TOPIC: Upholstery

I just received my first bid for upholstering the two seats in my 59 Dorsett. $ 2, 500. !!!!!
I only paid $ 1, 100. For the boat!

How hard is it to do your own upholstery?

Any tip would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

I haven't tried doing my own, but when the time comes I may try this place:

www.copycatupholstery.com/index.html

You remove the old stuff, ship it to them, and they return new stuff patterned from the original. I think stapling it in would be pretty straightforward.

Mike,

Go for it yourself. Unless your looking for showboat quality you can buy a maching, staple gun and make it happen. For material go to ebay and trimjobber, also look around for someone near you into boating never know they possibly can help out and have a machine already.

Travis

Beautiful job on the woody interior Travis!

Mike, several of our members have posted tutorial threads here on how to do it yourself. You can use the "Search Forum" box in the upper right hand corner or the "Advanced Search" function just below it to find the subjects.

Like you and Norm the price scares the heck out of me, so i may be tackling the job on my own this time around? It also might be worth it to shop around and look for private individuals doing this work on the side or smaller shops looking for business.

Here's a couple threads to get you started;
www.fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/main-forum/upholstery-time#22433

www.fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/main-forum/do-it-yourself-upholstery#101579

Nice job Travis!

Thanks everyone. We're going to tackle this ourselves. We bought 1/4 yard of marine vinyl to see if my wifes machine can hangle sewing 4 layers. If not we'll be looking for a used commercial machine. Stripping all of old stuff now.
Mike

Mike,
Feel free to contact me if I can help in any way. I'm still learning but have learned a Lot and can help you with some tips and tricks. You don't have to have a commercial machine. The old Singers from the 40's and 50s (The All metal ones) will do a really nice job but the commercials ARE the ultimate due to the fact that they take a bigger stitch and punch fewer holes. The Model 15-91 Singer from the 40's is especially good at upholstery. It will actually sew thru 3 layers of Belt Leather. I bought one on Craigslist for $40 bucks and it works perfectly. A Walking Foot machine is the absolute BEST machine to have but of course it IS the most expensive. I found one for $300 but that was a FLUKE!! I had to rebuild it but it now works like a new one.

Let me know if I can help in any way.