Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

[GB333]

I've been lurking for awhile now and have learned a lot, but this is my first post! My husband, a friend, and I are restoring a 1990 Bayliner Capri, 18'. The guys are doing the mechanics while I am doing the beautification. I have already completed the covers for all of the cushions and I'll post some photos of those below for you. My next task is to tackle the back to back seats, and that's where I'm a bit scared. They are a lot different than just recovering cushions. I was wondering if anyone has posted any tips or tutorials here for them? I am hoping I can just take them apart and use the old pieces as a pattern - hopefully it will be easier than I'm thinking.... we'll see!

The previous owners attempted to re-do the seats with just some vinyl and a staple gun..... no sewing, and the staples were rusting. They removed the back to back seats and put in cheap fishing seats, which are coming out. I got two old back to back seats on Craigslist that I will recover and put back in.

Here are some photos for ya! Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Here are the front bow seats covered - but not back on the boat yet.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Here's a few more.... Let me see if I can caption them:

Some of the main supplies - bought marine vinyl at JoAnn fabrics with a couple 50% off coupons:

Making lots and lots of piping:

Taking off the old covers and drying out the foam. I treated it with "odoban" and let it sit int he sun for a few days.

Pulling a zillion staples:

Wrapped the cushions in 2 mil plastic (dropcloth from painting section) with 3M 90 spray adhesive:

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Hi and welcome,
I am by no means anywhere near an upholsterer, but from this distance, it looks like the recovering of those boat cushions are going to be a piece of cake for you...the front cushions you have already done, look really nice...
About the only real help I can offer is if you need to use staples again, use only "Monel" staples...they are the only kind that will hold up in a marine environment...
As far as threads that talk about reupholstering...I can think of a couple of members "handles" that you can look up and see their contributions...
"mrdjflores"
"Woodonglass"
"JDA1975"
"Fireman431"
Good luck and have fun!
GT1M

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Thanks!! I did get "Monel" staples thanks to the advice I found here.

The back to back seats have a plastic frame.... I've not really inspected them too closely yet, so I don't really even know what I am getting myself into! ha!

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Update! I'm doing pretty well with the back-to-back seats and it's going ok. I think the old seats might have been leather, because it sure was difficult to get it all off (from 1977). I had to replace all of the foam, which was good because it allowed me to make them smaller - as small as the frames would allow. Our boat isn't very big so I don't want to waste room with unnecessarily big seats. So here is the before and after, so far:

Here are my freebie seats from Craigslist. In rough shape, but the plastic frame is ok!


I carpeted the boxes rather than covering them in vinyl again. I think the carpet will hold up better to getting kicked and whatnot.


Sewed all of the seat covers at the same time in my little sweat shop, I mean sewing room. Here they all are. My husband was concerned about burning his britches with dark colors on the seats, so I made the bottoms solid white:


One seat down, three to go! Before and after:

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

For those that wrapped your foam in plastic - did you put an air hole in the bottom of the plastic? I drilled an air hole in the bottom of the wood panels on my seats, but I'm finding that the plastic wrap is holding the air in/out as well. So when you sit down you slowly sink, and then when you get back up it takes quite awhile for the cushion to regain it's shape. I hate to put a hole in my vapor barrier, but I'm not a big fan of how the cushions are currently acting. Any advice?

 

[4Winns2]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Nice work. Over the past couple of years I've done 4 side panels and my back rest with new vinyl, marine plywood, and a lot of stainless steel staples. I tried the sewing myself with a home machine but it just wouldn't get into the pipes. I cut the templates out and the cut the new material and took it down to a shop in the city and he did all the sewing for me for like $75.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

LOVE the look of the red and grey together - nice choice!! I kind of wish I'd been more adventurous with my color choices now, but since we don't plan to keep this boat for the long haul, maybe I'll be bold for the next one!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Actually the plastic is not so much a barrier for water etc. as it is to protect the foam from abrasion by the vinyl. I would suggest, not covering the bottom part of the foam with plastic at all and using the 3M 77 spray adhesive to glue it to the wood base that has the holes drilled in it. This will allow it to breath properly. The top and sides are all that need to be "Plasticized". Nice job on the sewing! By the way, the Blue Stripes would not have set your Husbands Britches on Fire. He would never have known the difference.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Actually the plastic is not so much a barrier for water etc. as it is to protect the foam from abrasion by the vinyl. I would suggest, not covering the bottom part of the foam with plastic at all and using the 3M 77 spray adhesive to glue it to the wood base that has the holes drilled in it. This will allow it to breath properly. The top and sides are all that need to be "Plasticized". Nice job on the sewing! By the way, the Blue Stripes would not have set your Husbands Britches on Fire. He would never have known the difference.

Thanks Woodonglass! I learned a lot from reading your threads, so I really appreciate your input! I have already wrapped all of the cushions in plastic, top to bottom, so perhaps I'll put in a few air holes and see what happens. Thank you!

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

ps. I also have an old Morse! I call her "the mothership!" She's a beauty!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

That's the EXACT same machine I do ALL my upholstery work on. I also have a Morse 4300. I love em!!! I can sew 8 layers of vinyl with no Problems. I've learned to set the tension for the various thicknesses and also use a bit of 3 in 1 oil on my finger to "Slick" the surface of the vinyl to make it easier for it to slide under the foot. Works Great!!!

 

[4Winns2]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

LOVE the look of the red and grey together - nice choice!! I kind of wish I'd been more adventurous with my color choices now, but since we don't plan to keep this boat for the long haul, maybe I'll be bold for the next one!

Thanks. Four Winns original interior was light gray and bright red (what you see now is a burgundy/maroon) on a boat with a maroon hull and white cap. I've seen the original brochure from 90' and this combination look okay but I like this combination better. Thanks again and good luck on the needle and thread project.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

That's the EXACT same machine I do ALL my upholstery work on. I also have a Morse 4300. I love em!!! I can sew 8 layers of vinyl with no Problems. I've learned to set the tension for the various thicknesses and also use a bit of 3 in 1 oil on my finger to "Slick" the surface of the vinyl to make it easier for it to slide under the foot. Works Great!!!

Good idea about the oil - I tried putting some smooth tape on the bottom of the presser foot, but it didn't help. I did struggle with that quite a bit - I really wanted to buy a walking foot but didn't want to spend the money.

I had a hell of a time with my Morse on this project and ended up not using it. I've never had it professionally tuned up since I bought it, although my mom did unprofessionally oil it for me. I should probably take it in and get her looked at. I could not get the tension right with the vinyl no matter what I did - that and the "sticking" problem. I had to get an adjustable zipper foot for it because the needle position won't move on it (it hasn't worked since I bought it) so maybe that was part of my problem. I don't know - but I tried using my Brother SE400 just out of desperation and it worked ok, so I did the entire project on it.

 

[83mulligan]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Hi GB333. Nice work you've done so far. I'm in need of recovering some cushions and I'm going to be building some seats with some basic bench style cushions. I've never sewn anything in my life, but I think I can do it all with covering and stapling. I might need to lean on you for a tutorial! Keep up the good work.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Yeah, When I got my FotoMatic, I found a repair manual, called a guy in Michigan that repairs them, and he helped me to learn how to do the timing on it and got her cleaned, oiled, timed, and tuned so she works like a brand new machine. Paid $75 for it. I got the 4300 for FREE on Craigslist cuz it was broken. I was able to fix it for $13 in parts and did the same thing cleaning, tuning and timing and now it works like new. They're really easy to work on. Tensioning is a bit tricky but I finally started practicing with different thicknesses and tensions and presser foot pressures. Once I got it figured out, I was able to get very consistent stitching. 8 Layers of vinyl and no problems.

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

So this is where we left off last September..... time to pick up the project again! (and time to take some more photos!) I got the freebie vintage Craigslist seats covered and installed. All seat covers are done. Now I need to focus on the side/wall pieces. (That's my husband standing there! ...and his best friend in the boat. Let's not tell him I put his hiney on the internet, k?)

 

[Mud Puppy]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Hi GB! Nice work so far!

I'm following dovydaz on his seat and trim work and I followed your link here.

I've got an old boat that I'm restoring and I have no seats at all. I was thinking of finding old seats and redoing them as the new ones cost quite a bit. May have to do that anyway as the rebuild is on a tight budget.

Keep the photos coming! Enjoying the thread!

 

[GB333]

Re: Reupholster boat seats in 1990 Bayliner Capri - some photos, and a question

Hi GB! Nice work so far!

I'm following dovydaz on his seat and trim work and I followed your link here.

I've got an old boat that I'm restoring and I have no seats at all. I was thinking of finding old seats and redoing them as the new ones cost quite a bit. May have to do that anyway as the rebuild is on a tight budget.

Keep the photos coming! Enjoying the thread!

You absolutely can do that! Most of my seats are just foam cushions on boards anyway. And the ones that are not - I got them off Craigslist for free. If you're crafty and can think outside the box, I bet you can make it happen.

I'm working on the swimdeck today - more photos soon!