The Upholstery Forum

Hi. I have a friend who has an early Ford Bronco, and he would like me to do the upholstery. He asked if he would still be able to hose the interior out after he goes off road, and I said that I would look into options. I assume that marine-grade vinyl would be the way to go, but what about the foam? Would the factory seat foam mildew? Are there other options? I'm also assuming marine-grade vinyl would be better than leather for this application, is this correct? Thanks.

You can put plastic between the foam and the cover, hopefully he wont take a fire hose or pressure washer to it. The seams would be my concern and I would use double sided tape as well as seam seal.

You’ll want a marine foam also. Or exterior foam. These allow the water to flow through and dry out faster along with mold resistance. Using plastic over auto grade will hold moisture in to an extent. What’s he going to do for the carpet? He’s asking for his floor boards to rust away.

What product do you use for seam sealer?

@preston.rea ,

What kind of bogging is the guy going to be doing and how often? I have the mud boggers here and most seats are just plain old vinyl. Upgrade to marine and do what Rev suggested with the plastic between the cushion and vinyl. Cody makes a vaey important point with water drainage and foam, if this guy is soaking his toy he should consider that type of foam.

Yeah the stock auto foam will get moldy. You can do the seam sealer and warping cushions with plastic will help but in my experience on boats is that water still gets in. If the guy has the budget I would use marine foam that in ment to drain water and dry fast.
https://www.sailrite.com/Dry-Fast-Open- ... -x-24-x-72

@preston.rea I use HH-66 vinyl cement for seam sealer. Paint the back side of seam with it after sewing.