Anyone good with DIY vinyl reupholstery?

[Robb235]

So I'm trying to reupholster my rear bench seats in my XR1800. Trying to do everything as much DIY as possible. Considering that this is a 20+ year old boat, things don't need to be exactly perfect. Using some grey marine vinyl that I bought from Joann's, I successfully reupholstered the 3 seat cushions in the pic below (sorry, just have the "before" pics, no pics of my handy work). But the big piece that is sort of shaped like the letter "E" is a lot more complicated. I don't know how to sew, and I don't really care to learn. Wife has a sewing machine she inherited somehow, but neither one of us know how to use it. Most of my budget for this project boat has been spent replacing the 2-stroke powerplants and replacing with MR-1 4-strokes, so really want to keep this as DIY as possible.



I cut a piece of vinyl shaped similar to the red outline below. I tach'd the pieces in place at the edges using a pneumatic staple gun. But the problem was I wasn't able to stretch the "web" area of the vinyl enough to wrap it underneath the plastic backer.



What's my next best option besides taking it somewhere to reupholster? Thinking about cutting up the plastic backer into 7 different pieces to match up with the 7 pieces of individual foam. Then wrapping each piece individually. Would connect the 7 pieces of plastic backer back together with stainless brackets once everything is vinyl wrapped.



Thoughts?

 

[Babin Farms]

I would probably take it to an upholstery shop if your not good at sewing. To get it anywhere near close to OE looks there is going to be a lot of sewing involved.

 

[2kwik4u]

Offer @zipper some cash and see if his wife will help you out. She's done some amazing work on their sailboat resto-mod project.

 

[tim h]

Any YT videos out there ?
I know SAILRITE has bunches of helpful videos.

 

[zipper]

Offer @zipper some cash and see if his wife will help you out. She's done some amazing work on their sailboat resto-mod project.

Too far away and using 20+ year old foam is a recipe for failure or at least bad results. I would deconstruct the covers, recut new foam seat bottoms, learn about seam allowances on the vinyl and oversize cuitting allowance for the foam. The marine vinyl purchased at Joann's is difficult to work with, she tested it. Quality marine vinyl like Sunbrella Horizon is much nicer to work with.

You can take those apart and repattern the seat covers using the dura skrim plastic you have or use tyvec to make a pattern of the cushions. Is this a cushion? or is is upholstered (stapled) to a base. If it is the latter, pulling and stretching the vinyl as needed as well as pulling many staples and restapling.

We used Ultra leather (vinyl) for this seat. Square piece of material stretched on a round seat.





Keep working it, the wrinkles will come out.

 

[zipper]

Any YT videos out there ?
I know SAILRITE has bunches of helpful videos.

Sailrite has a lot of information. Most of it good. Vinyl is much more difficult than canvas to get good results, Vinyl can slip while sewing together causing misalignment of corners if the sewing machine does not have a walking foot and a walking needle. Canvas is much easier

The sewing machine and sewist will make all the difference. She has a Sailrite LSZ-1, mostly for sail repair now because it has zigzag, seen in background and a Juki 1541.



She has a Juki serger machine (4 needles) as well for her nautical themed pillows and dogbeds.

 

[tim h]

I just recv'd my Sailrite LSZ-1
I haven't made a stitch yet tho..

 

[zipper]

I just recv'd my Sailrite LSZ-1
I haven't made a stitch yet tho..

Get going!

 

[Robb235]

Too far away and using 20+ year old foam is a recipe for failure or at least bad results. I would deconstruct the covers, recut new foam seat bottoms, learn about seam allowances on the vinyl and oversize cuitting allowance for the foam. The marine vinyl purchased at Joann's is difficult to work with, she tested it. Quality marine vinyl like Sunbrella Horizon is much nicer to work with.

You can take those apart and repattern the seat covers using the dura skrim plastic you have or use tyvec to make a pattern of the cushions. Is this a cushion? or is is upholstered (stapled) to a base. If it is the latter, pulling and stretching the vinyl as needed as well as pulling many staples and restapling.

We used Ultra leather (vinyl) for this seat. Square piece of material stretched on a round seat.

View attachment 174986

View attachment 174985

Keep working it, the wrinkles will come out.

Somehow I missed the replies to this thread.

The foam was in good condition. Both for the three individual cushions, and for the piece that sort of looks like the letter "E" that the cushions sit in. I recovered the three individual cushions themselves, it wasn't hard. It's the piece that looks like the "E" that is beyond my ability, because of the concave curves. I believe it will require sewing, and I don't know how to use a sewing machine.

I made the mistake of throwing away the old vinyl after I removed the staples and removed it from the foam. The upholstery shop I took it to said they can't do it without the old vinyl, because apparently they need to be able to see the old pattern. I have no idea, I don't do this kind of work.

 

[dgfreeze]

Prior to the project shown in the thread below, I didn’t know how to sew either. The Sailrite sewing machine was great, and I just took my time, and figured things out. For what you’ve got going on, try another upholstery shop. You’ve got pics showing the design and the seams. It’s very evident on the cushions where the seams were, even. I have a hard time believing that an upholstery shop CANT do it, they just might not want to deal with it. It is a lot easier to take the old skins, separate the seams, and duplicate them. That said, plenty of upholstery shops would have the skills to do that cushion from scratch. Might cost a little extra without the original skin to copy, but still very doable.

My boat reupholstery project
https://jetboaters.net/threads/redoing-the-upholstery-in-my-06-sx230.25328/