The Upholstery Forum

Greetings,

I have another marine vinyl project on my hands (got a new-er boat that needs some vinyl repair). It appears that the boat manufacturer used the wrong type of thread for exterior use. All the sun exposed areas have the thread disintegrating and the seams are opening up. The vinyl itself is intact, it is just the thread that is of issue. Here is a glimpse of the issue, where the seams are coming apart. Currently there is some tape holding the seams from separating further . . .



Just wondering what the collective wisdom would be on fixing this situation. I assume that all of the thread needs to be replaced with a UV resistant thread ( Tenara ), but just not sure if the existing vinyl panels can be re-used or if I should make all new panels.

BTW - there are a lot of French Seams in the stitching . . . little/no top stitching.

Thanks for any input/ideas on this

@TedP , just settle on using new material and call it a day. You will beat yourself up trying to line needle holes up and its a $100 increase for the materials.

I'd be willing to bet that someone used bleach or some household chemical to clean with if the threads are eaten up that bad. I agree if you are planning to hit every seam anyway, may as well cut new pieces.

I'm thinking it was more the sun/UV exposure and not cleaning products. I have used bleach on my vinyl of previous boats for years to no ill effect. The thread itself looks like nylon thread that is used for interior upholstery.

Boat builder don't use cheap thread, hacks use cheap thread.

I see this all the time on boats. You dont need to use tenara. I would use a good quality bonded polyester made by either Coats or Amann.

You'll need to carefully remove the cover and restitch what you can reasonably access. As long as the vinyl inst torn you'll probable get a few more years out of the vinyl. If the vinyl is starting to rip then its time for new vinyl as well.

If you are only trying the repair the open seam as opposed to replacing the thread along the whole seam, and the vinyl is still soft and flexible you can hand sew it using the existing machine hole without the need to disassemble the assembly. Just depends on what your goal is.

I repair open seams all the time by hand, and as long as the material is flexible it looks like the original machine stitch.

Resewing make it easier to “ tear along on the dotted line” I’d bite the bullet and start with new fabric, especially now that tape has been added

A good question is if this is a personal project or commercial. Time is $

This project is for my own personal use, but I think the best answer is to go with new fabric (vinyl). Cost is not a factor.