Canvas Barn Marine Trimming            Entry : 3.1    

Project name:  A Whiter Shade of Pale        
Fabric used: Stamskin One, Horizon Mesh
Fabric Supplied by: Bainbridge, Nolan UDABainbridge, Nolan UDA
Components supplied by: Nolan UDA
 

What are the project specifications: 
"HUD" is a Backcove 30 purchased new by her owner in 2011. Her interior cushion covers had failed for unknown reasons. The client is extremely fussy, and while a warranty claim was ongoing, he wished to use his boat as an extension of his lakefront property, so contacted us to recover the cushions immediately.

What was the purpose of this project? What did the client request?
The client wanted to recover existing foam cushions in his vessel, to a very high end level, that could withstand hard use of playing and swimming grandchildren, people fishing and partying and sleeping AND be easy to clean at the end of the day. In white. We literally turned a “whiter shade of pale"!

What is unique or complex about the project?
The previous upholstery covers had failed in only a few years- they were literally falling apart, although the foam underneath was still in very good condition. The reason for the failure is being dealt with by the original overseas manufacturer. 
The client discussed with us how we could help him achieve a seemingly impossible task. 
He had his grandchildren and family on the boat for regular holidays, and they spent the time swimming, playing on the beach, and fishing. The larger cushions converted to a bed, and this is where the children slept.

So these cushions needed to be very tough, yet comfortable to sleep on. The confounding factor was that he wanted them to be WHITE! Gulp.
We showed him quite a few samples of woven fabrics, marine vinyl, and leather. 
Comments ranged from “No way! Can you imagine the kids on THAT?” to “Not high end enough”, and “definitely not durable enough for those kids!”. At least we all agreed on that!

We finally selected an elastomer product that had the features he wanted. It was white (actually Porcelain), very tough, marine grade and UV stable, easy to clean (it cleans like a dream!) and very comfortable. It promised to be insensitive to sunscreen and “bodily fluids”, which was a real winner for a grand-dad with young grandchildren sleeping on his prized boat!

We had used this product on a simple seat recover just once before. That cover was stapled to a board and it worked up quite easily. 
This was a little different. It really tested our manufacturing skills and our methods needed to be completely changed.
The seat cushions were to have mesh bases to allow moisture to escape. This elastomer product  doesn't “stick” to anything, and is extremely slippery. While that is exactly what makes it easy to clean, it makes it very hard to sew, especially when sewn to a dissimilar fabric such as mesh. 
The process involved pegging the base fabric down then using seam sealer double sided tape to tack, many staples to hold the tack, and very slow sewing. Once each seam had been sewn, the staples were removed and the next seam stapled. Double top stitching french seams sewn with PTFE thread was extremely intricate.

PTFE thread was chosen for this application as the previous cushions allegedly failed due to UV penetration. This time nothing was left to chance.
 The method of manufacture probably tripled the production time for each cushion.

What where the results of the project?
The client is ecstatic with his upholstery. While the fabric choice proved a  manufacturing challenge, the end result looks fabulous. The client reports that is is really a dream to clean, and extremely comfortable. An added benefit reported of the fabric is that it doesn't hold much body heat, so is quite cool to sleep on during hot summer nights. As for the children’s “bodily fluids”? Luckily we are yet to hear an accident report on that one!