. Take your time and make sure you turn it over every now and then to ensure you get all the wrinkles out.
Trim off the extra material and then finish it with the strip of hidem.
I have everything ready to take over to the boat and install. You can see above that there are a few areas that aren't perfect but i don't think anyone will notice when installed. I will take some finished pics once installed and share.
Is this the sort of thing that can be done by anybody with enough patience and attention to detail? Or does it require special skills that you learned elsewhere?