Association Forum - Re upholstery

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Re upholstery

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Kmanley
Deckhand

Member Avatar

USA
8 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/07/2008 : 09:50:06

I need to update the upholstery any ideas where to start, I am a newbie just bought the boat in September sailed it twice before I had to pull it out of the lake. I have a 1977 Cat 25.
Thank you.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2008 : 11:12:37

You can buy new cushions for about $2000 from the factory. That's a lot on a $5000 boat. I cut my old ones apart, the foam was good. Then I sewed new covers using denim as the material. I saved the old vinyl bottoms. I could do one cushion per night so it took me about 2 weeks to do them all. Cost about $200. Sewing is easy.

It would be really easy just to sew bags and then stuff the old cushions inside the bags. Then sew up the bags. This is what I did with marine vinyl for my cockpit cushions. I say "bags" but they are really shaped exactly like the cushions just a little larger.

Easy, easy work on a sewing machine, although I sewed all my interior cushions by hand. I did the cockpit ones on a machine.

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1520 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2008 : 12:00:00

Welcome to the forum.

For 90% discounts on fabric, try your local Golden Colorado Goodwill Thrift Shop or Salvation Army.

I found a set of heavy, full-length drapes for under $20 made of beautiful navy polyester-cotton. If you open all the seams and pleats, you have lots of cloth to cover the cabin cushions with a set of drapes. My V-berth and quarterberth cushions are covered with medium blue velvet, same price.

All sailors know how to sew, don't they? Torn sails? Buccaneer clothing made of mismatched silk?

Happy sailing.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2008 : 15:33:44

Welcome, Ken! There are lots of solutions with costs ranging up to about $2K (20 Boat Units). I made a sketch of all of the cushions with dimensions, and took it to a few car/boat upholstery shops. Basically, their quotes were based on the number of cushions--size mattered little or not at all. Our foam smelled of mildew, so we went with new medium-density foam, 1" thicker than original for all but the seat backs. We chose a linen-like upholstery fabric by Sunbrella--not their canvas--and the upholsterer added a 1" fiber mat on top of the foam for some additional softness. The bottoms are vinyl. The whole job came in a little under $2K for 12 cushions (dinette interior).

It made Passage a whole new boat for my Admiral--money well spent. I also suspect it made an impact on my buyer's Admiral--they went below, stayed a few minutes, came back up into the cockpit, and wrote me a check--about 36 hours after I listed her in the Swap Meet.

Edited by - on

Kmanley
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
8 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2008 : 17:16:21

Thank you so much that was great information. I won't need to change out the foam just the fabric.
Happy sailing!
KM

Edited by - on

Kmanley
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
8 Posts

Response Posted - 11/10/2008 : 19:50:55

I have to tow my Cat 25 over the continental divide Colorado, can a Ford F150 V8 handle the weight?

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3072 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 09:08:19

"I have to tow my Cat 25 over the continental divide Colorado, can a Ford F150 V8 handle the weight?"

Ken, best to start a new thead rather than tack-on to an unrelated topic.

That said, does your truck have a 'towing package'? (lower ratio rear end, transmisson cooler etc)
What is the trucks tow rating?
When are you planning to do this crossing.

Personally I'd probably detour north or south to do the crossing rather than plow over the steepest part.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 11:11:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Kmanley
 I have to tow my Cat 25 over the continental divide Colorado, can a Ford F150 V8 handle the weight?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Over Vail Pass on I-70? Not if there's a flake of snow.

Edited by - on

Jefffriday
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
198 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 16:57:13

Ken, I live on the western slope, just outside of Aspen. I have a GMC 2500 4X4 with the 6L engine. At altitude, I could use more grunt. It's really all about torque (and of course rated towing capacity) up here. I climb the passes at about 40 mph, I could go faster, but I would really have to wind it up to do it. Be sure to check out your brakes, going down a 6% grade is no problem till you need to do a panic stop. Without good trailer brakes, forget about it, you are toast. Where are you headed to and from?

Edited by - on

Kmanley
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
8 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 17:04:25

Frisco to Denver, without trailer brakes, am I crazy to try this?
The guy who I bought the boat from, pulled it from Santa Fe NM to Frisco last year same tralier.
Thanks for your help!
KM

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 19:48:17

Ken: You're likely to miss a lot of wisdom on this in an "upholstery" thread... You might want to "Search" on "tow vehicle" and "brakes" and review threads on those subjects, and/or start a new one on the General forum. I will opine that trailer brakes are critical to not risking lives on the highway, and surge brakes with drums are likely to become useless on long downhill runs.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 11/11/2008 19:54:05

Jefffriday
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
198 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 20:15:19

Ken: Dave is correct about missing allot by using this thread instead of starting a new one. That said, I had to bring my boat home from Houston to Basalt without functioning brakes. It only made the trip up the frying pan river to the lake after that before getting all new 4 wheel disk brakes on it. If you do it, choose the time and day carefully. You are probably aware of the incredible traffic on Sun afternoons (actually most evenings). I would get the lights working and go in the middle of the night, at speeds less than 40 down the big hills. When I was forced into my adventure, I planned it to come through Houston at about 1:00 am the Dallas at 5:00 am. I hit denver at 10:00 the following day and went through the mountains late. If you are going to need the brakes done anyway, you might see if there is someone is Frisco who can handle it, but I doubt it. If you decide to do your own, I got steered to Champion Trailers through this site and had very good luck getting advice, parts, and support. Feel free to email me if I can be of any help...

Edited by - on

Kmanley
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
8 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 20:46:14

I understand, being new to the site I thought I did start a new thread.
It won't happen again.
Ken

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.