Thursday, October 22, 2009

Boat Seat Textiles And Materials For All Situations

By Frank Gehry

Boat seats are an important part of your vessel, whether you use it for fishing, sunbathing, leisure, or to transport your friends out for a picnic in the middle of a lake.

To make sure that the seats in your boat are of the right type for your purpose, as well as to allow for their best upkeep, which will maintain your boat's value over time, it's important to know about the skin and bones of the seats - the upholstery and the materials.

Damaged boat seat materials, such as bent frames or ripped fabrics, not only decrease the appeal of the vessel but also lower its value. Especially if you are thinking of selling the boat, often a little seat repair and refurbishment will pay itself many times over.

There are different materials used for the skeleton - the most common ones are fiberglass, steel, anodized aluminum, or different kinds of wood (mostly marine plywood with stainless staples, and sometimes solid wood for custom seats intended to match the fittings of vintage boats).

Boat seats based around a steel frame should of course be using stainless steel, or rust will damage your seats in the long term. Marine plywood is also an alternative, but it needs to be pressure-treated and waterproofed.

Boat seat upholstery is not always present on all kinds of marine seating. Some benches are simply constructed, with hard wooden or fiberglass backrests and sitting areas, often padded but more often still unpadded.

These seats are usually fitted with removable cushions for comfort. Of course, when it comes to covers (both upholstery and for cushions), the variety of fabrics that can be used for indoor seating is more varied than for outdoor seating.

Outdoor use of boat seat materials requires that the fabrics are able to resist UV light as well as saltwater. Marine grade vinyl is the most common outside material for boat seats, but there are other viable alternatives.

Heavy duty waterproof fabrics, nylon and leather can be viable alternatives, especially on high end boats. In the cabin of a boat, fabrics and leather are more common.

When shopping for the right boat seats, you need to make sure that the materials durable and long lasting. With your input and the above information, local boat parts manufacturer or supplier will be able to determine which fabrics are suitable for your boat seats and which are not. - 16887

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