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This video is brought to you by Sailrite. In this video were going to be showing you
how to recover the vinyl fabric seat cover on this personal water craft. The vinyl fabric
we will use to recover the seat is a 4-way stretch vinyl called Allsport from Sailrite.
Watch this video then purchase a few yards of the Allsport from Sailrite and do it yourself
and save. A full materials list will be show at the end of this video.
Before we get started Matt Grant from Sailrite is going to detail the steps that we will
take to recover the personal watercraft. Here's Matt Grant.
I'm Matt Grant with Sailrite and today were going to show you how to cover or recover
your personal water craft vinyl seat. You can see in front of me here we've got a three
person vehicle here and the vinyl has started to crack and the plasticizers have left the
vinyl which is typically when this starts to happen, so it get brittle and you can see
the crazing. When that happens there is very little that you can do to make it look perfect
again other than replacing the seating vinyl. Now if we inspect the seats carefully and
we push on the material you can see this bubbled area. And the material, I can move the material
around on the foam. See how I can even pinch it here. So, this is a very pliable material
here. This is an Allsport type vinyl which is a vinyl which stretches in all directions.
Here's a scrap piece of Allsport in black and you can see I can take it and get a lot
of stretch on the material. Which means I can pull it over a surface and staple it to
the underside, I can create a nice conformable vinyl covering for this seat and I can accomplish
essentially the same thing that we got at the factory level. And we will show you how
to add the strap. How to staple it underneath and a number of other things that will make
this look factory new when we are done. But if we come back to the aft seat panel you
will notice I can't move the vinyl around. It feels a bit harder in this particular case
and basically what we have here is we have a vinyl that has been molded to the foam.
So, it is not a separate fabric it's actually been molded right to the foam assembly. Indeed
I can prove that by removing the seat and here we've got an area where some staples
are missing. If we look under here you can see it has been pulled away a little bit here.
But you can see here that the foam is permanently attached to our vinyl material. Which would
means it would be impossible to take this vinyl off without destroying the foam. Which
we don't want to do. So what we're going to do here is where going leave, leave this vinyl
in place and were going to put our Allsport vinyl over the top of it. But because we have
a dip here, where we want it to be nice and tight we don't want a bubble here. Like is
acceptable here. We are actually going to do this seat a little bit differently. We're
going to pattern it in pieces and there will be some seams in here so that we can get a
nice tight fit. Because any of these dips will create areas where we can't get the material
pulled down unless we were to put a pull strap into this location and pull it thru to the
bottom. Which we don't want in this case because we have a lot of water here and we don't want
any water coming thru the seating assembly. You can see of course these are all built
on a plastic frame which is what this vinyl is stapled to. So, again we are going to cover
this particular assembly without removing the material. This particular seat were going
to actually remove the material and use this as our pattern and put our new material over
the exposed foam and we can do it that way. So, follow along and even if your personal
water craft is slightly different I think between the two approaches you will determine
which is best for you. We will start by recovering the aft seat.
This is the seat that Matt explained to us has the vinyl bonded to the foam, so we can't
remove the old vinyl without damaging the foam. So Angela places the vinyl wrong side
up on top of the seat then to begin her patterning she will find the center of the seat and mark
it on the underside of the fabric at several locations. When her patterning is done she
will fold the assembly in half and cut it out resulting in a mirrored pattern for the
opposite side. The goal here is to make separate panels along
the contoured shape of the seat. So later on she can sew those panels together giving
the cover some shape right over the construed sides of the seat.
As you watch her she is trying to feel the seat below to determine where the valley or
peak of each of the contoured shapes fall. Then she marks the underside of the Allsport
way stretch from Sailrite with a marker. Along the underside of the seat (where the
vinyl will wrap around the edges to be stapled) she must leave enough vinyl so it can be pulled
tightly over the seat and stapled. She is leaving about 2 to 4 inches of excess fabric
to do this task. Her patterning is now complete. She will next
pull up the vinyl slowly and let you see the countered shape of the seat below, so you
can judge how yours at home should be done. Since we will be using the Allsport 4 way
stretch vinyl from Sailrite we do not need to add seam allowance to each of the seams.
So, our job is easy all we have to do is cut the panels out and sew them together matching
up the cut edges. If you do not use the Allsport 4 way stretch vinyl from Sailrite you must
allow for seam allowance. We will not be showing that here.
Strike a line down the center ontop of the marks that were made earlier. Then fold the
assembly in half along that line carefully and cut along each of the patterning lines
cutting both layers of fabric. Be careful that each layer does not move while you are
cutting. After it is all cut out our personal water
craft aft seat will result in 4 panels. Yours may be different depending on the shape of
the seat. Now all we need to do is sew them each together.
As discussed earlier the Allsport 4 way stretch vinyl does not require seam allowance since
it can be stretched over the seat for a perfect fit. Here Angela has found the correct corresponding
two panels and has laid them so the outside surfaces are facing each other. She will start
sewing from the center line that was marked on the fabric. We will sew this first stitch
with a 4mm long straight stitch. This seam will be what is called a "semi flat felled
seam". We will not do reverse stitching when we start our stitch as this often shows up
too easily when the seat is finished. So instead we will make sure both panels are matched
up along the center line and we will start sewing very close to the raw edge of the fabric
then sew at an angle in until we are sewing about a half inch away from the raw edges
of the fabric. Then when we sew the opposite side of the seat we will do this same procedure
and thus sew directly over the end of this first stich helping to lock the stitch in
place without doing reverse stitching in the center of our seat.
Sailrite recommends using a V-92 Polyester thread for heavy duty sewing machines or V-69
Polyester for home sewing machines. As this thread is UV resistant.
We have skipped showing some of our sewing of the seat, but as you can see she carefully
was matching up the raw edges and tried to keep the stitch consistently about a ½ inch
away from the edge while sewing until she reaches the very corner of the seat panels.
At the end here she does some reversing to lock the stitch in place.
Now simply follow that same procedure to finish off the opposite side of the two panels. This
time we will flip the panels around and work from the opposite side.
Let's take a look at the center of the seat where the stitches started. Here we did not
do any reverse stitching, but our two stitches overlapped each other at the center line.
To finish our top stitch of the semi flat felled seam we will set our straight stitch
length to about 6mm now. The panels must be splayed apart so the under flap which should
be about a ½ inch is laying where it will be sewn under while performing our top stitch.
We like to place the top stitch always in the lower panel not the upper panel. Here
at the corner of our seat this is very small and thus a little difficult, but it is possible.
Most of this small end will likely be cut off when we get to the stapling job. We want
to keep this stitch about an 1/8 inch away from the first stitch or seamed area. Notice
that Angela is pulling gently on the two panels to keep the seam lying flat and open as she
sews. The panel to the right is our lower panel of the seat and that is where we want
the top stitch placed as we discussed earlier. Take your time here and try to sew consistently
and accurately, as this stitch will always be visible. Also be sure to gently pull the
panels apart while you sew. Be careful, this is a stretch vinyl, and if you pull too hard
it will deform the natural shape of the top stitch, so be consistent while pulling the
seam apart and sewing. Remember also you must sew the ½ inch flap on the bottom side, so
be sure that is happening as your sewing. Here you can see Angela checking for that
with her hand going under the panel to feel for that flap.
We're sewing today on the Sailrite 111 Sewing Machine with the MC-SCR Power System. The
Sailrite 111 features a compound walking foot to easily feed this assembly of vinyl through
the machine and the MC-SCR Power System provides excellent slow speed power and control to
carefully stitch through even the thickest of vinyl assemblies.
These two panels are now sewn together, we are ready to sew the next panel to this assembly
in the same manner. We'll set our stitch length to 4mm to create our first stitch. Match up
the panels in the center with outside surfaces facing each other and start sewing from the
center spot just as we did previously. We are going to skip way ahead and now we are
ready for the top stitch which means we will switch from 4mm to 6mm in our stitch length.
For this top stich we will again sew it in our lower panel, not the top panel and we
will be sure to catch the flap on the bottom side as we stitch. We will skip ahead yet
again and show the last of the panels very briefly.
The panels are all sewn together and is now ready to be stapled onto the seat.
On this aft seat we cannot remove the old vinyl without damaging the foam since it is
bonded to the foam. But before we install the new vinyl over the top we must first remove
any edge or corner protectors, if any. They are typically stapled and glued in place so
we will remove the staples and then pull them off the old vinyl carefully.
Since we will be placing new vinyl fabric over the old, we will remove any excess vinyl
at this corner which will help ensure the corner protector will still fit over this
corner when the new vinyl is finished being installed.
Now we are ready to install the new cover we just sewed onto the seat.
"OK, Brian, I am going to get the front stapled first, so what I want you to do, is I want
you to hold it just like you're doing. And we have to figure out where the rim is to
staple it, right there. Pull it down just a little further."
The Allsport 4 way stretch vinyl does just what the name implies it stretches to fit
the seat. So, Matt is stretching the vinyl and then will staple it in place. We are using
the Duo-Fast electric stapler which is a very powerful staple gun. However we found that
the small crown had a tendency to sink into the vinyl and thus created a cut. It does
get the job done, but we had to be careful to avoid slitting the vinyl, especially where
it was pulled very tight. It is recommended to use a staple gun which can accommodate
a larger crown of ½". This wider crown will help alleviate this issue.
"Are we in the valley? Yes, we are in the valley."
As you can see several helpers makes it easier to stretch the vinyl appropriately over the
seat, thus ensuring a proper fit prior to stapling all the sides.
"I think we need to come this way a little bit, shift it towards me. There we go. You
still ok over there Angela?" "Yes" "OK good, you got it held Brian? Ok, Angela let go.
Ok, we need to flip it, So, you're probably ok Chris. Brian you got your edge held? "Yes"
OK, you just got to get this unfortunately this is the hard part you just got to get
it stretched. I need to see where that edge is, there we
go, I see it, ok. Although we used several helpers to stretch
the vinyl onto the seat here, it can be done with just one helper and a few pony clamps.
When we show the forward seat, coming up in this video, you will see that process.
"Ok, let's get one more in. Now, let's flip this sucker back over again and see if we
are centered pretty well." "Ok Angela, pull on that side."
At the time of this filming we did not carry a staple gun that would use the 1/2 inch wide
crown staples, however now we do so be sure to check it out on our website. The wider
the crown the less you have to worry about cutting thru the vinyl fabric.
Sometimes cutting relief slits on the edge will allow the vinyl to take a sharp bend
better. Just don't cut too far in that it may go into the actual cover portion of the
seat. "All right let's see what we got." "Yep, sides
will pull that out fine." "Ok, I think that will hold that area."
Notice that sometimes the staples hit other staples that were used to hold the old cover
in place that is not big deal we will just pull those out and position another staple.
"All right, so now were going to get the sides and we will hold it and flip it. So we are
getting our seams right along the edges. Make sure we have tightness everywhere... That
looks pretty good Brian, can you flip it?" "Let's see where we are, we are pulled where
we want it. That looks pretty good, you got her?" "Yes"
"Now this is all going to get covered by our, our end caps. So we don't want all this, this
is too much... so were going to cut this out of here, I am going to stretch it pull it
and cut it, ya." Notice that if the cover takes a shape bend
or turn you can create a pleat on the underside of the vinyl and staple in place.
On outside curves like this it is necessary to leave a few wrinkles in the vinyl. Obviously
the wrinkles are due to the fact that the fabric has to shrink to make the curve here,
so distribute the wrinkles evenly while you staple so they are small and less noticeable.
"I'm going to flatten this right in there. Push that flat right there, ok. There we go.
Let's not cut a hole in it at, this point. Look pretty good, Ya, looks nice"
"Let's flip it and see. I think you got them all to the underneath." "Just a little bit
of that one." "That will come out when we cut." "Ok, Ok, OK!"
Our cover is now secured to the seat. All that is left is to trim away the excess
vinyl, check for areas that may need more staples for security and then to glue and
staple our end caps or corner protectors back in place.
We are going to use HH-66 Vinyl Cement, but a good contact cement should also work. Be
sure to test any and all glues on the vinyl before using. Glues may react differently
with vinyl depending on how it was manufactured. Our end protectors were designed to be stapled
also on the back side. This concludes the cover for the aft seat. We will briefly show
recovering the forward seat in the next chapter. Since the forward seat's vinyl is not bonded
to the foam we can remove the staples, end or corner protectors and the vinyl itself.
However then passenger hand hold strap is riveted in place and thus we are not going
to remove it. We will simply pull the vinyl away from under it and then push the new vinyl
back under it in a later step. This seat has a lot of sharp edges and our
Allsport 4 way stretch vinyl, when stretched tight does not do well with Sharpe edges,
so we will use some scrap vinyl and staple it in place to create chafe protection for
any and all sharp edges, especially where they take a sharp turn.
One thing we did not cover well in the first video was trying to protect the new vinyl
while stapleing it in place. You should notice that our table top has some vinyl fabric laid
over it to help protect the vinyl being stapled onto the seat. You will constantly be turning
this seat over and over again while stapling and the stretching, so try to protect your
project with a soft work surface area. Since we do not have as many helpers here
we will use pony clamps to position the vinyl over this seat. The process is exactly that
same as it was when we showed the aft seat in the earlier chapters.
"I am going to put just a little bit on tension on the front and clamp it. Here? Yep." "Ok,
now what we're going to do, is now that we have this and this clamped, now were going
to pull and work, pull and work. And then well do the same thing on the other side.
And that working everything out thru there, I think."
"Put a couple between my hands here." "Put one in-between those!" "Keep them closer."
"Now were going to come to this side." "I think what were probably going to end up doing
here, take this clap off." "Pull a little harder."
Let's roll and see where we are at." "I think I am going to give the back another tug, no,
keep those because we don't have anything behind them!" "Now we want to do the same
thing coming towards the back." "OK, let's roll and see where we are at" "That
will be fine!" "Oh, we better stop there, we still have to
go under the strap don't we!" "Got you, doing the same plane. Oh, we can
roll it" "Same plane as these?" Ya, kind of connect the dots." "Got you" "Hold on let
me get in there and pull, oh here we go." Do the pretty much same exact thing here... Ya, connect
the dots." Here we need to cut a large relief slit since
the vinyl has to take a large inside curve going down. Don't cut too deep or you may
cut into the portion that may be exposed on the surface or sides.
"I did come very close to going too far." "Yep!"
Sometimes relief slits can help to pull the vinyl around inside curves, just don't cut
too deep. Sometimes we will fold the vinyl back on top of itself and staple thru two
layers on the underside, this is an acceptable practice.
To make the job easier we are going to cut away some of the excess fabric here.
Then we will push the vinyl cover under the strap that we left in place and cut around
the sides so it will lay flat at that area. "That looks good!" "This is the point of no
return." Here Brian is cutting a chunk of vinyl away
so it will fit right beside the strap without causing any wrinkles. He will do this to both
sides. The strap was riveted in place and looked
difficult to remove, so we left it in place and decided to work around it instead of replacing
it. "Sides good, now I will do the other side
the same way." Then continue stapling.
"That one did not hit anybody in the eye did it?" "Oh..."
When we get to the outside curve here we have way too much vinyl to create small wrinkles
while we staple. So, we were going to create two large pleats or folds in the fabric so
they are pleasing to the eye. The only way this could have been avoided
was to create a separate panel that had been patterned from the seat and then to sew it
in place prior to stapling the cover to the seat. Since this area of the seat is hidden
(it is on the side) we figured this would be acceptable for our customer.
Now cut away the excess vinyl and check for any areas that need extra stapling. Then glue
an staple the end or corner protectors back in place.
Both the aft seat and now the forward seats are completed. What about the little piece
of vinyl covering the handle bar pad? That may look difficult, but it's not when you
use Allsport from Sailrite. That's coming up next!
Here's the old handle bar pad cover, it's in great shape except for the vinyl does not
match the new seat vinyl that were using. So we are going to remove the staples and
the vinyl and replace it with the exact same vinyl we used on the seats. The process is
the same as what was done to recover the seats stretch it over the cover until you are happy
with the appearance and staple it in place. We have cut the vinyl piece rather large which
is always a good idea, but it is also as important to trim it to size as you secure it which
makes it much easier to stretch and fit over the object. Cut away any excess that restricts
the job of creating a nice tight fit, you do not want a large bulk of fabric stapled
in place, but rather small pleats or tucks of fabric.
Brian is working on this alone, so he will use the pony clamp yet again to hold the vinyl
to the cover to position it. Looking good, now cut away the excess yet
again to keep the bulk out of the way and make it easier for a good fit.
"I got way more meat than I need!" Allsport from Sailrite is a truly amazing
4 way stretch vinyl. You cannot accomplish this with any other type vinyl fabric that
we know of. Notice how Brian is distributing the wrinkles
along the edge. He is keeping them small enough that they do not show up on the visible outside
surface. Then when done trim away the excess and your
job is complete! Nice, even Brian likes it! "It did not go nearly as bad as I thought
it would!" Let's go over the materials list and the tools
that we used to install these covers to our personal watercraft.
For all the covers on this personal watercraft we used a little more than 2 yards of the
Allsport 4 way stretch vinyl from Sailrite. Our project is complete and hopefully you
too will be able to successfully recover your next seat using supplies from Sailrite.
For more free videos like this be sure to check out the Sailrite website or subscribe
to the Sailrite YouTube channel today. It's your loyal patronage to Sailrite that makes
these fee videos available, thanks for your loyal support.