Outside Fabric Choices & Thread

General
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There was a discussion about what fabric to use for a helm seat cover other than Sunbrella.

Sunbrella - is excellent, but you need to spray it with 303 waterproofing annually to keep it rain-resistant. You can use bleach and water to remove mildew, but then you must spray with 303 again. In my 24 years of owning a boat, I have used many waterproofing sprays, and 303 is my top pick. We have this as a cover for our wheel when we store for hurricane season in the tropics. We also have this for our grill cover, and it is great.

Stamoid—I used Stamoid for our cockpit table storage cover. This fabric does not require waterproofing, is easy to sew, and has lasted fine since 2008. I chose white, and it does look a bit dirty, but honestly, I don’t try to keep it looking pristine as it is a storage cover while we are away. The Nordhaven yachts use this, and that is who recommended it to me.

Shelter Rite - If you need chafe material, this stuff is Amazing!!! We have used it since 2008, and I would use nothing else, not even our new 550.

Sailrite provides great customer service in helping you select fabrics for your projects. However, they are moving away from some fabric lines, like Sunbrella, in favor of other lines, which is a bit annoying. Sailrite has grown so much in the last 25 years.

Gortex thread - is a must for any outside project or similar product. Always ask what thread a fabricator is using. Our current monohull is in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, and Goretex thread is not always used. Our last bimini, done in 2007 in Delatville VA, was retired last year, and the thread was perfect. It was the Sunbrella that needed to be replaced after all those years in the tropics. It owed us nothing!

RIRI Zippers - Has anyone seen these? Sailrite used to carry them, and we used them on our old bimini and never had to replace them. I am very unimpressed with YKK; they are not very robust anymore.

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Thanks Sue
I hade a cover made out of Royal Navy sunbrella as a storage cover for our helm seat cover but soon realised it was more comfortable to leave on the whole time as it is far more comfortable in the Tropics and the Med than the vinyl covering the seat comes with from KYC. It is now 5 years old and it looking a little tatty and am looking to replace it with something that is (hopefully!) more comfortable in hot climates (not that the sunbrella was bad … I am just looking for something that might have come onto the market in the last year or so that I am not aware of that we could use on the seat when sailing and then when we put the yacht on the hard for winter (in the Med) i will use the old Sunbrella cover for storage. Any suggestion anyone on what else i could look at in this regard?

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Hot climates are tough. Knysna uses Spradling for outside canvas which I had to research. In the US it seems to be used on pontoon boats and speed boats.

Personally I think Sunbrella is a good choice for a comfortable seat cover. I checked out options at the boat show and really didn’t see anything new. I would like to use Sunbrella Horizon for the helm seat and a great idea to have a Sunbrella seat cover made for the hot weather. Sunbrella Horizon does not get pinking which can happen on other vinyl material and Spradling does not guarantee that. They are still testing per the corporate office.

We plan on using Sunbrella for our outside cushions too as it is nicer to sit on in hot humid weather. Maybe try a tweed or I really like Dupione line which we have for our deck furniture at home. It wears and clean super easy plus with the tweed effect it hides dirt. We have the blue color I think called galaxy.

You could look at sunbrella

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Had anyone replaced the ‘leather’ seats in the salon? In two years ours are cracking pretty bad already and has not even been in the warmer climates yet. Will need to replace this in the next year I am sure.

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Don, what material is your salon cushions made from? From what I have seen later models interior cushions seem to be ultra leather which cracking would very unusual. Spradling is the vinyl that Knysna uses as stock material for exterior cushions and interior walls and headliners. Ask Grant what your material is as he will know if he built it. Happy to consult with you too. Call me anytime 774-245-2605 about fabric or fabricator questions.

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Not sure but will ask Grant. It is probably the ultra leather but will ask him.

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Don, let us know what Grant says. If it is ultra leather, there should be a warranty with the fabric. We have ultrasuede on our current Freedom and love it. It has lasted great since 2008. I just looked it up, and it is a 5-year warranty from the date of shipment.

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Don, you should just be able to look at the specification spreadsheet (Annex A) used during the build process. All the material selections are on there.

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It is Spradling Marlin, MRL-3203, Brilliant White according to the annex. But have not heard back from the Knysna rep Jamie. We did have issues with the cockpit cushions in that the cushion tabs were ripping out. Warranty was 1/2 of South African rates which I did not every collect on as it wasn’t worth it.

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Good info as I have been questioning Spradling and looking at Sunbrella Horizon instead. I think we are doing Sunbrella for our main salon cushions versus ultraleather.

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I was looking into your Spradling product, and it states that it is for marine use. Can you add a picture of what yours looks like?

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That’s really bad, since this is inside the salon I would do ultraleather if you like that look as it is pretty indestructible. You just can’t use it outside. Or, ultra suede which is so soft, cleans great and perfect for humid environments. Sunbrella is another great choice.

Two years old you should get something back from the mfg but the costly part is the labor. So sorry you are going through this.

I wonder if anyone else is having these issues too?

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On our boat we selected “Ultra Fabrics Pumice, 497-0016, Sailboat” and have not had the issues Don has had.

The boat is coming up to two years old now, has been in the tropics and has been in use throughout.

We are happy with the way the fabric is lasting - it is a synthetic leather style so can be a bit sticky when it’s hot and humid so we end up sitting on various throw over cloth (but that is true of all plastic leathers). From a comfort point of view we preferred the suede effect on our last boat.

Outside we used “Spradling Silvertex, Ice-cream”

That has also worn well and even survives fish blood! However, from a comfort perspective in the tropics, we preferred the Sunbrella fabric we used on our previous boat.

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It looks great for a light color and 2 years of living aboard. I made our final selection. Sunbrella horizon which is similar to Spradling for our cockpit cushions and we selected Sunbrella woven pattern
for the salon settee. A little more texture look than the ultra suede we currently have. Thank you so much for the pictures,