Dying vinyl seats

[littlebookworm]

The cockpit seats on our 1997 Cruisers are showing their age, with wear and some mildew spots. I've cleaned the seats and killed the mildew (I hope), but would like to freshen their look for another season or two. I've been doing some research and came across some products sold by SEM corporation to dye vinyl seats. Does anyone have any experience with these products or any other products to dye seats? I'm planning on keeping the same color, cream,and am not expecting them to look like new. I just don't want to waste time and money on a result that looks cheap and crappy. Any experience or advice is appreciated. By the way, I am very capable with a spray gun, though most of the products seem to come in spray cans. Hy

 

[OLD HOUSEBOATER]

The Vynil paint sold by Auto Zone does an EXCELLENT job. I cleaned my front seats on my golf cart with alcohol and painted them white to match the seat I installed on the rear. LOOKS LIKE FACTORY! No bumps no runs - cant tell from new.

Note: took a whole can to do front seat bottom and back. About 11 bucks.

 

[capt6650]

The SEM Marine Vinyl Coat is a good product. It is not really a dye, but more like a paint. I used it many years ago on an old Carver. They had a color called "Carver White" which matched the color exactly, so I only had to do the seats that were bad. If you follow the directions and don't try to put to heavy a coat on at once, it works well. I got rid of the boat 3 years later and the seats still looked good. I highly recommend it.

 

[littlebookworm]

Thanks, guys. I contacted SEM and they are sending me a color chart and prices for quarts of their products. They don't list any off-whites specifically for Cruisers Yachts so I'll have to find something close. Since I plan on doing all the seats, that's not a problem. The only real problems are going to be figuring out how to detach some of the seat cushions and getting them out of the shrinkwrap door! I'm fairly certain I'm going to have to color some of the seats in the boat because they're too large or bulky to remove completely.. That will be an interesting experience! Hy

 

[littlebookworm]

I removed the transom seat and back yesterday and brought them home. It's funny how much better they look in daylight! I'm going to give them another cleaning (saw a video on YouTube posted by an expert) and see how they look then. My wife thinks they're OK, and if she's happy, I'm happy. It was 'fun' getting the seats out of the boat. It's shrinkwrapped so I had to snake them through the shrinkwrap door. To make matter even more interesting, I had spread camphor balls throughout the boat to keep any little critters away (recommended on one of the boating forums). The boat now smells like my mother's winter/summer storage closet used to smell! My car and the garage picked up the smell from the seats, as well. I'll really have to air out everything. Hy