I'm not sure that's even a real word in the title, but anyway. My Glastron boat seats are looking pretty motheaten, and I'm thinking of making a winter project out of redoing them.

I have two driver type seats and a bench at the back to do. Is there a fairly straightforward (read: easy for a novice) way to do this? One will probably need some extra padding where it's sunk into the frame.

New seats are almost more than the boat is worth.

Alternatively, anyone know of some good covers I could get if the originals are a lost cause?

Thanks!


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Ask the marina for a name, there will be someone in the area that does marine upholstery.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Ask the marina for a name, there will be someone in the area that does marine upholstery.

Negative on the Marina, Ghostrider. No such animal around here. The pattern is not even a bit full.

I haven't used them, but copycatupholstery.com will make new skins if you send in the old ones.

We redid all the vinyl on our pontoon two years ago. I took the skins off and my wife used them as patterns to make new ones. She watched some youtube videos on how to sew vinyl. The seats turned out great.

We've got a decent sewing machine, but not heavy duty and it worked fine. Get an electric or a pneumatic stapler, it makes the job of installing the skins much, much easier. It also helps to use a heat gun or hair drier when installing the skins to make the vinyl more pliable. Use stainless or monel staples.

https://www.sailrite.com/How-T...es/Projects-and-Tips

The sewing machines are quite pricey. Even the Rex walking foot machine is over $400

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
https://www.sailrite.com/How-T...es/Projects-and-Tips

The sewing machines are quite pricey. Even the Rex walking foot machine is over $400

Boat seat reupholstering is not a job for an amateur. Even my wife, who is quite talented with a sewing machine, thread, and needle didn't try to tackle ours. The heavy material requires an expensive machine, for starters.

You need to find a local guy or gal that does boat covers and upholstery.

The good ones are in demand, so they're usually backed-up.

You might have an adult class, or vo-tech school, in your area that teaches Upholstery. Auto, boat, bike, it's all about the same. The added bonus is that you'd have use of their equipment and tools.

I think a great thing to try is to talk to some used car dealers, as well as the used car manager of new car dealerships, who they use to make upholstery repairs.
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IF you decide to do the upholstery yourself (you can buy the covers pre-made and just put them on yourself...) PLEASE video yourself while you do it.

The frustration fueled profanity will be worth it for the rest of us.

I only did an upholstery project ONCE. I don't have the patience for it. The numerous tricks a veteran upholsterer has will blow your mind.

I had my pontoon boat seats reupholstered two years ago. A large L bench and the captains chair for like $800. I’m sure you’ve heard of Links Marine in Minong Wisc. That’s where I had it done. Turned out very nice. Boat seats would be considerably cheaper. It’s not all that far from Duluth.

When I lived in the yoop, this was the go-to company for this as well as getting a new Stormy Kromer cap. Don’t know if Ironwood, Michigan is close enough to you but may be worthwhile to call and speak with them. Nice people.

https://www.jacquarts.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Ask the marina for a name, there will be someone in the area that does marine upholstery.

Negative on the Marina, Ghostrider. No such animal around here. The pattern is not even a bit full.

Location: Lake Country, Minnesota. The Land of 10,000 Lakes....And there are NO Marinas??

Me thinks you need to widen your search pattern a bit...

I realize it's a little different deal, but when we were looking at re-upholstering our 25 ft pontoon, we quickly found that we could purchase and install completely new seat units for the price of paying a professional to re-upholster our old ones. It was not even close, so that's the way we went.

Since your boat probably has built in seating that makes that impossible, my money would be on removing your covers, having someone replicate them, and reinstalling new ones in their place. I'd take a healthy amount of pics and maybe even place some sharpie marks to point out key anchor points, etc, but then I'm captain overkill (and have a short term memory!).

Thanks all. Marinas are for those Fancy Dans in the cities and such. Us rural hayseeds have to make do with DNR and County funded boat ramps!

That's what you get when you move the hell an' gone up into the north woods.

I would think Potato Lake would have somebody that does reupholstery.