The vinyl seats were in poor condition, mostly from thread wear.  The top-stitched areas were disintegrating and many of the seams were coming apart.  It appeared that the wrong type of thread was used in the manufacturing and sun exposure was damaging the thread.  The previous owner had placed clear mending tape on the worst areas.  Basically an eye sore.  I also noticed that the vinyl, although intact, was not wearing well and there were areas of discoloration.

I planned to re-upholster the seats over the winter months, making the boat ready for the 2022 boating season.

The manufacturer (Cruisers Yacht . . . aka CY) was helpful in providing the vinyl material information used in the seating.  The vinyl was all Spradling brand in several styles and colors.

Much of the vinyl was ‘textile’ look, which I was not a fan of since it appeared to discolor with abrasion.  My plan was to use Nautolex vinyl, which was used on my 2 Formula boats and lasted for decades.

I also wanted to change the color scheme a bit, as the gray accents seemed a bit boring.  CY has made a ‘Black Diamond Edition’ of their boats which had red accents rather than all-gray.  My plan was to re-make the upholstery along those lines.

Deciding on particular vinyl styles in the Nautolex brand of vinyl proved to be challenging, as I could not find all of the suitable replacements to the Spradling.  I did want to get away from the textile look for the gray, since it discolored and went with a more leather-looking style gray in the Nautolex.

Some of the Spradling styles had been discontinued.  I cross-matched to the Nautolex brand as follows:

CY Black Diamond Color Scheme

Sourcing the material was a bit tricky, as not all of the Nautolex styles are sold at a retail level.  I was not able to get enough of the Cetacea style, so I went with the Spradling Beluga as the white - same as the original seating.

The Nautolex Beacon Lead for the side coamings was a nicer texture than the original (IMO)

I had the material on order and it was time to get the sewing machine set up at the summer house, where the boat was located.  My sewing machine (a Consew 206 RB-4) had been idle for the past 2 years, having been last used for my Formula 330 seating.

I set the machine up and went through all the adjustments and timing.  I removed the seating and trim from the boat, which was now covered for winter.

On to page 2 of the upholstery project

The bases and sidewalls of the cockpit were fairly dirty from only 6 years of usage.  This will be a good opportunity to get things cleaned up.

Here is the port side settee area with the typical ‘Z’ brackets which hold the backrest in place.