boat seats: repair or replace?

[chrisg]

Looking at the cost of new pontoon furniture, I?m thinking of repairing the existing seats and recover. ?87 toon.

Only the bottom cushions appear to need re-done. The other coverings are not ripped, but the arm rests appear to have the wood broken inside. I was thinking of putting new plywood in the arm rests, and pulling the vinyl back over them, as they are not ripped. Or does someone know how long vinyl lasts, and the other vinyl will rip soon also.

So, is it not worth repairing considering the age of the vinyl and wood frames?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boat seats: repair or replace?

you gotten excellent service out of 22 year old furnishing. it is up to you whether you recover/repair vs the cost of new.

 

[drewpster]

Re: boat seats: repair or replace?

I have re-stitched old vinyl, by hand, and it took forever, but it worked out fine. In order to make it look right it may be necessary to completely remove the covers and replace the foam. The foam gets deformed over years of use. A good way to tell if the vinyl is too far gone is the pull test. Once you open up the seam to get the cover off it will take a little effort to get them removed. If the vinyl tears easily then its time for new covers. You may get some tearing at the seams while you are removing them. This is ok as long as the material itself does not tear.
Pay attention how the covers are sewn when you look them over. Simply restitch the open seams and put the covers back on the same way they were originally. After the seams are restitched the cover will be smaller overall so be sure it will fit back over the frame. You may have to shave some of the foam down to get them to fit back on. A good sharp electric turkey knife works pretty good at cutting and shaping the foam.

 

[chrisg]

Re: boat seats: repair or replace?

Thanks for the advice drewpster

I assume I would use special foam.

I am going to re-build the frames of the arm rests, and replace the cup holder. I heard there is vinyl paint that can be used to spruce up the vinyl. So, I found someone selling a pair of new bench seats ( In the colors the wife wants, and the size I need) ? price of original (new seats- someone ordered them and changed their mind) I would just have to fix up the arm rests and change the color to match the seats.

As for the seams, it appears that they were stapled together. And the seams are intact ( except for one arm rest, where it appears the seams were stapled together).

I think I will take the seats out, and put the pontoon away for the winter, kick the cars out of the garage, and will have a nice winter project. (Until the wife complains about the snow, and no room in the garage for the cars. )