Messages

Peppy,

That's pretty cool.  I'm guessing the first couple of pics, when it was white, was your pattern stage?  I like your fitted boat cover too.  I've been watching your seats and interior as it progressed.  Nice overall job.  I know you can't wait for warm weather!

It's nice to think about something, design and pattern it, then watch it come to a successful completion.  I've been working on a slip over seat cover for a Ural motorcycle that I will be selling.  It has a gel insert and is held on by shock cord.

I'm on my third cover, each time changing the pattern to make it fit better.  I'll be glad when I can get my pattern right the first time! ;D  I think the third time was the charm.  Part of the changes I made were after it was sewed together.  I hope I can change my patterns without taking it apart.....again! :o

There are some others out there, but they just don't look that nice.  I want this one to look like a more finished and fitted cover. 

Keep the pictures coming!

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/product_listing.asp_Q_CatID_E_411_A_SubCatId_E_452_A_ProdId_E_3428

$13.48/100 Rochford Supply has pretty good prices.  I check on their discount area often.

My wife just sent me this picture of a house about 5 or 6 miles from my house.  This was on here "Detour" to work.  This was taken from her cell phone.

Notice the tractor trailer overturned.

Hey everybody!  Thanks for asking about us.  My immediate family is OK.

We were lucky.  Tornadoes went through just about 2 miles from our house and devastated a large part of a sub-division.  A large part of NC was hit and has major damage.  I can't ever remember of such widespread damage from tornadoes in NC.

I was in Fayetteville, which is about 30 miles from Sanford, teaching a motorcycle safety class.  We had finished riding for the day and were in class.  I started getting text messages from our local emergency services center.  The first one said there was a funnel cloud spotted in Tramway, about 5 miles from my house.  Five minutes later I got one that said a tornado had touched down in St. Andrews Subdv. demolishing several houses.  That was only about 2 miles from my house!  That's when I started making calls to find out if my parents were OK.  They live across the pond from my house.  My family was not home, so I wasn't worried about them.

Several large factories and businesses in Sanford were completely leveled, including our Lowe's Home Improvement.

It took me about 2 hours to get home, normally about a 35-40 minute drive.  There was a large power outage across NC.  From Fayetteville all the way to Sanford, none of the traffic lights were working!  I barely had enough gas to get home because all of the gas stations were closed. 

There are still a lot of local roads that are closed.  My wife just left for work and was going to have to make a big detour just to get to work on the other side of town.  Luckily, this is Spring break, so schools are out this week.  If this had happened at night there would have probably been more lives lost.

We all feel very lucky not to have had any damage to our us or our personal property.

With all of the advice you've already been given, I don't think I can think of any more suggestions that haven't already been mentioned on "Bung" removal! ;D

But, I would suggest that since you're putting time and material into covering your friends chair, that they would want to refinish the wood.  I would hate to see your nice new cover put on with the finish looking worn.....unless that's the look they're going for.

Be sure to post some pics of the finished chair! 8)

I use a 60mm Olfa cutter all the time.  For cutting out material and vinyl, I'd rather use it than my shears.  I bought this cutter.  http://www.usasharpeners.com/

It works for 45 and 60mm blades.  So far I've only used it one time.  I didn't get the cutters razor sharp like new, so I've just been putting in new blades since I bought a bunch pretty cheap on eBay.

I've been saving the dull blades and will give it another shot later.  I think it'll work, I just need to spend a little time playing with it.

Thanks Mike.  I used a heat gun on it a little, but I was scared about getting it too hot.  I'll try it a little more.  Any suggestions on technique using it?

I really didn't have that much time in actual work.  I'd work a little and think a little.  I think the next one will go much quicker.  I'm starting to figure out that it's not like rocket science, but there are some little tricks to making it easier.  Thanks to everyone on here, without you guys it would be a LOT harder! ;D

Chris,  Good job, DUDE!  Looks better than factory.

over here on boat tops made from PVC they sew them first then instead of top stitching
they weld the seams with an ultrasonic welder.

That's cool.  Any pictures of what the welder looks like?  I bet it ain't cheap!

BTW, I found 2,500 SS staples for $17.99.  Not too bad.  That's cheaper than buying another stapler right now. ::)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290496365763&category=109493&_trksid=p5197.c0.m619#ht_1462wt_905

I'll look for a 1/2" crown later, I'd really like to have a long nose 71 first.

Chris,

I bought one made from very similar material that I used to cover my '66 Mustang after I restored it.  It lasted about 3-4 years...until some cats decided they liked to sharpen their claws on it! >:(

We don't have cats anymore! ;D

its back ive got my avitar :D

MIKE!  You're back! 8)

Well, I got the seat cover installed.  Not too bad for my first boat seat.  It was some good practice doing patchwork quilting! ;D

I made a few mistakes here and there but the untrained eye would have to look for them...which now comes to you guys!  Tell me what you think and I'm always open to suggestions on how to make it better next time.  I used a lot of staples, cause I didn't want it coming loose.  I'm hoping that the wrinkles will mostly come out after a couple of days in the sun.  Boy, is it hard to get them ALL out!

The first pics are the extra staples I used! :o  I used SS staples everywhere except for the ends of the welt, I added some galvanized 1/4" X 5/8" just for some extra hold.

I went out to the shop and got my Porter Cable staple guns out.  I have an 18 gauge 1/4" narrow crown stapler with some 5/8" Galv staples. 

I'm going to run up to Lowe's and see if they have any SS staples to fit it.

I don't remember what the Bea 71 series stapler is Gauge size, I think it's something like 20 or 22.  I know it's a much smaller diameter than the 18 gauge.  Even though it's only a 1/4" crown, I think the heavier gauge will hold better.  It actually looks very similar to the heavier staples used originally. 

I guess the only thing with the 1/4", is I'm not grabbing as wider piece of vinyl, so it may pull through easier??  Your thoughts?  Do I need to invest in a 1/2" for marine and plastic seat frames or just go get some SS staples for my 1/4" crown.  If I can't get any SS staples from Lowe's, I think I'll just use the Galv. for the hard to hold areas...I really need to get this finished so he can go fishing this weekend!

I think this is the one I got, and came with 10,000 staples!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-NEW-Stanley-Bostitch-Hand-Stapler-P-3-/330378254080?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cec141700#ht_500wt_922

Works great!