DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

natemoore

natemoore

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I bought the used Sailrite LS-1 walking foot industrial sewing machine and finished up the bow rider section of our bow rider. Everything turned out on a level that can only be described as pretty damned stellar (for a first time reupholsterer). My wife was like, "Holy S*&t!!!! That looks like it came with the boat!"

Most people, I would guess, just buy the replacement "lounge" seats since they're only about $200 each, but I hate lounge seats. I wanted the comfort and look of the seat, but I only want the front half. Can't buy the front half unless you have it leaning up against a bulkhead. So, to the drawing board for a sleek design and to the sewing machine for some graduate level sewing.

I'll be posting pictures as I make my way through the project.
 
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jimmy wise

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

cool post picts so we can see
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

As I disassembled the chair, I prolifically photographed it from all angles and drew registration marks so I could see how it was assembled once in pieces on the floor. I'm only showing a small fraction of the photos I took.

After taking a bunch of initial pictures, I borrowed the wife's seam ripper and started taking the chair apart.
 

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natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

It took a couple of afternoons, but I finally disassembled the vinyl components. I figured I could iron them all flat and use them as templates for the new vinyl, which worked well. Make sure you put a cotton t-shirt in between the iron (on its hottest setting) and the back of the vinyl. It took several hours to iron all the pieces, and I placed them in between board with weighs on top to make sure they stay flat.

Shown below are the six components of the seat bottom, minus the pleated center section. I decided to order pre-made pleats because it seemed impossibly difficult to make that myself. The heat-seamed pleated vinyl was fairly cheap.

Notice the registration marks I made. Were these not there, I'd be totally lost upon reassembly.
 

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natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Since I'm doing both the driver and passenger seats, I went ahead and double up the cut-out pieces. You can figure out a way to keep the vinyl templates flat and in place as you trace them onto the new vinyl with an ink pen. I used a piece of wood and a steel ruler.
 

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jimmy wise

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Used big sinkers or nuts to hold it down. Jim
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

This is the right half of a seat bottom completed. The key to sewing these together is to line up the bottom edge of the welting with the edge of the vinyl...and also to have a really good walking foot industrial machine. This is a used LS-1 made by Sailrite. Picked it up on eBay for $450 plus shipping. It has a built-in welting foot which guides the the welting past the needle.

If you're reupholstering a flat cushion, it works out well to make the top piece of vinyl 1/2" bigger than the wood substrate. This is done by using a scribe (dividers with a pencil). Then sew on the welting, lining up the bottom edge of the welting with the edge of the vinyl top. Then sew on the sides in a second pass. I also made the new foam 1/4" bigger than the wood so that it wouldn't protrude through the vinyl sides. I'll post a how to on this later.
 

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natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Here are some pictures of the finished bow section.
 

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natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Here are some finished pieces. I'm probably going to have to resize the wood substrate because these seem to be a little smaller than the original. I'll cover the wood working portion of the seat construction in a later post.
 

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Y

Yankeyspeed

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Nice work, have you done the interior side panels yet? I had to replace my seats, they were just to far gone. My panels are on my list of things to do.
 
SDSeville

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

natemoore said:
(for a first time reupholsterer).
Click to expand...

Wow, that looks great!!! 1st time reupholsterer...maybe, but you obviously have some experience with a sewing machine.
 
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Vankaye

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

I am completely inspired! I have had new vinyl on 4 occasions one being a brand-new boat (which was great) and second was paying about $2500 to have the entire interior re-done and the other two I spent about $2500 on new interior pieces (pontoon and tri-hull). There is NOTHING that makes a bigger impact on a boat than fresh vinyl. I can live with any other component being old or worn but new vinyl is luxurious!!!

My current boat - the vinyl is in good shape. But new upholstery would make my whole boat new...

I'm just killing myself thinking about all the money I could have saved with a $500 sewing machine!!
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

natemoore said:
Here are some finished pieces. I'm probably going to have to resize the wood substrate because these seem to be a little smaller than the original. I'll cover the wood working portion of the seat construction in a later post.
Click to expand...

Replying to my own post...I figured out why they are a little smaller than the original. Referring to the below picture, the flat part of the welting is approx. 1/2" wide, but the distance from the stitch holes the the edge of the old vinyl is about 3/8". So, if you line up the 1/2" welting to the edge of the new vinyl, you're losing 1/4" in width and height. The stitches on the old vinyl pieces were anywhere from 1/2" to 3/8" from the egdes, mostly, with a few greater deviations, and the original upholsterers trimmed the excess off the welting, so I just guessed that 1/2" welting was "standard." In hindsight, I should have made the new vinyl pieces 1/8" bigger to make the new covers perfect, OR, I could have trimmed 1/8" off the flat part of the welting.

What I must do now is trim a little off the foam, and use a smaller wood substrate. That's no big deal since I'm making all new wood parts anyway. Besides, I don't mind the seats being a little smaller given how crowded the boat is anyway.
 

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natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Yankeyspeed said:
Nice work, have you done the interior side panels yet? I had to replace my seats, they were just to far gone. My panels are on my list of things to do.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The cockpit side panels are very similar to the bow section side panels, which I've already completed. See pictures above. You don't have to do any sewing on those; it's all folding, tucking, and stapling. After doing the captains seats, the side panels will be easy.
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

SDSeville said:
Wow, that looks great!!! 1st time reupholsterer...maybe, but you obviously have some experience with a sewing machine.
Click to expand...


Honestly, the last time I ran a sewing machine was in the 9th grade (I'm 31 years out of high school) in home economics. I was a long haired Danny Partridge-looking pot head who thought that making a Brian May-style hippy shirt was far more desirable than baking cookies. It turned out great and I wore it often. It was my "smoking shirt." ;)

So imagine my horror when on awards day my home economics teacher called me down in front of the entire school to receive my home-ec trophy. Good thing I was stoned.

Ed. Note: I quit smoking pot on June 8, 1979. Wound up going to the Naval Academy, too. So parents, there's always hope.
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Vankaye said:
I am completely inspired! I have had new vinyl on 4 occasions one being a brand-new boat (which was great) and second was paying about $2500 to have the entire interior re-done and the other two I spent about $2500 on new interior pieces (pontoon and tri-hull). There is NOTHING that makes a bigger impact on a boat than fresh vinyl. I can live with any other component being old or worn but new vinyl is luxurious!!!

My current boat - the vinyl is in good shape. But new upholstery would make my whole boat new...

I'm just killing myself thinking about all the money I could have saved with a $500 sewing machine!!
Click to expand...


My kitchen remodeling business has been pretty slow...for the past four years:mad: so I was thinking about doing this for extra income. Had no idea that reupholstering a boat was that expensive. I'll have no more than $400 in materials invested, if that much. That seems like a pretty lucrative part time job to me.
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Here's the redone seat back. The three flaps on the inside are stapled to the wood bottom in order to form a nice pocket for your butt and back.
 

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Campylobacter

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

natemore,

Those look absolutely great. I'm not surprised at all that you won the home economics award. I am also not surprised you were baked at the ceremony. 2112 was one of my favorite albums (songs?) in high school too!
 
natemoore

natemoore

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

Unfortunately, I was unable to experience Rush during my pothead days. I was not turned on to Rush until about 1980, by which time I was on the straight and narrow, save for the booze I swiped from my dad's bourbon bottle.

I'm not that much of a Rush fan. Only named my son Geddy. Only seen then in concert a hundred times. That's all.;)
 

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zlman1970

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Re: DIY reupholstering of boat seats/captain's chairs

I wish I had the time and skill for a project like this, looks great! Keep the pics coming.
 
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