98 Sportster - New Upholstery, and turf question

[stfoulks]

.... A few weekends worth of work, but well worth the effort. Thanks to seadooupholstery - now to start shopping for the right color hydroturf. The wife is worried about putting it in the interior because she thinks it will make the boat harder to keep clean. We have kids and her fear is that sunscreen will stain it if it gets on it... anyone have that issue or is it just bunk?

My two biggest friends during the uphostery job? An pneumatic ratchet and stapler...

 

[RFoster130]

Boat looks good!!!

Hydroturf is the bomb!!! I have spilled beer, ground food into it. Gotten sunscreen and who knows what else on it. Never hurts it. If it does get dirty, a little scrubbing with soap and a brush makes it look new again. It is easily the best mod I have done with my boat.

 

[phough5757]

Looks Good!

I took kcr357's advice and did My own Seats and got an air stapler.
Mine don't look as good as Yours but it's better than sitting on the old stuff!

 

[Dr Honda]

Keith makes it easy to restore an older boat.

As far as the hydro turf... it will be the second best thing you've done. The only stains mine has is some clay based mud. But that stuff stains the gel coat too.

 

[scooper77515]

The only thing that has soiled my turf is some bubble gum I picked up off the boat ramp on my shoe.

i may get out there one day and freeze it or peanut butter it off. But it doesn't really bother me. Small chunk, luckily.

 

[gpshemi]

Was it hard? I have that exact boat and I need to do mine...

Are they formed?
Stitching decent?

 

[stfoulks]

Upholstery

Stitching is good, and Keith sews them in such a way that it makes them easier to get back on. He had a link to a reasonably priced pneumatic stapler that uses T50 staples (I was able to buy marine use monel staples at Lowes). I also bought a pneumatic ratchet... without those two tools, I never would have made it.

The shop manual tells you how to remove the seats... pay attention to the arm bolsters at the sides of the back bench - they are both screwed in with 2 bolts. It's easy to miss this in the shop manual - the sportster is not the one shown in the pictures.

Overall, it was easier than I expected it to be. I managed to reach every bolt through a storage compartment or a cupholder. I highly recommend Keith at seadooupholstery.com.:cheers:

 

[Gallop]

Good work on the seats. I have the exact same boat and switched colours when redoing them! Looks good.