1992 Sundancer 290 Upholstery Repair

[Boater8]

Good Evening To All!!!

Hope everyone is getting ready for the boating season to start. Here in Salt Lake City, it was 77 degrees’ yesterday, and today we got 3" of snow, but the hot days of summer will arrive soon.

I have a question for the group, our 1992 290 Sundancer needs some upholstery work on the farthest back seat that faces forward. The seat folds down for more room, so the back of the "bench" is attached to the inside of the transom via a long hinge, mounted on an upholstered board, which allows it to swing up and down.

The boat was reupholstered in 2015, but this bench back, where it meets the inside of the transom, is also upholstered, and the material is failing around the large horizontal hinge. By the color difference in the materials, I think it might be original.

I have a local shop that is willing to replace the bad material, but they are so slammed right now, they are not doing any type of upholstery removal work.

So, the plan is to take it out and bring it them to be recovered. This will save quite a bit of money with us doing the work.

I have attached a picture with the failure area circled. It does not look terrible, BUT, there is a large wood screw that is pointing upward - it will tear into your skin to if you somehow find it while sitting there.

The wood underneath the material is nice and dry FOR NOW.

The question is - what is the effort to take that back section apart. The shop has indicated they can get it all fixed in less than a week with us bringing it in, but not quite sure how big of a project this might be.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,

Pat and Carol

 

[Lazy Daze]

Are you asking how to remove the backrest (which sounds like it's on hinge, as well as the seat?), or how to remove the vinyl from the wood? Or are you referring to the seat portion that you want to remove?

 

[Boater8]

Hi Dennis,

I would like to remove the vinyl covered wood piece that is fastened to the transom, "in some fashion, which I do not know" that has the has the large hinge attached to it, and the other side of the large hinge is attached to the backrest portion of the seat.

I talked with the company here in town today who will do the upholstery work, and they indicated that it is all held on with fasteners, and I can get to them via access ports.

The boat is not stored at home, but at a storage facility, I am planning to start the removal project in the next day or 2 if the weather holds out.

I guess I will just start to unasemble what I can, and take it step by step.

All the best,

Pat and Carol

 

[Little Ducky]

I bet the screws holding that back piece on can be access through the rear storage locker. I would hope that's the case anyway.

The hinge that you mention (unless it changed from 92 to 98) is fastened directly to the back of the boat independent of the back section you are trying to remove.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Ducky... I "think" his boat does not have a transom locker.

I've worked on some of these before, but it's been a while. However, I'm still confused - it sounds like you are saying that the hinge is attached to the BACKREST. Isn't the hinge attached to the SEAT?

Can you post some pictures when you get a chance?

To be honest, the way you are describing things doesn't match my recollection of how I removed my last bench seat. The times that I have removed one I don't remember it being anything too hard to figure out. I bet once you get back to the boat and look at it closer it will make sense. But, please, definitely post back if you have more questions.

 

[Little Ducky]

Ducky... I "think" his boat does not have a transom locker.

Oops.

You are correct.

Just looked at some pictures.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Oops.

You are correct.

Just looked at some pictures.

It's funny if you think about. Who would imagine that a 30' cruiser would NOT have a transom locker! But I guess times were different back then and it either wasn't perceived as important, or it just hadn't been thought about yet for that size boat.