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Reupholster question


Markcww

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Has anyone had their boat completely reupholstered?  What did you pay? I am not looking to do it myself.

Any recommendations for shops in the  Pacific Northwest?

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, COOP said:

$4500 for an entire interior seems VERY reasonable. 

Yeah, if that is a full R&R custom - strikes me as decent.  There is a lot work with all the cushions etc.  And what is G&T vinyl these days?  Fifteen or $20 /yd?

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On 9/5/2018 at 12:51 PM, Roush611 said:

Gabe seems really expensive. Quoted me $4,500 for my LSV.  I about choked. 

I had 3 local quotes for $8k plus on my 2000 VLX 21’. 

I’d jump all over $4500 in a heartbeat.  If I wasn’t so far away Id have Gabe do all my interior work. Plus he worked for Malibu and knows these boats. 

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On 9/5/2018 at 5:43 PM, Boat4Fun said:

Who does this work on the east coast?  Any recommendations?

I’ve heard good things about Viper customs in Tennessee. 

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3 hours ago, Cazan said:

I had 3 local quotes for $8k plus on my 2000 VLX 21’. 

I’d jump all over $4500 in a heartbeat.  If I wasn’t so far away Id have Gabe do all my interior work. Plus he worked for Malibu and knows these boats. 

Who locally did you quote with?

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The first one was Buckeye Upholstery off Sinclair Rd in cbus.  Took the boat over last fall and was talking with the installer guy waiting for the head chick to show up.  He gave me a ballpark of around 4k for the entire boat (no carpet).  She shows up looks at it for a couple minutes and tells me $8K  I told her the installer guy just told me $4k.  She got all pissed and said he's not allowed to give prices.  Needless to say i left.    Second one was Doug's Upholstery in Akron.  His brother (Chuck's Boat covers) made my custom cover and didn't recommend him.   The third was the dealer I purchased the boat from (Mid-Indiana Marine.)  All were right around 7800-8200 ish

I ended up getting 2 seats and the back rest replaced for around $600 by Benny's Upholstery in Akron.  Had good reviews and some family had some work done and recommended him.  After giving him my seats he dicked me around for over a month promising they would done week after week but something always came up.  I made the mistake not specifying OEM vinly.  They initially looked great and the fit and finish was pretty good.  Fast forward 4 months and 35 hours later and the vinly appears soft and is not holding up. Already have 2 nicks and is rubbing off where the seats touch.  Needless to say I'm pissed but more at myself for not requesting OEM materials. 

I need a couple more side pieces replaced this winter.  I'm probably going to just send them to Gabe to redo and send back. 

Edited by Cazan
spelling
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I've never got a local quote for upholstery, but yeah it's not out of the realm of possibility to get massive quotes.

I know that skins-only from Viper Customs will run you around $4k, depending on the number of pieces and size. Any customizations or materials upgrades can also cost more. I spent probably 5-600 more than the original quote to get some patterns updated and get a high-end vinyl.

When I asked about installing skins on the panels (A friend was heading to TN and I was going to put the panels and seats in his truck and have him drop them off), that was basically another $1500. If they also had to remove vinyl from the panels and clean up the cushion bases, I'm sure that's an up-charge as well.

Once you do the job yourself one time, you start to realize why it costs so much. It's labor-intensive, frustrating and tedious. BUT, it completely transforms a boat. If you're handy, you can do it given enough time. I work from home 3 days a week, and so for about 2-3 weeks straight, I woke up an hour or two early for work and got a few skins done. Also did a few here and there after work. 

Again, it completely transformed the boat. I get compliments all the time. I would argue that I probably have one of the nicest interiors Axis interiors out there. Late models included.

Edited by boardjnky4
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What are you looking to have done?  On our '01 we had some seam splitting on the two rear seats.  Local shop in Wisconsin charged us a few hundred bucks to redo both seats with the existing vinyl.  There was enough to work with wrapped around the seat base that they could take them apart, replace the piping, and put them back together with slightly less tension.  Looks completely factory.

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19 hours ago, Cazan said:

The first one was Buckeye Upholstery off Sinclair Rd in cbus.  Took the boat over last fall and was talking with the installer guy waiting for the head chick to show up.  He gave me a ballpark of around 4k for the entire boat (no carpet).  She shows up looks at it for a couple minutes and tells me $8K  I told her the installer guy just told me $4k.  She got all pissed and said he's not allowed to give prices.  Needless to say i left.    Second one was Doug's Upholstery in Akron.  His brother (Chuck's Boat covers) made my custom cover and didn't recommend him.   The third was the dealer I purchased the boat from (Mid-Indiana Marine.)  All were right around 7800-8200 ish

I ended up getting 2 seats and the back rest replaced for around $600 by Benny's Upholstery in Akron.  Had good reviews and some family had some work done and recommended him.  After giving him my seats he dicked me around for over a month promising they would done week after week but something always came up.  I made the mistake not specifying OEM vinly.  They initially looked great and the fit and finish was pretty good.  Fast forward 4 months and 35 hours later and the vinly appears soft and is not holding up. Already have 2 nicks and is rubbing off where the seats touch.  Needless to say I'm pissed but more at myself for not requesting OEM materials. 

I need a couple more side pieces replaced this winter.  I'm probably going to just send them to Gabe to redo and send back. 

I figured this much - I've never found much good with anything boat related in Central Ohio.  

You'd be far cheaper (and guaranteed good work) just freighting the entire interior to/from Viper in Tennessee.  I've changed out once seat skin back in the Chee days (prior to his felony rip-off of many TMC members), due to a hole from the original owner.  I have the other back seat seam splitting I will probably have to contact Gabe for a replacement.  Previous owner had a few other pin holes/tiny slits I had repaired by some mobile repair place - perfect color match, decent repair, but the color is wearing off, so I probably need to contact them again for that (I'd guess $100 for that).  Did that a good 6-7 years ago.

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For my complete turn key job was a little over 5k for an 02 vlx. Here in okc all of the boat shops recommended the same two interior shops and they were within a few bucks and about the same wait time. 

You pay for quality, FYI it's the second time I had my entire interior redone. The first time was my lesson in who not to use at the price of $3k.

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