Nautique Upholstery!!!!

Not sure if this is general knowledge on the forum or not.....

I just installed a ChristinesMarine seat skin on my 1997 SN stern seat... See that yellow forum ad over there to the left, CLICK IT!!!!

Fantastic product, advice and assistance at a very fair price... They have the CC factory templates. You pick out your factory colors from the swatches they send and a short while later some beautiful, new upholstery shows up at your door!

Installation was fairly easy for me even with NO previous upholstery skills.

I am doing the same thing this winter...replacing the stern seat back, like the O.P. and I am also replaced the observer seat bottom and back cushion vinyl as well. These both have a few cuts, and dings out of them in my boat, and new ones, will make my boat look like new again. Now, just gotta wait for December, for my Holiday bonus!!! :)

For those considering upholstery replacement sometime this winter, it might be prudent to get the ball rolling now. The swatches need to be sent, compared and confirmed. Then there is a lead time on completion since they are all made to order. I believe Christine's does not charge your card until the shipment time is nearing.

I also purchased the spotter and complete driver's seat backs. I'll report in when I complete those... If I had the option, I may have started with the smaller pieces first. It's not a big deal as the stern seat went so well, but smaller to start might have been easier.

wetskier2000 wrote: For those considering upholstery replacement sometime this winter, it might be prudent to get the ball rolling now.

A little bit of planning never hurt anyone.

To the OP, nice work. Having a clean seat back makes all the difference in how a boat looks and feels.

All done, piping on and black channel along the bottom re-installed... Looks even better in the boat!!

we pulled the boat just an hour ago, got in 2 runs each before pulling it. I'll wait to winterize it, maybe we can ski next weekend, although the leaks in my drysuit make things pretty chilly...

Next will be taking off the coaming pads and getting the flake that did them to use the right blue. I told him repeatedly to reuse the blue as I didn't have replacement blue material. I just had tan and off white... Again, Christine's comes to the rescue and sold me the correct blue so I can have dunderhead fix them... He does nice work, but screw ups like this made me look at Christine's and I'm VERY GLAD I did!

Besides the blanket what is different about the second picture?

I'm not sure your recommendation of reusing one of the vinyls was practical. Imagine carefully removing the stitching on a pair of jeans and then sewing them back together. You need excess material to pull and align things with, then it gets trimmed off. Without it the process seems infeasible.

Hollywood wrote: Besides the blanket what is different about the second picture? I'm not sure your recommendation of reusing one of the vinyls was practical. Imagine carefully removing the stitching on a pair of jeans and then sewing them back together. You need excess material to pull and align things with, then it gets trimmed off. Without it the process seems infeasible.

The piping around the entire outer edge is installed and the black channel is actually riveted, not just sitting there.

The blue areas were made smaller than original to accommodate this problem.

wetskier2000 wrote: Hollywood wrote: Besides the blanket what is different about the second picture? I'm not sure your recommendation of reusing one of the vinyls was practical. Imagine carefully removing the stitching on a pair of jeans and then sewing them back together. You need excess material to pull and align things with, then it gets trimmed off. Without it the process seems infeasible. The blue areas were made smaller than original to accommodate this problem.

I had the stern seat done locally using this method and beside the fact it wasn't stock, it came out pretty good. Hence the reason to match it with the recycled blue vinyl on the coaming pads. With any luck he'll correct the problem and we won't have to face it again since any other upholstery going in our boat will come from Orlando.

Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying... The locally done stern seat was very acceptable, but it just wasn't a Christine's Nautique Skin.

I must be doing something right... When we pulled the boat just the other day...

"That's a very nice looking boat".
"thank you".
"Is is new?".
"No, it's a 1997".

<with 1300 hours>

I would guess that I took most of the aforementioned 10 hours just to do the stern seat. But, I had never done any upholstery work before... Even number 2 will be much faster... Take lots of pics, take apart (and put together) 1 piece at a time. Read Christine's suggestions on the website a few times. But her pneumatic stapler if you can...

wetskier2000 wrote: I would guess that I took most of the aforementioned 10 hours just to do the stern seat. But, I had never done any upholstery work before... Even number 2 will be much faster... Take lots of pics, take apart (and put together) 1 piece at a time. Read Christine's suggestions on the website a few times. But her pneumatic stapler if you can...

I have the stern seat back and coaming pads out of the boat and at home. I removed them from the boat before shrink wrapping. I'll start with these over the next month and then once it warms up I'll work on the passenger seat back and small parts (walk through and throttle pads). Driver's seat, bow and motor box will come last. I did get the tools and stapler from Christine's.

I don't mind doing this in pieces even if it's done over the next year. Stern seat back is in the worst condition and where I want to start and then the coming pads and passenger seat back as these all touch and tie into each other.

The original teal vinyl wasn't available anymore and the replacements where more green then the original Vinyl. Since the orignial color wasn't available and I don't love green or teal, I decided to use a little artistic license and went for the blue color that was closest to the original teal in my boat, rather then going for a more green teal. The color I choose is what I would probably get if I was ordering the boat new and I feel is close enough to the exterior stripe color that it won't look out of place. If you look at the pic in my signature you will see that my boat has an unusual coloring as it is mostly a white hull with just a teal accent stripe.

I was originally not going to do the Drivers seat and motor box as they are in decent condition but because I have changed the vinyl color, the interior won't match up until I get all the pieces done. That said I am in no rush to get everything changed out and will take my time and get it done properly. I'd like to do this myself as I can know that any vinyl damage can be repaired with a replacement skin for the damaged part.

One would be well advised to compare new vinyl color samples to the gelcoat in addition to the old vinyl... both surely have changed color slightly since new... the idea being to match the interior and exterior colors (in their current state) as closely as possible. They may not have been a perfect match originally anyways.

Installing upholstery is one of those skills that is not easy to acquire. I have seen many pro jobs that look pretty darn awful. I am fairly handy but am quite certain that my skills would not match my high expectations of how a new interior should look... especially considering how expensive factory skins are. Hopefully you guys have a lot of patience and untapped upholstery skills!

So I started on my first piece today. The stern seat back. The foam has a few black spots in it that look like they cod be mold. Has anyone dealt with this before?

Can it be cleaned or does the foam need to be replaced?

Here is a link with some

pics

Wow talk about pulling your boat to the lake. That must be a long ride.

Can you give me an idea what Christine's charged for the back seat on your '97? I've been dealing with a seat upholsterer for years on my cars. He guaranteed me that he could reproduce and install the vinyl (with the exception of the "Correct Craft" embroiderie) on my '97 for less than Christine's.

Thanks.