84 S&S - New Upholstery

[han_solo]

Having lurked around here for years, and having found many answers to problems on these older Mastercrafts, I finally have a project finished that does more than just get it running like it should (and naturally, this one I want to show off).

The 25 year old vinyl on my baby had definitely seen better days, so I found a good deal on what is actually some Sea-Doo vinyl. A neighbor has an old, heavy duty singer sewing machine (I think originally used to make parachutes) that I was able to use. I just took apart all the seams and copied the old vinyl to make new skins.

Aside from the vinyl itself, most of the wood that edges the back seat was rotted away and had to be replaced. Also, some time in it's life the side rails were lost, so I decided to model the ones I put together after the newer boats. Hopefully these will prove useful in storage, but I like the look of them even if they don't.

Thanks to all (especially the engine gurus) for the help unknowingly provided over all this time! :worthy:

Now to see if I can figure out how to post some pictures...

Before:

[han_solo]

and after:

There is one seam that I'm not too happy with, but all in all, and for a first time vinyl-er, it came out okay (and a few thousand dollars cheaper than giving it to a pro). It definitely wasn't the easiest of projects, but I wouldn't discourage anyone that feels reasonably confident with it from having a go. The actual making of new skins is surprisingly easy, just quite time consuming. Most of the difficulty was in getting the skins on the motor box and driver's seat and in attaching the passenger side portion of the backrest and side rails, though the latter two I made harder on myself by not using the plastic Christmas tree fasteners (I wanted to be able to remove and replace them without opening up the vinyl when it comes time to redo the carpet).

[BriEOD]

Looks pretty good. Nice work.

[454Prostar190]

You did good:)!

[84MC]

I've got the same boat! 84 S&S Black and Gray, right? Nice work on your interior. I especially like what you did with the side storage compartments. Is there a template for that?

[han_solo]

Thanks! That's certainly the same boat. No template; I just went off a picture from somewhere on TT of a newer boat and put something together with 1X6's covered in foam. In hindsight, just cutting it out of marine plywood or something would have been much easier and just as good.

[SunCoast 83]

Nice redo on the seats. Is the boat a blue and grey s&s? Got any outside shots of her? They are great boats, even after all these years

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Great job! I was originally planning on doing a scaled back version, but after looking at your results, I am now planning a more serious attack.

Thanks for adding even more to my To Do List!?!

[han_solo]

Nice redo on the seats. Is the boat a blue and grey s&s? Got any outside shots of her? They are great boats, even after all these years

Black and grey actually, but the blue vinyl still looks pretty good with it (and hey, it was on sale :D ). Outside shots will have to wait...I've lurked around here long enough to know not to let anyone see the teak until after Harold's magic procedure 8p

[84MC]

han solo - any idea how many yards of fabric it took to do that job?