Seat upholstery yardage

[homerjack]

Anyone experienced yards amount of fabric required to recover dinette bench seats cushions on Cd-22?

[Jackie]

Well, I was waiting for someone else to answer that, but since no one is I'll say, no, I don't know the exact yardage off the top of my head. But....I have re-upholstered all the cushions and seats in both a CD 22 and an older Bayliner. It really isn't that difficult to do yourself.

The Sunbrella fabric that is used by C-dory comes in 54 inch widths. If you measure the lengths of what you are going to cover, you should be able to figure out a pretty good estimate of how much to buy. One thing to keep in mind when figuring is the pattern on the fabric you are choosing. If it has a distinct direction to it, then you will need more fabric than you thought to ensure that the pattern goes in the same direction everywhere. If it is a solid color you can probably go with whatever you figured would cover everything, plus a percentage for mistakes.

I took the old covers off the cushions and used them a patterns to cut my new fabric. Most everything is straight line sewing so it is really pretty easy. Back cushions and the one in the Vee berth require two sides, but the seats only have a top and sides and just staple on to the wooden seat bottoms. If your plywood is really old and deteriorating, it is pretty easy to cut new from marine grade ply. Make sure you rasp the edges smooth. Looking around this site I found someone advising to use a special staple. I've forgotten the name, but my guess is it was a stainless staple so that it didn't rust. Wish I'd known those existed when I did my work! My staples definitely rusted.... You can purchase a trim online that goes around the edges of the seats and is folded over so there is a hidden channel that you staple into. It adds a nice finishing touch.

Good luck and sorry I couldn't be of more help. It really isn't that tough to do and looks so nice when you are done.

Jackie

[homerjack]

Thanks so much for your response Jackie. There is someone local who will sew for me. The sunbrella fabric I see online seems to all be 46" wide. Can't remember if my seat cushions are fixed or not. Makes sense they would be attached so don't slide. Have to take closer look. Guess I'll just need to measure and guesstimate yardage. Yeah my cushions are now almost 30 years old. Time for reboot.

[thataway]

Stainless Steel staples will rust. Use Monel metal (a copper nickel alloy). This is what should be used on any marine application. Arrow makes standard size Monel Metal staples.

[Sunbeam]

Yes, ~46" is the standard Sunbrella width. However, many of the colors also come in 60" width (but not all, I don't think). Sailrite.com will likely show the options (good folks, too).