57 replies to this topic

[tiggerman]

Any older DOO'ers reupholster their seats yet? Thinking about it? I'm about to DOO it to mine. The vinyl on the seat bottoms is beginning to rot, partly due to the previous owner failing to care for the interior. The seat backs are faded and stained on the top as well. I've got marine grade vinyl (bright yellow) on the way to my door, and am ready to get started. Go on the World of Powersports website and price the seat covers for any of the Seadoo boats. Pricey, aint they?!?!

[Kevin Leclair]

I haven't reupholstered my seats but I have looked into replacing them with new OEM seats are they are real pricey!

[tiggerman]

Well, I started it. We went out yesterday for a little while. It's in the 60's this weekend, and I wish I had taken a jacket !!!!!! Talking about bein' a little nipply!
We got back home and I decided that I would go ahead and pull the seats- little did I know I would have to stand on my head to do that.
On my boat, there are 4 bolts and 4 "spears" holding the rear seating in place.
To get to the bolts, open the engine compartment, climb up in there, and stand on your head... Seriously, if you have long arms you're gonna need them.
The bolts come in from the bottom directly over the fuel cell. Looking at the seat ( on the 95, 96, 97 boats, I'm not sure about the rest)look at the center seat position. On each side there is a different colored pad- it kind of separates the seat positions- this is where the bolts are to be found underneath. The "spears" are just black plastic upholtery spears, just like most car manufacturers use to hold door panels on. When you unbolt the seat and pull it up, the spears will stay in the hull if you're lucky. If not you'll need to fish them out of the bilge. Or go the auto parts store and buy new ones.
The parts I need to reupholster are the 3 pads that you sit on. They are pop-riveted to the large seat assembly. No problem, get out the drill and pop the heads off. Now with the rivets drilled, the pad will fall off in your hand. There are exactly 67 staples holding each vinyl cover to the seat bottom. The bottom is plastic and the cover is stapled directly to it. I bought Monel staples because they are rust proof and alot less expensive than s/s. Stay tuned, my vinyl should be here Monday or Tuesday. I'll take some pics of the process and get them posted somewhere once I'm done.

[Kevin Leclair]

Sounds good, keep us posted.

[tiggerman]

Well, I got my vinyl yesterday. The color matched EXACTLY what was on the boat already. That was luck! I had already disassembled the rear seat assembly by drilling out the pop rivets. The hardest part about this whole job was removing the seat from the boat.
Stretching the vinyl around the seat was a pain on the corners and around the front edge of the seat pad. The front is rounded, and it was difficult to stretch the vinyl tight enough to eliminate wrinkles at these points. But with a little help from an extra set of hands, they don't look too bad!
I am thinking of reinstalling the pads to the main seat frame with stapled on velcro. This way, they can be removed for cleaning when needed, and you can take them out and dry them completely before storing for the off season.
I'm pretty sure I got enough vinyl to do the 3 seat backs too. My sunseat and spotter seat are OK.

[Kevin Leclair]

Cool sounds awesome! Post some pics when you get chance!

[sdkirby]

Where did you end up getting the vinyl?

[tiggerman]

Guy on eBay was selling it at 8.50 a linear yard. It's just a yellow as it can be!
The sellers user ID was jcupholstery. It's good quality material.

[tiggerman]

Center rear seat back, before

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[tiggerman]

After......

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[Kevin Leclair]

Whoa, exellent job!!!!

[tiggerman]

Going to doo the other two tonight. The only thing different will be the new ones won't have the Seadoo Speedster print on them..... unless I decide to make a screen of the logo....

[tiggerman]

After......

Got the other 2 seat backs done. I took photos but was too lazy to post them last night. I gotta say they don't look too shabby, and I am certainly NOT an upholstery specialist. Gotta get them put back in for the beautiful weekend ahead of us!

[Kevin Leclair]

Well post some pics of the completed project once you get a chance. I bet everything looks great!

[tiggerman]

I also got a Humminbird for the boat. I will take some pics of where I mounted the control head- I still haven't mounted the transducer. It only came with the depth sounder, so I ordered a temperature sensor to go along with that. I got it in yesterday, and decided I would do it all at the same time. I also had someone give me a defective Guest 2611 battery charger-- it was defective, but it was also still under warranty. I faxed the company the sales receipt, and they emailed me and said to throw the old unit away, and they shipped me a brand new one yesterday. This charger is an onboard type, so all you have to do is plug it in.

[Kevin Leclair]

Sounds cool!

[tiggerman]

Here ya go

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[tiggerman]

And yet another.......

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[tiggerman]

And finally a front view.....

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[secord]

Very Nice Tigger.

My seats in my '99 are also yellow and looking pretty dingy. I too looked into new seats, and after seeing the price, decided to try something different.

I used to work for Lear Corporation, a major supplier of Automotive Seats. We often painted the leather or vinyl seats if they got a scuff on them.

I recently contacted the supplier of the paint that we used. It is a vinyl paint designed specifically for seats. They had a yellow that was almost exact to the color of the Sea Doo seats. I bought a six pack, but have not tried it on the seats yet. I plan to try it later this weekend. If that does not work very well, then I will have to contact JCupholstery on ebay.

Frank