repairing/replacing upholstery

[gscho002]

hi - i have a 2010 SANTE 210. found a 2" separation between 2 panels on one of the rear deck cushions as you can see in pic i will attach - the separation is in the seam between the blue and white panel.....

took the cushon off and ran it down to our local boat upholstery place, and they were immediately worried that the small tears around the hardware on it would require them to replace panels. this is fine of course (and smart if they are taking it off anyway) except that the carbon fiber-looking silver panel is proprietary. they cannot match it.

i don't want to wait 120 days for skins from C&S for this, and tbh i don't really want to replace all my upholstery anyway. the rest is basically fine. any suggestions other than just match them up as best they can - the bad part is that the silver mismatch will be super obvious because the other cushion in the pic continues the same material......

thx in advance for any ideas. and - Jeff - for this great site btw! love reading the forums and posts, and the posts here taught me enough to winterize my own boat for the last 3 years running, which has been fantastic......

thx
geoff

[bturner]

My vote would be to (and in this order)..... order the new skins you need now as in today, have them put it back together, use the boat for the rest of the season and either put the skins on yourself or have your shop do it for you. IMO the boat is too new and too valuable to jake in a half hearted repair that would stand out. When you go to sell it it will be worth more with a proper repair.

From a resale perspective, if I were looking at the boat and saw a cheezy repair I would be off to the next boat or I would find out how much it would be to fix it right and subtract that from the price of a boat with a proper interior. Not sure what bugs me more, a bad mismatched repair or seeing a boat that the PO has put in a new interior using cheap vinyl, one color and without the proper stitching.

Then again that's me, you may be fine with it and since it's your boat as long as it makes you happy that's all that counts.

[gscho002]

yea i thought about that. possibly just doing the back deck if that is even possible to order is the solution, with a short term repair now while i wait for them.... anyone know if you can order anything less than a full set of skins?

doing the entire boat looks like 5-10K, which seems like overkill to maintain resale on it. near i can tell it might go for 40ish. though it is hard to tell these days with the escalation of new boat prices.....

[Scooter G]

Ditto

[NautiqueJeff]

I agree with bturner. Of course, I am a stickler for a good-quality stock interior. I don't mind buying boats without them, but once I get them, they always get a stock interior if they don't have one. I consider a Nautique to be a high-end boat. It doesn't make sense to put low-end upholstery into it. It would be like replacing the upholstery in an old Ferrari with some cheap old vinyl.

You might check with C&S to see if they will sell you just the vinyl that the local place can't replicate. They might be willing to just sell you the material.

[gscho002]

thx - already emailed them that question and also the cost of just the rear deck skins..... we shall see!

[gun-driver]

Yes, they will make what ever piece you need.

[SilentSeven]

From an older boat owners perspective....

I generally plan to replace a couple of skins per season based on condition. Some - like trunk skins - wear faster than others. If you plan to do a small section each year, the costs are manageable and the boat always looks fresh. I buy from C&S as I want factory matching skins and - while the are $$ and have a long leadtime - Sandra always makes sure each order is right.

Also....after doing my own skin installs (maybe 10 different installs now..?)....I think it would be really hard to remove and re-install a cut skin. The stapled edge under under the bunting is cut very close to the frame and a repair is going to have to re-staple over that section. I'm sure a good shop can do it but if the cost of the repair was even a reasonable part of a new skin, I'd just buck up and put a new one on.