questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

....which would make me wonder about him.

Yes I was referring to sunbrella plus. He just orders all his stuff through Rochford supply online. He just does this out of his home. He is not the best but Good for the price. Reupholstered my entire pontoon boat for 850 bucks, when other quotes i got were 4,000 and 5,000. For seats my wife and baby can enjoy, it was worth the risk. Again not perfect but I didn't expect perfect for that price. That includes materials and nautilus vinyl

Picture 1 and 2 is the before, the vinyl was dry and cracking and hard to sit on. Picture 3 is what i wanted them to look like (i picked the colors). Picture 4/5/6 is my seat reupholstered..

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Yes I was referring to sunbrella plus. He just orders all his stuff through Rochford supply online.

I buy some stuff from Rochford if it is just a small amount. He must do very small jobs to not go out and try to get fabric/vinyl from a wholesaler. He is spending more than he should be.

Of course the reality is that the price of materials is usually such a small portion of the job, especially for a bimini top, that you should just get the best material that you want.

Seems like a bunch of wrinkles but not bad for $850. Bet a real upholsterer would be charging over double that.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

I contacted 3 other "real" upholstery shops and the quotes were 4,000 and 5,000 which when i spent 4 on the boat, those numbers weren't even realistic. And the wrinkles are a little bothersome, but i'm one of the few people that understand "you get what you pay for." This is not a show boat, just a boat that i'm re-doing to last years and years for my wife and daughter, and i think these seats will do just that. And since we will be the only ones on it, when another boat drives by, i doubt they will see the wrinkles They may even pull tight after hours and hours baking in the sun.

The same with the bimini top. "Real" shops wanted anywhere from 750 to 1000 which again, in my situation, not even realistic, so when he said he could do it for 250, it needed to be done. A blue top (original color) on a graphite colored boat (new siding) and white seats just didn't work. And there is no point to re-doing the ENTIRE boat front to back and leaving 250 bucks out.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

I totally agree on your thinking for the price, especially if the boat value doesn't support the higher priced seats.

You do have a cover for this boat right? So the seats are sitting in the sun when you aren't using it?

When I was looking for a pontoon boat(just bought one), the number one criteria was the motor but a close second was the upholstery condition.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Here is the cover I just finished(well 99% finished). Will be taking a better picture soon with no shadows in it. First pontoon cover I have ever done.


Was going to be over $1200 if I had it done. I spent around $500 in materials. Have some leftover material though. Next task is an Outboard cover. I hate the way the universal ones fit.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

When i bought this boat, my intention was to find a small pontoon boat (this is 16 feet) in good enough condition to leave alone, so i was glad when i found this..... fast forward 2 weeks after getting it, that changed, and i gutted and re-did everything down to the wiring....

I have an attwood cover that came with it, that covers down to the pontoons and then a put a tarp over that. I trailer it as well since the lake is only 5 minutes away. Growing up my father had pontoon boats. He still has a 96, which is a year older than my boat, but the seats look brand new. He trailered his as well and wiped down after every use, which is what i've done with all 4 boats i've owned. This is now a brand new boat (to us at least) and will probably stay that way forever.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Here is the cover I just finished(well 99% finished). Will be taking a better picture soon with no shadows in it. First pontoon cover I have ever done.
View attachment 222631

Was going to be over $1200 if I had it done. I spent around $500 in materials. Have some leftover though. Next task is an Outboard cover. I hate the way the universal ones fit.

That looks great. If i end up having this guy make me a full cover, i think i'm going to have him take it all the way down to the rub rails just above the pontoon. I just have a fear of these crazy rains running in through the bottom (raised railings). That and any time the rails gets wet, the hidden dirt runs out and onto the carpet. and like a dummy i bought super light tan carpet in so i have to baby it, at least for a few years until my daughter grows up and i replace it with vinyl.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

My Bennington came with a factory OEM mooring cover, and to order a new one costs $1,500 MSRP. My bimini is made out of the same fabric, which is a Far East copy of Sunbrella polyester fabric. With dozens of boat lengths and fencing patterns, covers have to be custom sewn, and the snaps have to be fit individually.

Since we use our boat all the time and it's kept in a boathouse, we only use the mooring cover in the Winter. It's really tough on the fingers to snap it down.

I have a problem with spider droppings staining my vinyl seats. I bought the same awning fabric for half the cost of Sunbrella, and I've made slip covers to cover my seats.

You would not believe how tough it is to get a needle through 7.5 oz awning fabric. I had to do some hand sewing, and I used a huge needle and a pair of wire pliers to penetrate the tight weave.

If you look online, you can find great upholstery and tent/awning shops that can custom make covers for a whole lot less than quoted above. A couple are in southern Ohio and SE Indiana if my memory's right.

Sometimes it's just easier to order a portable carport to store the boat in from carports.com. Mooring covers will simply not keep the water out of a boat.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Yep, my fingers are sore today from installing sanps. Its a pretty tedious operation and I added more snaps than what the previou scover had so there will be more snaps to do putting the cover on and off.

I can't imaging making a custom cover without having the boat there. The snaps are not going to be in the same spot on all boats.

 

[lncoop]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Yep, my fingers are sore today from installing sanps. Its a pretty tedious operation and I added more snaps than what the previou scover had so there will be more snaps to do putting the cover on and off.

I can't imaging making a custom cover without having the boat there. The snaps are not going to be in the same spot on all boats.

Yep. Even when you order one specific to your boat it comes with the snaps but they aren't installed for that reason.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

When i had mine made i had snaps installed ever 6 inches so it would stand a heavy snow load.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

When i had mine made i had snaps installed ever 6 inches so it would stand a heavy snow load.

That's a lot of snaps!

 

[bajaunderground]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Yep, my fingers are sore today from installing sanps. Its a pretty tedious operation and I added more snaps than what the previou scover had so there will be more snaps to do putting the cover on and off.

I can't imaging making a custom cover without having the boat there. The snaps are not going to be in the same spot on all boats.

Have you seen the Lift the Dot type fasteners? I'm thinking that's the kind I'll use? Similar to regular snaps, except they have a flat spot on the inside of the female snap that can only be pulled off in that direction? I'm sure they mount to the covers similarly?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

Yes. More common on certain types of camper type covers. They have their places. Problem is they have a protruding part that is in the boat side. Don't want that where your body might hit it.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

That's a lot of snaps!

Yes it is and i complain about all summer long, but right now the boat has about 12 inches of snow and ice on it. When i had it made i knew it would be out side year round and we get rains here that are known to drop 2 inches a hour and some bad winds so the cover is my garage. Several times over the last 3 years we have had conditions that have collapsed a lot of the factory covers on the boats at the marina where i slip mine. In fact year before last the derecho wind that ripped through here ripped off and destroyed over a 100 of the 280 boat covers at the marina and shredded all of the bimni tops and destroyed the frames that were left up. It was sort of funny actually all of the rags left flapping in the wind it looked like the pennants at a used car lot. When i went out to look mine was just fine so i unsnapped things and went fishing.

This is just a personal observation but when it comes to owning and maintaing a boat you are going to pay dearly for ever thing you do. You pay up front and fix it heavy duty or you cheep out and fix it several times and it costs you a lot more to cheep out.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

He gets the boat for a weekend. My boat currently doesn't have snaps at all but my father's boat does and he will be doing his cover first. He is charging 250 for full cover with snaps including material so my father will be the Guinea pig

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

He is charging 250 for full cover with snaps including material so my father will be the Guinea pig

Even at $16/yard, the materials for my cover was more than that. Of course, my cover has binding and webbing(to help reinforce the snaps) around its perimeter that adds some expense.

What material is he using and how big is the boat?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

250 is nothing. mine ran 1200.00.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

250 is nothing. mine ran 1200.00.

That was the quote I was getting as well. I am really curious what a $250 cover is going to look like.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: questions about covers and bimini tops fabrics

That was the quote I was getting as well. I am really curious what a $250 cover is going to look like.

Maybe it was 350 but wasn't over that. And that's for top gun or sunbrella so we shall see what it turns out like