How to Upholster a Folding Boat Seat

X-HT-300813

Is the vinyl upholstery on your folding pedestal fishing boat seat looking worse for wear? Is it ripped, faded or just not your style? You’ve come to the right place! Sailrite stocks the top vinyl upholstery brands in a wide selection of colors and textures. Once you have your vinyl ordered, watch our detailed how-to tutorial to re-cover your folding boat seats. Your boat will look as good as new with supplies and instructions from Sailrite!
Video Chapters:
  • Intro — 0:00 min.
  • Removing Old Vinyl Fabric — 0:52 min.

Making Seat Bottom Foam & Cover:

  • Cutting New Foam — 3:25 min.
  • Cutting Bucket Style Foam Wedges — 4:59 min.
  • Separating Old Cover for Patterns — 8:17 min.
  • Adding Extra Color to the Top Plate — 11:21 min.
  • Patterning Top Plate — 13:16 min.
  • Sewing Boxing to the Top Plate — 14:51 min.

Making Backrest Cover:

  • Separating Old Cover for Patterns — 18:17 min.
  • Adding Extra Color to the Top Plate — 19:11 min.
  • Patterning Top Plate — 20:47 min.
  • Sewing Loop to the Top Plate Edge — 23:14 min.
  • Creating Back Plate and Boxing — 25:26 min.
  • Sewing Boxing to the Top Plate — 26:48 min.
  • Sewing the Back Plate to the Assembly — 28:58 min.

Installing New Covers:

  • Pulling Backrest Cover Over Foam/Backer — 30:41 min. 
  • Stapling Seat Cover Over Foam/Backer — 36:02 min.
Materials List:
  • CushionRite® Premium Foam (Medium) #124234 
  • CushionRite® Foam & Fabric Spray Adhesive 16.9 oz. #125476
  • EverSoft™ Pebble Indoor/Outdoor Butterscotch 54" Vinyl Fabric #122224 
  • EverSoft™ Pebble Indoor/Outdoor Slate 54" Vinyl Fabric #122209 
  • PremoBond® Tex 90 (V-92) Black UV Bonded Polyester Thread 4 oz. #123338 
  • Seamstick 1/4" Basting Tape for Canvas & Upholstery (36 yds.) #122065 
  • Polyester Black Loop 1" #105036 
  • Polyester Black Hook 1" #105032 
  • Cushion Wrap Silk Film 54" #103933 
  • 21 Gauge 3/8" (10mm) Staples 10,000/Box (Stainless) #8010SS
Tools List:
  • Staple Lifter #120037
  • Sailrite® Blade Foam Saw V2 with Carrying Case (110V) #121244 
  • Sailrite® Clear Acrylic Ruler 6" x 24" #102400
  • Deluxe Seam Ripper #18104
  • Kai Stainless Steel Bent Handle 9" Scissors #125661
  • Multiuse Pins 1-1/2" (250 pack) #102985
  • Sailrite® Ultrafeed® LSZ Walking Foot Sewing Machine (110V) #311602 
  • Sailrite® Ultrafeed® Industrial Sewing Table #120934
  • Deluxe 5-1/2" Magnetic Sewing Guide #103597
  • Basic Thread Snips #123222
  • Sailrite® Long Nose Upholstery Staple Gun #121411
  • Scratch Awl Yellow #235411
  • Drill and Drivers, Marker, Hacksaw Blade, Electric Kitchen Knife, Pencil, Heat Gun

We’re reupholstering our boat seat with EverSoft™, an indoor/outdoor upholstery vinyl with superior performance and style. This four-way stretch vinyl has an incredibly soft hand and is easy to contour and shape during upholstery work. It’s great for seats and upholstery projects with angles and curves. With two textures to choose from — Pebble and Smooth — and dozens of colors, EverSoft is the perfect choice for your indoor and outdoor upholstery needs. Plus, you can only find it at Sailrite!

After you remove the original vinyl from your seat, you should inspect the foam to determine if it’s still usable or needs to be replaced. The foam in our tutorial video had bottomed out, so we needed to replace it with quality CushionRite® seating foam. We chose CushionRite Premium — a high-density polyurethane foam that lasts up to 12 years. 

X Ht 300813 2

You’ll learn the following techniques and skills when you follow along with our reupholstery video:

  • How to cut foam and foam wedges.
  • How to use the old fabric for patterning.
  • How to create fabric plates and boxing.
  • How to sew a boxing strip to fabric plates.
  • How to add a decorative topstitch.
  • How to staple the seat cover to the backer board.

To keep your new boat seats looking great, it’s a good idea to make a fabric cover for them. Lucky for you, we’ve made a companion video on how to sew a durable, long-lasting cover for your pedestal seats to protect the seat from the damaging effects of the sun and weather. Click here for that companion tutorial.

!