Looking for some Help

[BlueFlamingo]

I'm NOT a PRO.  Just an Old Guy trying to Learn the business.  I have done some basic Flat Berth type seats and some bucket seats in my sons VW Bus but these seats are a NEW Challenge for me and I'm looking to you guys to see if you can give me some Tips of the trade!!!  The Curves and Rounded inside corners are kinda scary and I'm not real sure how I'm gunna get everything to fit right and wrinkle free.  These pics are NOT of the actual boat just samples of the Baja Boat type seats I'll be doing.  I call em Barrel Back Bucket Seats.



Sooo if any of you have done this type of seat and can give me some tips and things to look out for I'd REALLY appreciate it.  I'm SCARED STIFF at the moment and Hoping beyond Hope I have NOT bitten off more than I can chew!!!!  They have top stitched French Seams and as you can see inserts etc...  I can handle all that but I'm thinking there's going to be the need for heat guns and stretching and tucking and possibly some hidden stapling straps etc.  I guess when I tear the old covers off it may "Show" me how to put the new ones back on.  I'm hopin that will be the case.  Chime in if you have some advice.

[papasage]

you will need  a soft stretchy vinyl for  a seat like that .

[Darren Henry]

Yeah Sage--- long time no read. I thought you went for a whiz and the wolves got you. Glad to see you back!

June, Mike and if he has to Paul see more of these than I do now that I'm on the prairies again, but here's my $.179 USD;

and possibly some hidden stapling straps etc.  I guess when I tear the old covers off it may "Show" me how to put the new ones back on.

Exactly! don't sweat that part---as you say all will be reviled.

Papasage is dead right (old coot has a habit of that) , choosing a vinyl that is forgiving will cut your bar tab in half LOL.

The inserts etc.. are pretty straight forward and have not been stretched too bad the first go round. You could use the old pieces for a pattern. ***use lots of reference marks***.

I've been burned bashed and buried like a boy scout's picnic hamper on the large curved areas. Throw the old cover in the corner in case you want to check some thing and pattern from the foam!!! I usually trace the seam marks in the foam  with a sharpie and straighten out any irregularities. Pin your oversized panels in place and believe in physics. You will probably  find curves etc...where you would not have thought of. Let the vinyl be your force Luke----If it lies nice being marked, it will lie nice once sewn.  ** did I mention lots of reference marks , often enough?****

[Mike]

do you have the old skin you could learn and get a pattern from?


make plenty  of alignment mark and get a heat gun to take out most wrinkles s

[JuneC]

Make the outside strips the length you measure minus an inch or so, and make the inside curve strips about 2 inches shorter than you think necessary.  They'll stretch.

June

[BlueFlamingo]

Yes, I'll  have ALL the old covers and I know they'll be a big help.  Just worrying about those curves and how to get it all to fit.  I guess when I actually get them and take em off, I'll learn a lot about how they go back on.  I'll keep you posted.  I have a heat gun and have used it before.  I KNOW to keep it moving and not stay in one place to long!!!

[Darren Henry]

I KNOW to keep it moving and not stay in one place to long!!!

what did finding out what "too long" is, cost YOU ? Grin.

Just worrying about those curves and how to get it all to fit.

Like I said---I find it easiest to mark my seam lines and then pin an oversized panel to the seat and transfer my reference marks and cut lines once I have it lying flat.

[BlueFlamingo]

About $5 bucks and...and hour of time to rip it out and do it again!!!!

[JuneC]

Welcome to the "do over" club!  Oh, and when the vinyl starts to stink, it's time to move the heat gun.  And... if you just happen to be using a textured vinyl like carbon fiber, toss the heat gun - it'll make that vinyl flat as a baby's a$$.   Ask me how I know  :D

June

[Mike]

I like to keep my hand in the line of fire on the vunyl to see how hot it is

[Darren Henry]

So far only burned myself once (touch wood), but it was expensive. Warranty work for local retailer---manufacture's pre-sewn assembly----tan. I had to get the guy with the "Fibre new" franchise* out of Thunder Bay to bail me out the next time he came to Kenora. $$$$$

*Vinyl repair system.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I haven't been "burned" yet ... but one of my customers was.  Too funny.

First restaurant I did.  She bought the vinyl from another upholster who kept promising her for like two years that she would get the booth seats done and never quite seemed to find the time. 

So, I had just bought my upholstery machine and the dude who sold it to me ate at the restaurant.  He gave the owner my card.  I swear there was something wrong with this vinyl.  I used the old covers for patterns and I practically had to stand on my head while using the heat gun to get the vinyl stretched.  Two days later, she would call me and it was incredibly loose.  We had enough vinyl that I cut one from the opposite direction to see if I had cut wrong (being very green as they say).  Nope, made no difference at all. 

So, I spent one weekend at the restaurant restretching.  I think the owner thought I was totally incompetent and she was going to teach me how to stretch vinyl. ; )  We popped the staples on the first seat and I took the vinyl off the seat to show her how I had cut it the same as the old covers were.  She looks at it and was like "How in the h*ll are you ever going to get that thing back on there.  So we get the heat gun out and start getting it back in place.  Her hands are totally trashed by Sir Arthur so we decided that I would stretch and she would run the heat gun.  I warned her about a dozen times over the course of the afternoon to be careful with the heat gun or she would burn the vinyl.  Of course she knew better than me.  Somewhere along the line, I heard a string of cuss words that would make even the most seasoned sailor blush.  I knew what had happened but I very nicely asked her what was wrong.  She showed me what she had done.  I bit my lip to keep from laughing and showed her how it wasn't that big of a deal as it was close to the underside and we just made sure that the burn was on the wall side so it wasn't noticeable.  She kept telling me how sick it made her to her stomach.  I told her that I was just glad that she had been the one to burn the vinyl since it was her restaurant. 

I still swear that vinyl was defective as the owner told me that they pop the staples ever few months and her hubby restretches it.  The seats are tight for a couple of weeks and then slowly get loosey goosey.  I've done 4 other restaurants since and used vinyl that I bought, used exactly the same technique and all of the seats are still as tight as a 90 year old (well you know what that 90 year old is).  : O

Virginia