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Upholstery Renovation

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bbriner
Captain

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349 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/13/2005 : 20:43:33

My upholstery is pretty bad. The foam is compressed and the fabric is ripped and pretty rotten. It's kind of embarrassing. For now I just have some blankets over them so I don't have to look at them (plus they are pretty ugly). Some day I will need to replace them. It's not urgent but I'm wondering what have others done? Is there some place that sells them pre-made (I haven't seen such a place), did you go to a local marine upholstery shop, or did you do it yourself?

TIA...
Bill B
84C25 SR/FK Wind Dancer 4036
SF Bay

Bill B
Wind Dancer
#4036 84 SR/FK
San Francisco Bay

Edited by - on

adamb
1st Mate

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USA
39 Posts

Response Posted - 02/13/2005 : 21:17:29

We had the same thing – ours is a 1984 traditional layout. Couple of things to keep in mind:
1.) CD will do you a new set for $1200 or thereabouts… pretty good deal if you want to re-cushion the whole boat – also if you go to CD – they require the old covers or foam to work with,
2.) Keep the old vinyl backs if you decide to re-cushion, they are great patterns,
3.) We decided to just re-do the saloon, as we use the forward V berth, and the aft under cockpit space as storage etc. – So we went down to JoAnne fabrics and got tow 3” high density foam in 30” by 76” blocks for the seat bottoms, and two 1” 30” by 76” blocks for the seat backs– and some Sunbrella for $6.99 / yard – and do not forget the batting for $2.00/ yrd – 10 yards was enough for seat bottoms and seat backs. We used ¼” “tile board” from Home Depot as the backing as we had thrown out our old cushions prior to thinking to use them as a pattern (how dumb is that).
4.) We got a roll of brown paper, made patterns, cut the tile board to shape – ¼” shy all around, then used the boards as pattern to cut the foam. We used 3” foam to sit on and 1” foam as seat backs.
5.) Assembly is easy – first glue the foam to the tile board with spray adhesive (there are several brands just for this job). Lay down the Sunbrella on a smooth floor, then lay down batting on top, then lay the foam tile board combo on top of this with the white surface up (and the foam down)…the white surface of the tile board is a water proof surface, then pull the fabric up over the tile board, and staple every inch or two.
6.) Works great, water and rust proof, comfortable, and all in cost $180.00
7.) P.S. – suggest you throw away your old foam – it will smell, and you will not be able to get rid of that smell,

Good luck

Adam
Norwegian Blue
Jacksonville, FL

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coach
Navigator

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USA
231 Posts

Response Posted - 02/13/2005 : 22:49:37

we re-did our cushions on our 1984 25. My mother in law cut and did all the sewing to fit the cushions. We bought replacement foam and cut to fit. Order extra's for mistakes in cutting.

We did it for a total of $100

They look great.

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 02/14/2005 : 01:12:16

I re-covered all 12 cushions on my '79 (#1205) using a very nice acrylic Velour fabric from an upholstery shop. The foam was still in decent shape so I re-used it. Cost for fabric and zippers was about $300 and required about 20 yards of the velour and about 16 yards of marine vinyl for the backing panels. HOWEVER, it turned into a huge amount of work that took a whole day for each cushion - a whole weekend each for the oddly shaped V-berth and quarterberth cushions - and my not-very-skillful sewing technique really showed. The cushions were nice but looked obviously homemade, with the fabric too loose in some places, and too tight in others . If I had it to do again, I'd spend the $1200 and get the Catalina factory cushions, or see if a local upholsterer could do it for about the same. They would look a lot better if a professional did the work instead of me, and an upholstery shop has industrial strength sewing machines that can handle heavy-duty needles and thick upholstery thread.

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coach
Navigator

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USA
231 Posts

Response Posted - 02/14/2005 : 08:33:42

I might want to add that my mother in law used to own an upholstery shop and got us the fabric for 75% off. So, the 100 bucks is definately low end.

It can make your boat look 600 times better with re-done cushions.

Edited by - on

cmckitrick
Navigator

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USA
117 Posts

Response Posted - 02/14/2005 : 09:21:17

We sent our old covers to Catalina, not CD. I think it might have been more than $1200 but as far as I'm concerned it was well worth it. Cushions definitly say something about the boat.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/14/2005 : 13:42:09

I'm happy with the job I did on mine. I bought 8 oz stretch denim. I cut the old covers off. I saved the vinyl bottom and foam. Wrapping the strectch denim around the foam like wrapping a present, then pinning the denim to the bottom of the foam, followed by hand stitching the old vinyl to the denim (careful to remove pins) led to a satisfactory result. Cost was minimal, it took about 2 hours of stiching per cushion. A nice winter evening's job. Whole boat done in a week.

Bought denim fabric at Jo Ann's for about $50. You can just see one of the denim cushions under Heidi. PS. Threw out seat backs, never to miss them.

Also recoved the cockpit cushions with marine vinyl from Jo Anns. Sewed big bags (carefully measured) on the sewing machine while inside-out. Turned them inside-in, put the old cushions inside, and sewed up the one final end, also used vinyl glue. Worked great, cost $50. Shot of the cockpit cushions:

Green color is to hide fish blood. If you're not a fisherman you may enjoy a lighter color.

Edited by - JimB517 on 02/14/2005 13:48:02

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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.