Seat Restoration

[smatsinger]

So, we have refurbished our seats. It?s tough to see, but the white seats originally were in bad shape. They were very dingy, more of an off white with some mildew stain highlights.

The admiral really wanted the two-tone, she liked the look on some of the other boats at the marina.

We should have the new cockpit carpet installed in the next week or two.

What do you guys think of the overhaul?

Scott

 

[Trooper82]

Re: Seat Restoration

Looks real nice, want to do mine when the time comes?

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Seat Restoration

what did you use to recolor it? or did you have new vinyl done?

 

[smatsinger]

Re: Seat Restoration

JDA- I used the SEM Marine Vinyl Coat. I tried the Rustoleum brand, but they didn't have as many color options. It was really pretty easy if your patient and can follow directions.

I thought I'd post this out there since when I was doing my research I couldn’t find much information or experiences on the forums. But, in my opinion, if you’re looking for alternatives to freshen-up your seats, this is the most economical way to go.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Seat Restoration

First off, seats looks great. I thought it was new vinyl. But I do have some questions. The videos they show on there site, to me looks like alot of steps to get a good finish, then your not insured the mold/mildew is going to not come back. What did you use to clean the seats prior to coating? Also, if you don't mind saying, how much money do you have invested with all the products you had to use from there company to get the finish you got? thanks

Budd

 

[smatsinger]

Re: Seat Restoration

Thanks chriscraft! I appreciate the compliment. Checked out your thread and still working through it. Your boat looks great. I love the LEDs, I did blue LEDs in our SeaRay cuddy. The big response follows this one.

 

[smatsinger]

Re: Seat Restoration

Thanks chriscraft. First let me throw out a disclaimer (for the administrators), I?m not selling or promoting a product. I?m merely giving a recount of my experiences for the benefit of others. I hope others find this information useful

Second, with shipping and three separate orders (bad guess estimates) I?m out about $135. That covered the bow sun pad, and all the seats.
I didn?t do every single step that the video references. Since I was only doing vinyl I omitted the wet sand, PVC prep and other items. Here is what I did.

1. I used Starbrite Mildew Stain Remover. Here?s there link from there site for cleaning http://www.starbrite.com/videos.cfm?ID=31
2. Then I used Mr. Clean Magic erasers. I know they have bleach and some say they promote thread rot, but I was desperately trying to get these seats clean.

After all of this, the seats were still dingy. You could still see faint discolorations and stains. We just got this boat and I really didn?t want to shell out the money for new upholstery. I contacted the manufacturer hoping to maybe order new skins. Unfortunately, they no longer have the templates for this model. (Didn?t think 1998 was that old? Sheesh). That is where my research started. I found a couple of companies that do ?vinyl restoration? which got me thinking. What can these folks do that I can?t? That?s when I found the SEM products. So I figured what the heck. I started with the bow sun pad. Big area that was in bad need of some love.

1. I ordered a couple of cans of paint and the 38343 Vinyl Prep.
2. Scrubbed it down with a sponge/scour pad and some ?Awesome? cleaner from the dollar store. Did that twice.
3. Sprayed the 38343 Vinyl Prep all over and let it sit for a 5 minutes and wiped it off with a shop rag (old undershirt). Then rinsed and repeat.
4. Once it?s dry spray on a light coat of the vinyl coating (paint). Repeat until you have even coverage allowing about 10 minutes to dry between coats.

The prep is the key. When rinsing of the prep product pay attention to whether the water beads on the vinyl, if the water beads, the paint will bead, this is bad, redo the prep.

Sorry for the marathon! :redface:

If you want the distributer I used for ordering, they were the cheapest I could find online, send me a PM.

 

[smatsinger]

Re: Seat Restoration

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. When I finished the bow sun pad, I did some testing of products to see how the finish holds up. I placed 3 inch spots of sunscreen lotion, the normal cleaner we use (Awesome), bug spray, spray on sun tan lotion and 303 protectant. I let all of the products sit for about 10 minutes. The bug spray and the spray on suntan lotion discolored the finish. The bug spray was the harshest. It actually made the finish a bit tacky. Afterward I just applied more of the Vinyl Coat and it was fine.

It seems items with high alcohol content had the biggest effect. (Think acetone=bad) But, I figured bug spray is highly unlikely to be sprayed on the seats, as we only use this in the evening and at certain times of the year. We also really don’t use the spray on sun tan lotion, so, I’ll just need to keep an eye on the guests.