Thumbs up to Nautique Skins

[DavidF]

Thanks and I agree on your leaving the seam as is. What I had to realize and live with is that our boat interiors are hand made by several different individuals. You can pick up on the slightly different technique imployed by the person that built the cushion. Some fold the corner seams, some cut and bunch the corner seams, etc. I tend to want to make things perfect, but the interiors are ill fittng and not perfect from the factory. So, trying to make it perfect was driving me nuts early on and I gave up. The end result is nearly as good as it was, but not quite. I contribute some to my lack of experience and some to Nautique Skin. Don't get me wrong, the replacement skins are top notch...some even better than original, but some of the skins had problems...namely the observers seat bottom cushions that I simply could not get all the wrinkles out of.

I am happy with the result and most importantly will not be a Nazi when it comes to people/kids stepping on the cushions during normal use as Iknow I can get a replacement and reatively easily fix the damage. My passengers will thus enjoy the outing that much more. Life is too short.

[Chexi]

Yes, sometimes I am too much of a perfectionist for my own good/happiness. But I have to admit, I was planning on going a different way on the whole Nazi thing. I figure between the vinyl job, the re-wiring, and the stereo upgrades, I will have put in about 200 man hours on the boat this off season, so it has become my baby. Most people I associate with are pretty good with other people's stuff, but there are things that some people just don't know, so I was planning on going through the "rules" on the way to the lake. These are rules I am considering:

1. No smoking in the boat. That's as much for me and my wife as the boat. Should not be difficult to enforce though, since I can't think of anyone I know who still smokes.
2. No shoes in the boat.
3. No pens in the boat (except in my wife's purse).
4. Boards get taken off the rack by me or one of a few select persons who know what they are doing.
5. Boards then go immediately into the water and pushed in the water back to swim platform.
6. Boards get put on on the swim platform.
7. Boards get taken out of the water near the racks and put immediately back into the rack.
8. No wet towels under the observer's seat (I have car audio/not marine amps and distribution block under there).
9. No red wine on the boat. Beer and white wine are fine. I can't imagine drinking red wine in the hot sun anyway. Food is fine.
10. Check swim trunks for sharp zippers, etc., that might be on the buttocks area that could pierce the cushions. If so, towel goes on top of the cushion.
11. No running me over when trying to get back to me after I fall.

It seems like a lot, but when I look over the list, I don't see anything that would really make the trip any less enjoyable (unless one is a chain-smoking, red wine only drinker or unless one is a sadist and wants to chop me up with the prop). It's mostly common sense stuff, which unfortunately is becoming less and less common.

[DavidF]

Yeh, those are mostly common sense rules and I will still request those to be followed as well (generally). I gave up on the shoes battle long ago (getting in and out at the dock anyway)...while in the boat, shoes off. I do remove the cushions from the "stepping platforms" when people are geting in and out of the boat, but that is about it.

My problem, is that young teenages are my primary passengers at this point in life. If I fuss at them too much my son gets upset and then embarrased and tends to invite his friends less often or wants to boat less often. I want to avoid that scenario, so I am going to let more things slide and then just repair any damage. I am also now teaching my 13 YO how to properly drive the boat and launch/recover...that by itself makes me extremely nervous.

[Chexi]

The dreaded teenagers. Now I understand. Have your son pay for the replacement skin and make him re-wrap the first cushion that gets damaged by one of his friends. He'll take care of keeping his friends in line after that.

[DavidF]

Well, he actually helped me pull staples and pull the new skin(s) tight before stapling. He even did some of the stapling. Hopefully, it gave him a sense of ownership and pride in the finished product that he can be proud of. One can only hope....

[Chexi]

That should have done it then. Pulling staples sure taught me that I do not want to re-upholster anything again.