Question on vinyl tears/rips

I'm looking at purchasing a boat and the seller disclosed to me that the boat has a few tears in it and wanted to get some advice on what others think.

The one tear I fear because it's in a bad spot, on the seam between the rear middle seat back and the engine cover pic1). And then there are two tears in the same rear seat bottom piece (pic 2 & 3). These are in bad areas and would get worse very easily.

I have a friend that knows someone who does some good vinyl work and could get it fixed, but I'm not sure how much that would run me. Are new skins from the manufacturer typically really expensive? (I imagine so like a car dealer).

Thoughts? I'm seeing the boat in person this Saturday while on a trip for work.

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Justin, the repair shouldnt cost that much. a couple hundred at the most but that one at the seam is gonna be real hard to fix. Boat skins by the manufacturer are really good and arent that expensive but it depends how old the boat is whether they can still make skins for the boat. Good luck

Thanks Tony for the reply and info.

I had an issue like that in my last boat and was told that Supa's skins are back ordered and don't hold my breath. I got a couple quotes. All I neded was a seat bottom for a rear bench seat (in a direct drive). The seat was going to be about $200 to recover. Based on that I would guess you could be looking at $500 to $1000 for all those spots. I don't know if they can do anything other then recover with new vinyl.

Got a sewing machine? My parents redid out boat with high quality vinyl they got online for a really cheap price. Just take the old cover off, rip the seams and make a pattern, cut, sew, put back on. Ours held up great last summer, still looks brand new. Its marine grade vinyl and UV resistant marine thread. All done with a normal sewing maching

That tear along the pipe-thread seem you can try super-gluing. I've done this with a fair amount of success. Just super glue it to the pipe thread. Should last a year or two.

Hire a proffesional and you can do it all for a couple hundred bucks. It will look great and your local detail shop or boat dealer can help you find a good vinyl guy. On the first picture you will want to go behind the repair and add something to soften the corner. Maybe some padding or something similar. That is a common problem on that boat if people stand up there alot it starts to wear down on the corner. Put some extra madding on there and then have it repaired.

Skins from manufacture are an option but they can be pricey. I was quoted $275 for one rear seat cover that is about 12" by 18" of seated area - just 1/3 of the total seating area in the rear. Local upholstery is often a better choice. Super glue will work for small nicks and holes and really small tears, but those look too big for the cheap stop gap fix.

I have found that factory skins installed by a local shop are no cheaper than having the shop do the repair from the ground up. If you go for the ground up option, the trick is to order the original vinyl from the factory for a perfect match. Also, that seam at the piping could probably be repaired by using a heat gun to stretch the vinyl enough to get the stitches into good vinyl. My vinyl guy told me it will not work if the vinyl is old and stiff.

Once the vinyl is stiff it is over with. Seam repair should not be more than 50-75 bucks depending on how intricate the seat is.



The small rips in the seats, there is a new product out there that is like super glue but is flexible - check walgreens or cvs in the "as seen on tv" section. They also sell something like it at Academy sports and outdoors and marine supply stores like West Marine. Get a handle on those as soon as you get the boat. They tend to grow and kids tend to pick at the rips and then the foam....lol....ask me how I know this.



I have redone my upholstery myself before and it is time consuming but can be done on the cheap! No mark up on the vinyl and do it in front of the TV. Make sure you buy Marine Vinyl (can be found locally) and the UV resistent thread. I suggest a 16 needle and if you skimp on the machine you will regret it! Check around. We have a crafts supply called JoAnn's in Houston and they have a Viking machine on sale for $299 that I wish I could get for this next project.

Factory skins are easy to install if you have small air compressor, flat head screw driver, a pneumatic nail gun and Stainless steel staples for said gun. Remove and reinstall.

I Personally would not let a couple of vinyl issues like that hold up the buy. However, it is a sign of things to come? Make sure the remaining vinyl is still soft and pliable. Push near the seams, do the seams appear to stretch apart or does the seam move with the depression? Can you see the stitches or the stitch holes in the vinyl when you push near the seam? If the stitch holes start to look ovaled then the seam is getting ready to pop.

Thanks for all of the replies and suggestions. Fred, you were especially helpful. The tears are def. not a deal-breaker for me because based off of the pictures I've seen the boat is in great condition. I'm seeing it in person this weekend. The guy just told me that board fins were the culprit.

Like I said in my original post, I do have a friend that knows someone that does vinyl work. They actually did a seat for another friend of mine and it turned out great. So I was figuring a couple hundred bucks for the repairs, hopefully not too much more.

My grandmother is a master sewer and I bet if I chose to do it myself she could sew it for me, and I do have all of the stuff that Fred listed.

So we'll see what happens..Thanks everyone.

from the 1st pic....i had this same issue and actually had supra cover the replacement of the skin under warranty due to what i deem a bad design for the hatch. it's a metal box that has sharp corners and over time the foam wears away n eventually starts tearing the vinyl. when i had the new skin applied, I had the vinyl shop NOT put a hole in for the hatch and filled it w/ foam n put a plastc plate on the bottom of the hatch. I'll never have that issue again. I also removed the pylon so it's easy to open the center hatch w/o the pylon there.