Upholstery Work?

[LaqueRatt]

I keep finding boats that seem pretty decent except the upholstery is shot. Just wondering how costly it is to get this kind of stuff fixed. I mean is it a few hundred or thousands? Is a boat with an open bow and vinyl down the sides even worth considering?

Also anybody here do their own upholstery work? I'm thinking this might be a good side line for me. I've redone some seats by hand for sleds that turned out well. Would I need a super high end sewing machine or can I get something for a couple hundred bucks that would at least get me started?

 

[Drivewayboater2]

It could be in the thousands if you take it to a shop. I did mine on a standard surger sewing machine. 19 needle,marine grade vinyl and synthetic thread. Just make templates from what vinyl you remove.

 

[chevymaher]

I did mine.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I did the upholstery assembly and hired out the sewing

Just as a comparison a new 24 foot center console has about $6-8k worth of upholstery in it.

Helm seats, coaming bolsters, coffin box and folding aft seats

 

[todhunter]

I paid a shop to do all the upholstery on my 19 ft closed bow runabout. It was $3500 back in 2021. 2 side panels, 2 captains chairs, a bench seat with backrest, and a sun pad.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Wow, these prices are way up there. I suspected as much.

Thinking I'm going to have to have a go at this. Where is the best place to buy marine vinyl and what happens if I just use regular vinyl and keep it out of the sun and elements? I'm not sure either of the boats I have are going to be mine for the long term. I need something a little bigger.....

 

[Scott Danforth]

Wow, these prices are way up there. I suspected as much.

Thinking I'm going to have to have a go at this. Where is the best place to buy marine vinyl and what happens if I just use regular vinyl and keep it out of the sun and elements? I'm not sure either of the boats I have are going to be mine for the long term. I need something a little bigger.....

The difference in cost between cheap vinyl that will mold within 6 months and good marine vinyl on a boat is less than $100

Buy Sunbrella Horizon marine fabric. its about $18/yard if you have a good relationship with your local guy.

I use Trivantage, Reliatex, fabric warehouse, my local guy and a few others for my own projects. Sailrite is usually a tad more expensive

 

[stresspoint]

i have towels over the driver and passenger seats in my Maxum. they are not that bad a bit worn and faded , the sun deck on the back is the worst but i can live with the fact that the trim looks used .
i priced the work that needed doing and it blew my budget for the boat restoration so i decided towels on the seats were the answer .
funny thing is the towels are a good option as i don't have to stress about the trim being damaged from general use .

as i said to one trimmer that wanted $1800 for repair/recover of the 2 front seats, another 750 for the sun deck and a couple of hundred for the side panels.
i said , if you chop that price in half the job is yours , my boat is a hobby ,not a way of life, needless to say my seats still have towels and the sun deck still gets walked on and stuff dragged over it as it would have even if i had the work done..

even with the tatty trim , people still comment about how good my boat goes .

 

[tpenfield]

I do upholstery. You are looking at about $600 per cushion/piece.

So, a typical boat might be $8,000.

I just saw a Formula 330 re-upholstery that was awesome, 16 pieces, $15K.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Yikes! So basically once your cushions are shot the boat is a scrapper! Kinda figured as much.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Yikes! So basically once your cushions are shot the boat is a scrapper! Kinda figured as much.

most systems all die about the same time in a boat. most boats over 15 years need a full restoration.

my boat just went thru its second restoration since I have owned it.

 

[LaqueRatt]

The truly sick part is how GOOD some of these old glass boats still look, yet they need tons of attention to keep them afloat! Not from me thank you. Sure glad I found this site before I made a big mistake.