Upholstery/project boat help for a newbie

[Bannshee]

Hello!

My family and I are in the process of buying an older Sea Ray (I think it's a 1987) as a project boat, and I could use any advice anyone wants to throw my way in regards to restoring the boat's interior.

The hull, prop, engine, glass, and trailer are sound, however, the original owner left the boat out uncovered for quite some time. As a result, the interior needs to be completely redone. Given the outlandishly low price we paid for this boat, I'm happy to put the time, effort, and money (and it looks like lots and lots of money...<sigh>) needed into restoring this boat to its former beauty.

I'm wondering whether there is such a thing as a DIY reupholstery kit, or if I should just bite the bullet and take it to someplace that can redo the interior entirely. We're not planning on using the boat this year; we're thinking it'll be next summer, if we do it ourselves. I'd love any suggestions you might have on these topics:

1. Can we reupholster this boat ourselves using some sort of a DIY kit (if one exists)? The entire thing - seats, sideboards - needs to be redone.

2. If we can't do this ourselves, any suggestions for a good reupholsterer in the Greensboro/Burlington area?

Thanks much in advance for any help you'd like to give.

Cheers,

Bannshee

 

[Dave S]

I can't help you out much on your questions but others on the board probably will be able to. In the meantime it would be helpfull if you tell us what model Sea Ray you bought and what size it is.

 

[STIHLBOLTS]

Welcome to the board. :grin:


Now which

Greensboro/Burlington area?

North Carolina?, Montana? Oklahoma? or Oregon?

Devil's in the details their young grasshopper. :wink:

 

[cr0ck1]

If you find a professional shop and you take out all the cushions and seats and bring it to them it will not be that much money and it will be stitches tight!. I remember i did the interior in my car.. i brought the guy all my seats and he charged me 450 bucks for two tone interior in boat vinyl.. that was the 2 front bucket seats, and the rear bench seat with back cushions, and the side panels and visors..


check into it.. if you drop the stuff off it will be cheaper.. its jsut cushions, the main thing is bringing them both the seats.

doing plain flat cusions are easy.. just stretch and staple.. its the bucket seats that are hard.. they have to be custom made and stitched.. expecialy if you want two tone then its all gotta be done by a pro..

 

[fwebster]

The problem with doing it the way cr0ck1 describes is that, according to your description of the history, you will need to replace a lot of the interior plywood in the interior. So its more than just sewing up new covers.

The problem with doing it at home is that sewing vinyl is tough and requires a sewing machine that can not only sew through as many as 6 plies of vinyl coated fabric and have enough feed power to pull the seat covers through the sewing machine. Also, needle sizes and types are critical so you don't split the vinyl instead of just penetrate it.

As far as patterns are concerned, you already have them if there is enough of the previous seat covers left to work with. Remove them and pull out the stitching and use the old ones for patterns. Other considerations are to use the correct thread for a marine application and be sure that you use monel staples.

If you can come up with a decent sewing machine this is a do-able but involved do-it-yourself project.

 

[casey344]

Seats

I had some work done to my bimini last week by an upholsterer. He mentioned how he couldn't make money on seats because Boaters World and West Marine are selling them complete. If I were considering what you were I'd simply buy replacement seats and match the colors for the rest of the boat. Chances are the wood frame you have is compromised anyway.

If I were planning on keeping the boat for at least 5 years I'd probably also pay to have the rest of the interior done since I'd want it to look like it was done right. I've seen a few do-it-yourself boats and the end result, although I'm sure looks better than before, still looks like a do-it-yourself job.

I got a deal lon a 1988 Sea Ray a few months ago. Mechanically it seems sound, the engine is new etc etc. I'm running the rest of this season to be sure it remains mechanically sound before investing in the interior work. I'd rather use the money on anything mechanical it may need rather than have a new interior in my driveway.

Have you used the boat yet?

 

[Bannshee]

Good morning!

Thanks everyone for the responses; I appreciate all of the feedback and information.

First, I'm in North Carolina - my bad for not including more details. Sorry about that! We're in the Burlington-ish area of NC and purchased this boat from a guy up in Eden, NC.

As for the make/model of the boat, we actually have to go pick it up from him this weekend. I've always loved boats, but until now, I've not been with anyone who'd indulge my boat fetish. My ex-husband hated the thought but my fiance likes the idea, woohoo! Supposedly the guy we bought it from has all the info on the type of boat it is; when I get it, I'll post it here.

Funny story on how we got the boat: I tend to cruise through Craigslist quite often, and lately, I've been spending tons of time in the "Boat" section. When I saw this guy's ad, I couldn't believe it. He'd advertised the boat for $1,000. When I looked at the photos, the exterior looked pretty good - the hull had no obvious damage, and the pinstriping was even intact. I spoke to my fiance about it and we decided to go look at it right away; we also said we wouldn't pay more than about $800 if at all possible.

When we got there, the boat was parked out in back of his business. It had a solid trailer that just has a few rust spots and needed two tires, but was otherwise fine. The boat itself was amazing - hull, prop, engine, glass, swim platform, teak - all sound. The owner had bought it from his brother with the expectation that he'd restore it, but he ran out of time. I have a feeling that he's in a hurry to get rid of it because his wife is on him about it - she was REALLY thrilled to see us come in to look at it.

The interior is thrashed but my guy is in construction, so he can re-do all of the plywood work himself. He is also an army-trained mechanic, so he was crawling all over the thing, looking at the engine, and so forth. He gave me that look that said, "Get your checkbook out!" so I asked the owner what he'd take for it. Imagine my surprise when he came back with $700. So, $700 later, we now own a boat.

I figured we'd just go ahead and replace all of the seats with new ones from a reseller and replace the carpet ourselves. The only part I'm truly worried about is the sideboards (hopefully I have this term right). They need to be completely re-done, and I'd like for them to match whatever seats we decide to go with. Once we've got that done, we'll clean up the trailer (also included in the $700 price) - we're getting tires this weekend. We'll take the rust off, repaint, maybe replace the carpet/padding, and we should be good to go.

We haven't had it in the water yet but I'm dying to.

Thanks again, everyone!

Bannshee