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Thanks Paul. What about alignment marks? There are notches and curves, and since the top plate is bigger than the bottom plate, I fear I'll have a twisted cushion in the end. Should I just find the centers on eac of the plates?

So I lay the foam on the fabric and trace for the top plate and then flip the foam and trace the bottom plate. Am I adding seam allowance? The cushions are about 5.5 ft long and 3 ft wide at the widest point. Where am I making my hash marks, since the top and bottom plates are different sizes? Also. Is there anything special to know about the boxing, or am I just cutting the proper length?  Thanks in advance. I do these so infrequently that I'm unsure of myself.

So the customer knelt on his leather car seat in really freezing weather to get something out of the back seat. The seam of the insert panel came apart (the leather didn't rip, just the thread broke). That was a couple of months ago. I thought it would be easy to just sew the two panels together, and then re tack them at the side seams. Buuut, it seems that the panels shrunk, maybe about a half inch on each side. I tried just sewing them together anyway, but the stretching creates really bad wrinkles at the sides.
Is there any way to stretch the leather back to its orginal size?
Thanks in advance.
Jo

Thanks Greco. They're both gray. I don't want to buy a roll of top gun binding because it will sit in my shop till end times. Also, I may have under quoted the cover. 😬

Is it wrong to use Sunbrella binding on a cover made from Top Gun? Opinions please! Thanks!

I have a customer who has an enclosure that's about 5 years old (I wasn't the original maker).  He called me to replace the side and windshield panels because they have turned brown. I've never seen clear vinyl deteriorate this fast. He said he cleans them with "plastic cleaner". I asked if he meant something specifically made for cleaning Vinyl windows, and he said no, that it's the same stuff he cleans the exterior of the boat with. My question is, would the wrong type of cleaner cause the vinyl to turn brown prematurely? Thanks!

Nice!! What is the tabletop made of? Formica countertop?

Thanks guys. The fabric is Sunbrella with the vinyl coating on the underside. Sunbrella binding too, with poly webbing for snap reinforcement.
The moving the frame thing sounds intriguing, but I don't think he did, as there are stanchions on all parts of it. I don't think he would've messed with it.
He says the boat is a 2012, the canvas was made that year too, and only used once, then put away.
I'm just worried that my plan to extent the bimini top instead of adding length to the bottom will somehow go awry because of the curve of the flaps.

Hi guys, got something to bounce off you. Customer had canvas enclosure mad a few years ago and never really used it. When he went to put it on last week it had shrunk about 1.5" all around, to where he can't snap the snaps. Question: instead of adding fabric around the bottom perimeter an reinstalling all of the snaps, would it work to extend the fore and aft zipper flaps and sides and simply move the zippers down? Thanks so much for any advice!

Thanks Floyd, I ended up buying Vent-Aire vents, which are curved triangular shaped pieces of plastic, which can be covered with fabric.
Now I'm anxious about the placement on the cover. Thought about putting them on the center downslopes, but when traveling with the cover on, would the wind catch under that scoop and rip it off of the cover?
Decisions, decisions. Plus, aesthetically, they don't really look great....

Hey guys,

Making a boat cover from Top Gun, which doesn't really breathe. Normally I'd put boat vents in where the poles go, but this boat uses the flexible battens going from side to side instead of poles.

Sooo... what to use for venting?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks guys! I really needed this affirmation. I'm not going to take the job.

Hi guys,

So this customer just bought a used boat which has four like-new enclosure panels, and a bimini frame, but no bimini.

He got his hands on a premade bimini top (mass produced, with no zippers on the pockets) which is too big for the frame.

He wants me to cut it down to fit (like that's realllly simple) and then sew zippers on it to match the enclosure panels. It just doesn't sound like a good idea to me; I'd love to start fresh instead. Seems like modifying an existing bimini is more work that making your own?

Have any of you ever done this?

So I was screwing snaps into the windshield, and didn't drill the hole big enough. So when I screwed the snap stud in the head broke off of the screw. There is a little bit sticking out. Anybody know how to get this out of the aluminum? Should I file it down? Drill it out? Move out of town?

Thanks guys. Yes, I'm in PA, and yes, they want to be able to slide the curtains open, rather than unsnap and roll up. Another problem is that nothing is square or even. Like the center support of the deck is set back further than the corner posts, and lots of other anomolies that I'm going to have to deal with.

So what is sewn to the sunbrella at the top and bottom?