dgfreeze
Jetboaters Commander
- Messages
- 835
- Reaction score
- 908
- Points
- 187
- Location
- Central Ohio
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2006
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
There are other threads about redoing upholstery, but most of them are more about the process of removing the seats, and reinstalling them, so I won't be touching too much on that, other than some of the hardware is really fun to get to, and thankfully I'm not (too) fat, and am still able to fit into the compartments and cubbys to reach all the bolts and nuts. Wife did get a chuckle out it when she saw how I had to basically disappear into some of the areas. I'll be talking more about what I haven't seen on here, and that's the process of actually doing the vinyl myself. I'll set the scene really quickly: we purchased this boat this past September (2019), and I'll be honest, it was a deal that fell into my lap. A friend of my brother's had it, and long story short, we got it for a really(!) good deal. The vinyl was in decent shape, but we decided that if we are going to have this thing for a long time, we would rather replace the vinyl now, so we are starting out with a boat we can be proud of. So, fast forward to when I already have the seats removed, and am preparing to actually start the vinyl replacement. Obviously, we need a sewing machine. I did a lot of research, and had it narrowed down to three machines: the Sailrite Ultrafeed, the Rex 607, and the Reliable Barracuda. I really didn't want to spend the money for the Sailrite Ultrafeed, and felt confident that the Barracuda would be quite suitable for what I was doing. Big Mistake. I got the machine, and took an old door, cut out a section just right for the machine to fit into, and made a bottom for it to sit on at just the right height to make it flush fit, like a real sewing table. Hooked it up, grabbed some strips of vinyl (I'll talk more about the vinyl in another post), and started sewing. Realized right away it was not what I would be happy with, at least not without tuning. As it pulled the fabric (walking foot sewing machine), it pulled it sideways, toward the machine. I had to feed the material in at an angle to get a "straight" stitch. It also lurched very badly when I would get it started. There was no slow, easy starts, no matter how gentle and slowly I pressed the pedal. As I would slowly press, the motor would sit and whine, getting louder and louder, until vroom, off to the races! I knew I could get a larger flywheel, so I ordered one, because there was no way I was going to be happy with it as is. As for the feeding issues, I tried and tried to tweak/tune the feet, and finally got it to where it would feed at least half decently straight. Not happy, but I can work with it. Now all this time, I was using regular thread. For the actual seats, I had decided to use PTFE thread, since it's basically immune to everything mother nature and myself would be throwing at it. Basically impervious to sunlight, and most chemicals, etc, etc. The downside is that PTFE thread doesn't work as well in sewing machines. I knew there was potential for some additional hurdles, but I was not ready for what I was about to face. Skipped stitches were common. And by common, I mean I was lucky if I got more than three stitches in a row without it skipping. There were times it would just quit stitching altogether, and just feed the material, with pretty holes where stitches were supposed to be. I read up on how to tune the hook, and what all can be done to improve the reliability of the (ironically) Reliable sewing machine, and spent hours tuning the hook, the timing, trying different size needles, etc, but every time I thought I had it working fairly well, It would randomly start skipping stitches, or balling up the thread on the needle, or have needle strikes, and break the needle..... it was a nightmare. I had in the meantime contacted Reliable, and been discussing the issues, and hoped they could help diagnose, but it always took a day or more for an answer, and I seemed to be always dealing with a different problem by the time they answered the email about the last one. Finally, I'd had enough. I requested a return on the sewing machine, and ordered the Sailrite Ultrafeed LS-1. I had tried for two weeks to get the Reliable to work, and had in that time sewn together one really crappy cover. It was bad, and I knew I wasn't going to use it, but I viewed it as practice. When the Sailrite machine came, I set it up, grabbed some material, and sewed a little bit. Perfection. Fairly decent low speed control (not super awesome, but definitely good enough to be happy with), no skipped stitches to speak of, and it fed straight. I was in heaven. Within a few hours, I had my first cover sewn together. The only thing I did was switch out the standard needle for a smaller needle like Sailrite recommends. I've been slowly working on things as I have time since the end of December, and I've got about 1/3 done now. I'm guessing most people won't take the time to read all this, but I'll post up some more things I've learned throughout the process, along with some pics, and simple how-to instructions for anyone else who's dumb enough to attempt this.
Edit: quick addition, I'm a mechanic, and very mechanically inclined, my father used to repair sewing machines, and my mother is a seamstress. They were very involved in helping me attempt to get the machine to work correctly, because I'm doing all this in their basement, since I don't have a heated workspace at my house. While we may not be expert sewing machine technicians, we are very competent with mechanical items.
Edit: quick addition, I'm a mechanic, and very mechanically inclined, my father used to repair sewing machines, and my mother is a seamstress. They were very involved in helping me attempt to get the machine to work correctly, because I'm doing all this in their basement, since I don't have a heated workspace at my house. While we may not be expert sewing machine technicians, we are very competent with mechanical items.
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