Hold cushion seam together for the season?

[superbenk]

My sun deck cushion is coming apart at a seam. The opening is around 3" long now and has grown slightly since the beginning of the season. I'll take it in to be re-stitched this winter, but I'm wondering what I can do right now to hold it together over the season that won't result in damaging the fabric? I was thinking of some clear packing tape over the seam for now, but I'm concerned about the adhesive causing problems in the end or being hard to remove. Is there a better solution? I'm afraid if I take the cushion off & take it to the upholster now it'll be in the shop for weeks when I could be boating, but I don't want to make this a far more expensive fix (eg, I don't want the fabric itself to be damaged as it's just the threads breaking now - no tears).

 

[Scott Danforth]

If the seam is just coming un-sewn then it can be restricted.

If the material is tearing at the seam, it needs to be replaced.

I would check arround, some shops may be less than a week.

However I would not tape it

 

[Chris1956]

Cushions seams are on the inside. There is usually a zipper which allows the foam to pull out and exposes the seams. I would get some upholstery thread from a Walmart and a needle, open the zipper and pull out the foam. Now turn the cushion inside out and stitch it by hand. It will take about 10 minutes. You can drop it off at the shop after the season, as the whole cushion likely needs to be restitched..

 

[superbenk]

The fabric isn't tearing at all, the thread is just disintegrating causing the seam to open up. The vinyl is in really good condition. Unfortunately the cushion fabric is stapled to the backer board such that it isn't easy to open up without re-stapling it afterwards. You can see the seam with the problem in this picture just above the curved blue fabric on the swim deck cushion (port side):

 

[southkogs]

This is gonna' sound silly but ... why not try wrapping that section with packing wrap (saran wrap kinda' stuff you use for pallets). You can get a reasonable hold, should be cheap, shouldn't hurt anything ...

 

[Chris1956]

OK, so it will take 20 min to remove the staples and another ten minutes to stick it up. Restaple with rustproof staples.