Marine vinyl?

[lbhsbz]

All my boats up until now have had old original interior or used upholstered bucket seats that I found…the vinyl seemed much more robust, not hard but just robust.

I build new seats frames last year and had a local small shop do them up…I’m almost scared to touch ‘em. They’re super soft and I can’t look at them without leaving finger prints. Pulled the cover off and there’s a few areas with black spots that won’t come out….haven’t tried gasoline yet…but that’s next. It just seems like shit material compared to the “aged 30 years” stuff I’m used to.

Did the upholstery guy just get me garbage material (charged me $1700 for 2 buckets and a bench…) or is this how new vinyl is?

Any way to artificially age the stuff? Lol

 

[Tank]

I would say YES!

And there’s a HUGE difference between marine grade and standard vinyl.

If you didn’t use a shop that does boats routinely they probably don’t even know the difference frankly.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Sounds like you didn’t get marine grade vinyl.

 

[lbhsbz]

Might go see him tomorrow and burn his shop down.

 

[DrunkenSailor]

I was in joaanes fabric the other day with the wife. Surprised me to see marine grade vinyl and sunbrella material on rolls. Wonder how much cheaper it would be to cover your own seats.

 

[Fun Times]

I was in joaanes fabric the other day with the wife. Surprised me to see marine grade vinyl and sunbrella material on rolls. Wonder how much cheaper it would be to cover your own seats.

I was just about to post the same thing.

 

[fat rat]

I owned a restoration shop for almost 30 years, we did it all, upholstery, wood restoration and everything else. Did plenty of boat upholstery, always brought plenty of samples and showed them the specs of the fabric they selected. We would never sell a product that we thought would not hold up. Did you get an opportunity to touchy-feely the product? Did you get a quote before the work started? Did they show you the specs?Personally I think $1700. Is a bit steep, but if it’s quality work then its worth it.

 

[lbhsbz]

I was in joaanes fabric the other day with the wife. Surprised me to see marine grade vinyl and sunbrella material on rolls. Wonder how much cheaper it would be to cover your own seats.

If I thought I could sew in a straight line, i’d have tried it.

The last time I ran a sewing machine was in home ec. In 7th grade. I found a nice singer at a garage sale and after 30 minutes of trying to figure out where the bobbin goes and how to do anything except make a mess with it…I threw it in the corner of lost hopes and moved on.
I’m getting to the point in my life where I don’t have the time to do everything myself anymore. I need to change that. There have been exactly 2 instances when I’ve hired out something that it’s been done right and to my standards…one of them was drywall and the other was….

Ok one thing. Drywall. If anyone near longbeach needs a badass drywall guy….lemme know. I handed him double his bill, because it was that good and hie was too cheap.

 

[lbhsbz]

I owned a restoration shop for almost 30 years, we did it all, upholstery, wood restoration and everything else. Did plenty of boat upholstery, always brought plenty of samples and showed them the specs of the fabric they selected. We would never sell a product that we thought would not hold up. Did you get an opportunity to touchy-feely the product? Did you get a quote before the work started? Did they show you the specs?Personally I think $1700. Is a bit steep, but if it’s quality work then its worth it.

No…you know how mechanics hate engineers? I’m a mechanic, and do a fair bit of engineering type work and I understand that nobody likes be told how to do their job. I decided to let the professional do his job. This is what I get.

The wife is gonna learn to run a Juki walking foot pretty soon I think. Lol.

 

[YeahYeah01]

If I thought I could sew in a straight line, i’d have tried it.

The last time I ran a sewing machine was in home ec. In 7th grade. I found a nice singer at a garage sale and after 30 minutes of trying to figure out where the bobbin goes and how to do anything except make a mess with it…I threw it in the corner of lost hopes and moved on.
I’m getting to the point in my life where I don’t have the time to do everything myself anymore. I need to change that. There have been exactly 2 instances when I’ve hired out something that it’s been done right and to my standards…one of them was drywall and the other was….

Ok one thing. Drywall. If anyone near longbeach needs a badass drywall guy….lemme know. I handed him double his bill, because it was that good and hie was too cheap.

I'll take his info if you don't mind.

 

[coolchange]

I was in joaanes fabric the other day with the wife. Surprised me to see marine grade vinyl and sunbrella material on rolls. Wonder how much cheaper it would be to cover your own seats.

Be careful with Joanne’s. Sometimes it’s manufacturer close outs and discontinued. Manufacture specific colors etc.
Edit, there are MANY grades of sunbrella. Be careful.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

You want Sunbrella Marine fabric.

 

[ltbaney1]

if you want to touch and feel different upholstry materials. head to A1 foam and fabric. the guys working there actually know there stuff pretty good from what i can tll. they are who supply a lot of the shops, i have bought a couple feet from them to sample in a car or boat and then take the sample to the upholster with the code written on the back and tell him this is what i want.

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[PDQH2O]

X100 for A1 Foam and Fabric. I’ve used them a bunch and they’ve always been great to work with.