Fairline upholstery

[tico]

Looking to get the cockpit of our T31 re-upholstered. Anyone know what the grade of vinyl is best for the job?.... or do I just spec 'marine grade vinyl'

Any other suggestions?

[ps1]

I've used these people before, good to talk to as well.

http://www.mastertrim.co.uk/

[jfm]

Looking to get the cockpit of our T31 re-upholstered. Anyone know what the grade of vinyl is best for the job?.... or do I just spec 'marine grade vinyl'

Any other suggestions?

Tico, you should contact Martin Duce at MJ in Hockley Essex. Likely (I can't be sure of T31) he made the originals for FL and has the patterns. So he can make factory perfect replacements, in any fabric you want. He stocks beige sunbrella and the beige and white vinyls that FL use. His work is perfect and very competitive on price

Once I got Mastertrim to copy my old cushions (before I discovered Martin) and the dimensions were all a bit out. Looked a mess. On my new boat I got Martin to make all the covers again (I didn't like the colours FL had used) and he did a perfect job. I'll pm you his contact info

Alas he is not convenient to you geographically but if you want a perfect job it's worth overcoming that. Anyway, if he has the patterns he will do them mail order and you put the foam in yourself

[tico]

Thx jfm, I'll call him in the morning. I've done full drawings anyway. Any thoughts on changing from plain vinyl to sunbrella? or do you think that it'd look wrong, (next step would be to replace the fixed parts and helm seat to match anyway.

[jfm]

Thx jfm, I'll call him in the morning. I've done full drawings anyway. Any thoughts on changing from plain vinyl to sunbrella? or do you think that it'd look wrong, (next step would be to replace the fixed parts and helm seat to match anyway.

Goodo. PM sent. Once you change to Sunbrella you'll wonder why you didn't do it years ago. It looks and feels fantastic. You need "Sunbrella Plus" tho, not sunbrella. SP has a vinyl skin glued to the reverse side of the cloth, so it is totally waterproof. Woodie100 on here has a T47 and ordered it in beige sunbrella, and I've been on it and it looks the biz

Your choice, but I'd go for safe colour and funk it up with colourful cushions. I have the "woodgrain look" beige, as does Woodie, called Dupione Sand 8011. This is used widely by FL as standard upgrade on Squadrons. I also have a set just for the aft cockpit in the same Dupione but in dark brown, called "Walnut", and they look fab too (with very bright cushions) if you want a change of scene

If you're asking about mixing vinyl and Sunbrella, that works well. On my flybridge I have sunbrella on the dining table and "chaise longue" thing, but beige vinyl on the dining backrests, 3 helm seats and the front sunpad. Looks very nice imho. The beige colour of this vinyl is just called "Waterweave Sand" but Martin Duce knows it well as it is standard FL fit on many boats. It has a matt suede-like texture, not glossy, and that makes it much nicer. A few pics at bottom- in all these pics there is both beige vinyl and beige Sunbrella but you sometimes have to look hard to see the join!

There is a new vinyl that looks/feels quite like cloth. Nick H has posted about it. Sealine use it on the fly of the new F46. It's quite good, but not as nice as sunbrella imho, though is well suited to areas that get lots of water. (If sunbrella gets wet it repells most of the water and in the Med the rest just dries off. But in UK waters it wont dry off as quickly I guess). Personally, I would prefer the slightly suede-feel of the Waterweave Sand beige vinyl, and I also think the colour is better - the beige in this new vinyl is a slightly muddier colour (which you can see on sealine website pics of F46) but this is all very much personal choice for sure and this new vinyl is pretty posh stuff

[benjenbav]

That all looks so fab, jfm. BTW and sorry 'bout the drift but I was reminded of this by your pix. Did you see the teak laid east-west rather than north-south on the Sessa f/b in the new MBY? I kinda liked it but thought it will date quickly if it doesn't catch on.

[jfm]

That all looks so fab, jfm. BTW and sorry 'bout the drift but I was reminded of this by your pix. Did you see the teak laid east-west rather than north-south on the Sessa f/b in the new MBY? I kinda liked it but thought it will date quickly if it doesn't catch on.

Yep, saw it, and on some of their boats in Cannes show last year. All a matter of personal opinion, but I think it looks just daft; hate it. I want to be reminded how decks used to be made, and that means deck frames going east-west and teak planks curved from the gunwhale inwards, meeting at a notched king plank in the middle. OK I know in real FairPrinSunseeker life it's all GRP underneath, ditto Feadship (ok they use steel underneath) but it should still look right imho! :-) Even the most modernist of boat designers (Basani/Wally, say) don't commit cardinal sins like transverse deck planks! That apart, Sessa are making some very nice stuff

[tico]

All looks brilliant, and much more up-to-date than plain white vinyl.

will talk to MJ , &may well go for the waterweave sand vinyl as its to be used in Wales (lots of rain) so it can get a bit wet at times. would much prefer the suede type feel compared to smooth shiny.

Thks for all comments

[woodie1000]

Tico,

just following up from jfm's comments (thanks jfm!).

We've had 4 boats (in the UK and in the Med) and we've only specced one ourselves. The first 3 had vinyl everywhere in the cockpit (and the FL leather sofas in the saloon). We really wanted to go for something different in the T47 that we chose the fabrics for and were initially dissuaded from this by some of the FL people we spoke to.

We're really, really pleased we went the way we did. I'd concur with everything jfm says - the sunbrella is far better than the vinyl (imho looks better, more pleasant to sit on and you don't stick to it!) and is pretty much as serviceable. The water just runs off it and it still looks pretty good on our boat 4 seasons in (and we have done a reasonable amount of chartering on our boat as well).

As jfm said, we went beige for the cockpit cushions. We thought it would break up the all white GRP - we thought the all white of GRP and cushions became a bit much on our other boats! We still need the bright cushions to break it up though (jfm's piccies look great and the cushions do the job).

Best of luck with the re-fit.

Adam

[Pendana]

Tico,
Keep us posted with the details if you go ahead with the refit, I for one will be very interested ..... need to same in the near future.

Eddie