Ripped Seat Vinyl

dtfeld

dtfeld

Water Contrails
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Jun 5, 2016
5,577
Milton, GA
Boat Info
410 Sundancer
2001
12" Axiom and 9" Axiom+ MFD
Engines
Cat 3126 V-Drives
Ripped a small section of a seat yesterday. Is vinyl repair a DIY job or is it time to call in the pros?

Recommendations for DIY materials/kits or a good vinyl guy around Lake Lanier?

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This stuff is not the most beautiful but man....it works. I had to make a small repair in one of my benches to keep a small tear from spreading. Several seasons in and it is still holding, in a high traffic area. I can highly recommend...

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Stee6043 said:
This stuff is not the most beautiful but man....it works. I had to make a small repair in one of my benches to keep a small tear from spreading. Several seasons in and it is still holding, in a high traffic area. I can highly recommend...

View attachment 141457
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I saw that, but yeah, its ugly! All of the kits by 3MJ, JB Weld etc., get mixed reviews. This is right in the middle of the cockpit seats, high traffic.

Can an upholstery shop just sew in a new panel?

I'm wondering how long the repair will last...
 
Any good leather upholstery shop can patch that quick. If you don't know of any, talk to your local high end furniture stores, If they have an in house tech, he would usually do it outside of work for not very much. Or a car dealer might have a guy. Those repairs are not very hard to repair.

I wish I still had all of my specialty repair tools. Wood touch up and vinyl repairs are common.
 
dtfeld said:
... Is vinyl repair a DIY job or is it time to call in the pros?...
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That sucks Dave. I have tried everything under the sun to try and do this type of repair. I have had a few Labradors over the years and their nails tend to go right through the vinyl. I was never successful in fixing these types of tears myself and ended up calling a local guy, did a great job but didn't last as long as the rest of the seat did.

Good luck!
 
Dr. Vinyl is a nationwide company that does this - I've never used them, but for someone that's done this at least a few times, they should have no trouble with that little tear.

As mentioned above, also check around locally - higher end car sales, too.

VLP Vinyl Repair is something I've personally used. It's a clear glue meant for vinyl and it actually works really well. It won't make it disappear, but if you're careful, it will come out pretty nice.
 
The trick to a DYI repair and having it hold, is backing. Getting a backing in place and getting repair compound between the backing and top can be tough. I found the flat pick for cracking nuts worked best. Then using a soft or very flexible artist spatula with a 3/8" tip, will allow the compound to be worked along the tear thin enough that when you put your texture film on and apply the heating iron, the compound isn't super thick. The bond between the top and backing is very important. And that is where most repairs will fail. As for the look of a repair. Less compound is best. Just enough to fill the tear with a very thin film surrounding. I used a Mohawk branded compound that was colored for basic top coated leather and vinyl. Natural colored, that looked like stained leather, I used an airbrush to fade color.

I hope this helped
 
Company called Fibre New and guy named Henry was passed on to me by Singleton when my boat was unloaded there. I was told does beautiful work. I never used him as I replaced it all in the cockpit. Google it and check it out.

Bennett
 
+1

I used Fibernew for my vinyl repair. The damage I had was like a bird or dog paws made little holes in the vinyl, everywhere. I also had one small tear on a corner similar to yours. The person who did the job was just short of being an artist. You can’t tell where the damage is. This was done 5 years ago and is still good today. Highly recommend.
 
this is timely. I have a seam thread that's starting to elongate the holes in one of our big bench seats. I have it home for cleaning, I should try to get it fixed up before the threads tear right through
 
I looked up Fibernew…
 
Strecker25 said:
this is timely. I have a seam thread that's starting to elongate the holes in one of our big bench seats. I have it home for cleaning, I should try to get it fixed up before the threads tear right through
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That's a good area to use that VLP in.
 
Lazy Daze said:
That's a good area to use that VLP in.
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I have one seat where the seam in the center panel has opened up, probably someone stepping on the middle of the seat by the seam caused it to tear. Is it worth trying to use VLP or just take the cushion to a pro, probably sew in a new panel.
 
I would look for a good Auto Detail shop in addition to the above excellent suggestions.
 
Ericinmich said:
I have one seat where the seam in the center panel has opened up, probably someone stepping on the middle of the seat by the seam caused it to tear. Is it worth trying to use VLP or just take the cushion to a pro, probably sew in a new panel.
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If the seam has opened up using one of the mend kits it probably not going to work. The actual repair will depend a lot on how and why the seam opened. If the just the stitching broke then the cover may be able to be removed and restitched but this is not typical. More than likely the material ripped along the seam line that perforated the vinyl. As the vinyl ages and drys out this becomes much more likely (and one of the main reasons you should never use bleach based products).

As far as "sewing in a new panel" goes this may be possible but the entire labor aspect will be related to removing the skin fixing the repair and reinstalling. Once the cover is off you may just want to make a new cover. The problem we run into here is that many times we can not get an exact match for any of the welt (piping) that may have been sewn in. The other problem is that you may just wind up with the same problem on one of the other panels.

-Kevin
 
Ericinmich said:
I have one seat where the seam in the center panel has opened up, probably someone stepping on the middle of the seat by the seam caused it to tear. Is it worth trying to use VLP or just take the cushion to a pro, probably sew in a new panel.
Click to expand...
From my experience using the stuff... it's worth a shot, yes. Worst case... you're out $6 and a little time. You could also use some clear vinyl along with the glue as a patch. Never use square edges - always nicely rounded.
 
I took Bennett’s advice and called in Henry at New Fibre. A little expensive @ $185, but it was in a prominent, high traffic area. Stitch in time saves nine?

I’d post a picture, but it’s so closely matched I can’t even tell where it was.
 
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