Plastic Classic Forum

After much procrastination, I finally just did it. The old cushions were, well, original. Two years ago I received a quote from some old ladies making 'Boat Cushions' for let's say WAY too much. I quickly decided that sewing pillows with my Grandma, when I was 8, was a reasonable foundation for upholstery work, and then… I procrastinated, for a year! After some time on E-bay I had 18 yards of fabric left over from reupholstering movie theater seats ($80) and some Delrin zippers ($12). I started practicing sewing 2 pieces together and quickly killed the same (now inherited) sewing machine I used when I was 8. Back to E-Bay and for $50 (+$40 shipping) I had an all metal White sewing machine with an external motor. I continued to sew seams and seeing how many layers this one will go though, I got up to 9 layers of Sunbrella! I made paper patterns from the boat and cut foam with an old electric turkey knife. I even sewed a 'practice' cushion (12"x12"x2") and then… I procrastinated, for a another year! I finally came to the realization that the only way I would clean up the back 'storage' bedroom was to just start to sew. Attached are some before and after pictures. One of the new features is the aft seat cushion. When the PO had a diesel installed there was a fiberglass bubble added to the lid for clearance. The old cushion just sat on top, you can see the fiberglass edge in the before pic. The new cushion has cutouts underneath to hide this bubble and is now snapped on so when you open the engine compartment that cushion stays put on the lid. The second part of the aft seat now can be independently removed to access a hatch underneath.

I guess the other boat jobs took priority, but in the end I saved a lot. I now have new cushions and the satisfaction of another check mark on the worklist. (now about that Formica…)

Before:




After:

Nice job! I hope I can do as well (or somewhere near it) when my time comes.

Congratulations!

Those look great! What a difference from the previous covers. Good on you for persevering :)

Rachel

Sewing your own saves boatloads of money. Certain things are not easy to do but with patience a lot of projects can be done satisfactorily. Looks good!

The cushions are lookin good! Mine are heavy stiff vinyl - I haven't seen that color Sunbrella but I'm glad to see some other colors.. Pearson must have had alot of that yellow formica ---my Pearson Renegade has it too.... Whatever they glued that stuff down with was GOOD! Mine will not come off so will have to sand it down to re-cover -
jim
Pearson Renegade #147 "Sooner"

Wish I had the skill! I just had mine re-done - friend of the family seamstress - I bought the material via E-bay also....

Gregg,

Nice work. Add us, and I mean Laura, to the list of people headed down your path.

Bill