2005 AR230HO Refurbishing Build Thread with Questions

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Next up was the bow cushion. I always take good before pictures of both sides and any details in case I have any questions. I also try not to destroy the original cover. This one was pretty tough and it's still not perfect. The seat is made of 2 pieces so their is a "fabric pull" sewn into the backside of the seat skin. The OEM seat pull is plastic.


On the seat skins it is the brown fabric you see. I recommend measuring the height of the OEM pull and marking that on the new one. That gives you and idea how much tension you should use in that area. I probably stapled this one loosely and pulled it back up at least 5 times. This is one of my earlier attempts.

A putty knife can help remove the small section of foam so you can remove the old fabric pull and install the new.


After removing the original cover I put new plastic over the big section. Then I temporarily set the small foam back in place and slid the new skin over everything. Center the skin and then put about 3 staples in the front edge of the cushion. When first getting the skins in place, staple close to the edge of the fabric. You can always move in towards the edge of the board later. If setting temporary staples, you can hold the gun at an angle so the staple doesn't go in all the way and is easier to remove. Once you have the top edge of the fabric set, you can work on the fabric pull. I started in the center. Then moved out a couple inches each way, watching how the fabric laid and stretched on top and adjusting how much tension I put on the pull. You can see my marker line that was the basis for where I was to staple.

Once happy with that I, I fully stapled the pull to the board. Then the small foam got wrapped in plastic and I sprayed the back with adhesive. I'm using Loctite brand because it's what Lowes had in stock but 3M also makes a great version. For foam you want to just spray back and stick it to the board while wet.


From there it's a matter of stapling around the edges, trying to get the right tension. This cushion was pretty tough. In hindsight I would have waited till I had more experience with other pieces before doing this one again but I don't know what I would do differently. No matter what I couldn't get rid of all the wrinkles on the smaller section. I'm used to wrapping cars with vinyl and pulling the get wrinkles out but I just couldn't get this perfect. The wrinkles look worse in these pictures than it does in real life. I may be able to lessen the wrinkles with a heat gun or steamer but I'm going to let it sit for now. This piece get's Hidem on the bottom.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

I did one of the front side cushions so far. This piece was pretty easy, I'd highly recommend it as one of your first pieces to work on.

Remove the old skin and measure the height of the pull so you can mark that on your new pull.

Put new plastic on the big piece of foam. Lay the skin over both pieces of foam and put a couple staples along the side of the big piece of foam. Pull out the small foam piece. Then you can staple down your fabric pull.

Once that is stapled down, put plastic on your small foam, spray on the adhesive and slip that back under the cover. Then it's time to staple all your edges, put down your Hidem and trim away the excess.



I'm real happy with this piece.

I also tackled one of the seat backs. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. It doesn't seem quite a structured as OEM but I think that's because my foam isn't perfect. The foam on this piece was actually a little wet when I uncovered it which seams crazy since it's been in my basement since November. Once I took the OEM plastic off it dried out in day. This piece does have a fabric pull in the middle and since it get's bolted to the boat it gets piping on the outer edges.




The other matching piece was also wet so it's drying now so I can tackle it soon.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Completed pieces piling up.

 

[Chadman51]

You have any pictures of the finished project. I just bought the same boat. Thx

 

[Julian]

Completed pieces piling up.

View attachment 173192

Nice work! Looks like it is hard to do!

 

[DNUGENTUSMC]

My winter project showed up this week, all new seat skins.
View attachment 166718

I laid out all the skins today to make sure everything was there and correct.
View attachment 166719
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I then started taking out all the cushions. I got everything out except for the captains chairs which I didn't attempt yet and the outside cushions on the swim deck which I couldn't get to the last nuts on.

View attachment 166723
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I couldn't get the last nut on these pieces. I'm guessing I need to pull the clean out tray to access them but it was getting cold so I called it quits for the night.
View attachment 166726

Overall I'm happy with the removal process. I thought it would take much longer. Hopefully next weekend I'll have time to get last cushions out and pull the seats. Not sure how fast I'll move with the install process since I have all winter. Honestly it was kind of nice not having to worry about the interior this summer as I learned the boat but this is going to be the final piece turning my bargain boat into a great looking piece.

About to buy an 06 AR230, who do I contact for the new "skins" and now much for the whole boat?

 

[dgfreeze]

I believe @TheUpholsteryGuy is who you’re looking for. ?

 

[DNUGENTUSMC]

I believe @TheUpholsteryGuy is who you’re looking for. ?

@TheUpholsteryGuy rough quote for new 06 AR230? ?

 

[TheUpholsteryGuy]

@TheUpholsteryGuy rough quote for new 06 AR230? ?

Skin set starts at 2150

 

[Chadman51]

do you offer install if I drop off the cushions? Also where can we see what colors you offer? TIA

 

[TheUpholsteryGuy]

do you offer install if I drop off the cushions? Also where can we see what colors you offer? TIA

Yes can you text me 6093505941

 

[Brad_Ct]

My winter project showed up this week, all new seat skins.
View attachment 166718

I laid out all the skins today to make sure everything was there and correct.
View attachment 166719
View attachment 166721

View attachment 166722

I then started taking out all the cushions. I got everything out except for the captains chairs which I didn't attempt yet and the outside cushions on the swim deck which I couldn't get to the last nuts on.

View attachment 166723
View attachment 166724
View attachment 166725

I couldn't get the last nut on these pieces. I'm guessing I need to pull the clean out tray to access them but it was getting cold so I called it quits for the night.
View attachment 166726

Overall I'm happy with the removal process. I thought it would take much longer. Hopefully next weekend I'll have time to get last cushions out and pull the seats. Not sure how fast I'll move with the install process since I have all winter. Honestly it was kind of nice not having to worry about the interior this summer as I learned the boat but this is going to be the final piece turning my bargain boat into a great looking piece.

I did most of my cushions last year except for the long ones on either side of the captains chairs because I couldn’t figure out how they came off. I see in one of your pictures that one is flipped over and I can see that there are studs that go through the hull and washers and nuts go on the back side. How the heck did you get to those nuts?

 

[dgfreeze]

I did most of my cushions last year except for the long ones on either side of the captains chairs because I couldn’t figure out how they came off. I see in one of your pictures that one is flipped over and I can see that there are studs that go through the hull and washers and nuts go on the back side. How the heck did you get to those nuts?

I did mine a few years ago. I was able to get the rear ones by accessing them through the side compartments behind the captains chairs. Challenging, but doable. The others I had to crawl into the front compartments, and reach back. If you don’t fit, you’ll have to find someone who does. I was barely able to squeeze in there. Had to take the door frame off the starboard side. And long sleeves are a plus.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Sorry for not following up with this. In May we bought our "forever" home. Not only did that mean being busy with a move but our new home didn't have internet. It still doesn't have internet 6 months later but it should be installed in the next couple weeks. We did over 600' of trenching and the contractor has laid the main cable. Just waiting on Comcast to come do the final hookups. I find it tough to do this stuff on the phone and I typically don't feel like doing it at the end of a work day.


I did get the interior finished up in the spring. The seat skins didn't come with quite enough piping so I reached out to a local guy who had some in stock. While there I inquired about him installing the skins on the captains chairs. At $240 for the pair I thought it was worth it. The plan was to take the boat complete to my in-laws in July. We would leave the boat there till we returned later that month. A couple days into that trip I had a stuck fuel injector issue like last year but the opposite computer. I decided to bring the boat back home so I could fix and test. I ordered a new ECU versus getting it repaired because I really wanted the boat back for our next trip and getting a ECU repaired wouldn't be fast enough. Anyways, while we had the boat back home I got dropped the captains chairs off and they were done about 3 days later.

I'm happy with how things came out. It's not perfect and not super high quality but we aren't heavy users of the boat so it's much better than where we started and we should get many years out of it.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

I got the new ECU in in time for our late July trip with family and the rest of the summer was pretty flawless.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

We had a week at the beach and the 2 or 3 day trips to the river to enjoy the boat. My wife got to ski for the first time in a couple years. My daughter go to kneeboard by herself for the first time and got to surf with me.

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

The only other work I did was installing a new GPS speedometer. The old one wasn't working and using the phone to try and maintain a constant speed for surfing was a pain. This was cheap off Amazon and it works well but it can be hard to read, especially with sunglasses.




I did have one of the pins that hold the bimini in place break but that was easy to replace. Right at the end of the season one of the tethers that holds the bimini to the front of the boat ripped off so I'll have to sew that before next summer.


No major plans for next year. I'd like to put in more ballast bags and hook them up to pumps for surfing but we are hoping to start 2 additions to our house in the spring so that may keep me busy and be taking most of my fun money.

 

[DNUGENTUSMC]

Love it, man!

Surfing a kid? How the hell do you do that? I plan on learning skiing and boarding this summer with the AR230 I told you about when I was going to order the flag decals for the windows!

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Love it, man!

Surfing a kid? How the hell do you do that? I plan on learning skiing and boarding this summer with the AR230 I told you about when I was going to order the flag decals for the windows!

Surfing with a little one is pretty easy. My daughter is small and light for her age. I tried to get my 2 year old son to go with me but he was too scared. Hopefully next year. Skiing is super easy in my opinion but I get bored of it. I've also wakeboarded but don't love that. I really love surfing even thought these boats aren't great for it and there is some setup involved. I could wakesurf all day.