The Upholstery Forum

I am new to the upholstery side of boat rebuilding, it's turned out to be a fun and challenging hobby.
After buying a used boat that needed a cockpit cover, I couldn't find a shop within a 100 miles of me that didn't have 6-8 month backlog. So I bought a walking foot machine, fabric and supplies, watched quite a few videos, and successfully did my own cover. I managed to save a few bucks as well. Then, I was able to redo the sun pad and the rear bench seat in vinyl and I'm pretty happy with the results.
Now, I've moved into the cabin and have a couple of questions about the way it was put together. The boat is 33 years old, so I'm not sure if this is factory original.
The foam is 3" and has 1/2" foam glued to it. Is there a reason for this 1/2" foam?


There is some sort of fabric under the seating fabric. Can anyone tell me the reason for this


Here is the seat cushion I'm working on

I would think the double layer foam is original. The fact that the thicker foam wraps around and over the thinner tells me something but I'm not sure what, there must be a reason for it though. Are the two foams of a different firmness? There is a guy on Youtube who does boat interiors and seems very helpful, his company name is spittin tacks, maybe watch his videos and send him your question. As for the material maybe it allowed them to pre-make the cushions then cover with the owners final choice? Only saying that because it looks like this is a larger cabin cruiser and they usually have numerous choices when ordered. Just guessing here -

I just ran across a material that might answer the material question. The product is called a moisture barrier and it allows you to insert your foam into the covers easier. Possibly that is the material between the outer covering and the foam.

More than likely the cushions have been recovered and the 1/2 foam was used to bring foam back to original shape from shrinkage.

Thanks for the replies. Restoring the thickness sounds like to most logical reason. I guess I was wondering if it had somethin to do with the rounded edge of each section of the seat.

Does the foam sit on plywood? If so, then I would say for sure it has something to do with the rounded edge, without that I would think the material would tend to show the edge of the plywood even if it's covered.