Building Seats

[ILIKEROSTERTAILS]

Hi,<br />I have a 16-1/2 ft Bayon Custom with rotted seats. They are plywood covered in foam and vinyl. I would like to build and upolster new seats my self. Dose any one have any tips on what I need or how to copy the old seats or any thing else?<br />Thanks,<br />Ben Hunter

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Building Seats

Back when dinos roamed the earth, we used to pull the first custom-made back to back seats out and replace them with simple benches, made from 2X8 or 2X10 smoothed planks. Then we made them comfy using lawn chair padded cushions. Easy way to customize the seating for the number of folks in the boat. Probably too old fashioned nowadays though. You can save the plywood out of your old seats to use as a pattern on new marine or treated plywood. Cut to shape, get some good closed-cell foam and cover with vinyl...or have an upholsterer cover it for you.

 

[Pun]

Re: Building Seats

Ben, I'm glad you asked about this. I've been researching and have determined that, unless you have some sewing skills and the necessary equipment, it would be difficult to redo the seats, and possibly the bow seat cushions, yourself.<br /><br />A solution I've been considering for my 16.5' bowrider would be to buy new lounge seating, have the bow seat cusions done by a local upholstery shop and do all the bolsters, jump seats, bow backrests and side cushioning myself.<br /><br />Problem is, you'd have to find vinyl to match the ready-made seats. Therein lies the question, "can vinyl be bought that exactly matches ready-made seats?

 

[Winger Ed.]

Re: Building Seats

Originally posted by Pun:<br />the question, "can vinyl be bought that exactly matches ready-made seats?

If not, you can get pretty close. But you have to go to a wholesale fabric supplier, not the local Hancocks, or 'Fabric Barn'. You have to get your materials, threads, snap parts, trim screws, etc. from where the local upholstery shop gets their stuff.

 

[Pun]

Re: Building Seats

Can anyone recommend an online source for marine vinyls that also carrys seats?

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Building Seats

of course you can build seats, add foam and then<br />cover with vinyl! may not have the detail of the<br />origionals, but will work. all that's needed is<br />a staple gun...<br />or just buy these from here at Iboats:<br />

 

[Pun]

Re: Building Seats

That's exactly what I want to do, mellow, but how to get more vinyl that matches to do the rest of the boat?

 

[papasage]

Re: Building Seats

when you order the seats ask if they will sell the yardage you need . <br /> you might match the vinyal at a lockle upholstery shop but you will need a sample of what is on the seats you order . usealey the mfg. co . that makes the seats use a lighter weight material and isent in a shop sample book .

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Building Seats

Ben and Pun. BoatUS carries marine vinyl as well as ready made boat seats. I bought seats and matching vinyl from them and redid all the cushions in my bowrider. They will send samples of the vinly if you ask. The issue is that ready made seats come in only a few colors, and marine vinyl comes in many colors/

 

[agrazela]

Re: Building Seats

I'm with Chris1956. I bought B&M back-to-back seats in light gray from West Marine (affiliated with BoatUS) and ordered up the exact same vinyl by the yard to redo the cushions in my bowrider. That vinyl is fairly good stuff (made by Sprague, if I recall correctly), and cost maybe $14/yard versus about $10-12/yard for "not quite matched" stuff from the local marine upholsterer. The vinyl was a special order and took about 10 business days to arrive. I re-did the bow seating/backrests/siderests and all gunwale and transom cushioning, as well as made a hanging "shroud" to hide the bilge area with about 10-11 yards of material (15' StarCraft bowrider).<br /><br />I priced out making my own back-to-back seating versus homemade. Including plywood/foam/vinyl/s.s hinges/etc...even at full retail the ready-mades versus the homemades were a wash. Plus then I got seating with lightweight rot-proof plastic framing versus heavy plywood.<br /><br />If you do decide to go with ready-made seats, I would highly recommend B&M over Wise...side-by-side comparison of build quality and comfort will tell you why.<br /><br />BTW, I got the seats for about 1/2 retail on West Marine E-Bay auction. Also, I do believe Cabela's lounge seating is made by B&M.<br /><br />Finally, when I redid the cushions, I got my foam from www.outdoortextile.com (again on E-bay auction; this store is also a fantastic source for s.s. boat hardware like bimini mounts, etc.), and the "extras" like welting, snaps and upholstery buttons from www.atrim.com. Batting, thread (Gutermann heavy duty), etc. I got locally at JoAnn's fabrics, while monel staples I got at Home Depot. Stainless steel machine screws, nuts etc. were lovingly donated by my buddy in the machine shop...<br /><br />If you have a tablesaw and/or a circular saw, a handsander, drill, a staple gun, a standard sewing machine, and some woodworking/sewing skills, you can redo any cushion you want. The only thing I could not do without a "professional" sewing machine was sew welting into the seams...I went with a "weltless" look and stapled the welting around the outside edges of the cushions instead.<br /><br />If you want to know more, I can e-mail or post pictures of the finished product.

 

[jheron]

Re: Building Seats

quote agrazela:<br />"If you want to know more, I can e-mail or post pictures of the finished product."<br /><br />I'd love to see some pictures <br />Jon

 

[agrazela]

Re: Building Seats

Here are links to some pics I took for someone to show them my bait tank setup; you can see the transom cushion and shroud I made, as well as some of one of the gunwale cushions I made (also you can see a corner of one of the B&M seats):<br /><br /> http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshots/MomentOfFame/l87932.jpg <br /> http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshots/MomentOfFame/l87933.jpg <br /><br />Of course, these picures were not taken to highlight my upholstery. I will take more pics of the interior, perhaps this weekend.