Rips in vinyl seats...patch or cover options help????

[duganderson]

Hello,

We have a 20 foot pontoon with rips in the seats. Some are only a few inches and some are 10 or more inches along seams. Some seats have multiple rips.

Does anyone have any good ideas about how to fix these (I don't need the fix to look perfect since I'm not willing to pay for recovering).

Cabellas sells large pieces of bulk vinyl. Could I cut these and glue them on? What kind of glue would I use? Any tips on this?

Does anyone sell covers that would work. Most seats are 3-4 feet long by 1.5 feet or so for the bottom cushion.

Thanks, Doug

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Rips in vinyl seats...patch or cover options help????

As the owner of an upholstery shop, I can only tell you that the repairs your are mentioning are going to look like crap. You would be better off leaving the rips visable than gluing on pieces of bulk vinyl around the seats.

Take a piece or two to your local upholstery shop. If the seats are only ripping on the seam, it's pretty easy to simply remove the cover and restitch them. You can even save a bundle by letting them show you how to remove the cover instead of them doing it. I would let them reinstall it because it's not a simple as you may think. With interior seams also comes interior panels that need to be secured, heating 7 steaming the covers for a proper fit, and the use of a pneumatic stapler with stainless steel staples.

Repairs are much cheaper than complete reupholstery. Good luck.