1998 Sportster 1800 bench seat restoration project

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H€PHÆ$TU$

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A few months ago I bought a 98 Sportster 1800. I knew it would need work but didn't realize how bad it really was. I have decades of automotive mechanical and fabrication background but not a single day of boat experience. I bought this boat because it was cheap, had mostly good, new upholstery, and supossedly two new engines. If I had any experience in Sea Doos at all I would have ran away from it as fast as I could. Be that as it was, 2 new engines, virtually every mechanical component replaced, months of electrical trouble-shooting, and thousands of dollars later, (all done by me) it is running great and my wife, daughter, and I were able to still get out on the water for a few days before the season ended. I live on the Gulf in FL so I'm sure we'll still go out on warm winter days as well.

During the mechanical repair process I quickly realized that I was missing tons of crap from the boat. It became apparent that I needed a parts boat. I also realized that the rear seats were not OEM. The PO had replaced the original bench seat with 2 aftermarket bucket seats that were too tall and made it difficult to fit my legs under the dash. Once I got them under there, any bumps resulted in bruised and painful knees. So when I found a parts boat with a salvageable bench seat and a better trailer than I had, I snatched it up for $1000. It has paid for itself exponentially through this process as I've used almost every component from it except the hull.

Now that winter is here I am starting the project of replacing these aftermarket seats with an OEM bench again. These benches are not easy to find so I am having to work with what I got out of my parts boat. The parts boat sat outside in the woods for 13 years before I got to it. Almost every seat in it was completely rotted and un-salvageable EXCEPT the bench seat. While rough, I knew I could save it. I am not an upholstery guy, but I have worked with foam and upholstery on a couple automotive applications in the past. So while I have some direction of where to go with this, advice is also appreciated.

I forgot to get a pic of my seat bottom before removing the wrecked upholstery. But here's the back:

seat back 1.jpg

It was in the better shape of the two. I removed probably about 1000 staples to get the rotten upholstery off using this tool from Lowe's:

staple remover.jpg

Here's the armrests before I stripped them:

arm rests.jpg

And here's everything after I got all the rotted upholstery off:

stripped arm rests.jpg stripped seat back.jpg stripped seat bottom.jpg

Like I said, these are rough, but salvageable. One other thing. The rivnuts that these things are held on with SUCK! Two of them spun in the plastic backs instead of the bolt coming out. I had to use a grinder to cut the bolt of the head off:

satan rivets 1.jpg

I plan to replace these with something that won't spin in the future. To get at them the foam has to be separated from the Styrofoam backing. It's just glued on with a light spray-adhesive and peels right apart:

foam peeling.jpg

I simply pushed the cut-off bolt and loose rivnut through the Styrofoam backer. It leaves a small hole but it won't affect anything. I'm open to suggestions as to what to replace these rivnuts with.

satan rivets 2.jpg

To glue the foam back on I'll use 3M spray adhesive, which works awesome with foam and plastics. You spray both surfaces, let it dry to a tacky state (about 5 minutes) and then stick everything back together.

spray adhesive.jpg

I think there's a 10-pic limit so I'll continue in another post ...
 
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The parts boat sat outside so long that weed roots actually started growing through much of the seat foam. I pulled what I could but some of them are so deeply embedded that I'll never get them out! LOL!

roots 1.jpg roots 2.jpg roots 3.jpg

I cleaned everything I could with soapy water.

clean seat bottom.jpg

Most of the rest of the upholstery in my boat is new-ish and doesn't need to be replaced. So I've spoken to the guy at Jet Armor who is nice enough to try to find a close match to what I have so that I only need to replace the stuff that is necessary.

I'm off to Joanne Fabrics for new high density seat foam to patch the missing rotted foam. To Be Continued ...
 
The Joanne run took longer than planned. Stopped at Chille's for dinner with family. Only had about an hour to work when I got home. I knew this would be a multi-day project anyway. High density foam is expensive. What you see here is a yard of 3" and a yard of 1", which, at full price, is almost $100. However, Joanne accepts Hobby Lobby coupons and Hobby Lobby almost always has a 40% off one item coupon on their website. Joanne also allows you to use multiple coupons and they almost always have a 20% off a single item coupon on their website. So between these two coupons, what you see here came down to about $50.

100 foam.jpg

I started with the main rotted area on the seat bottom because I knew it would require the largest amount of the 3", expensive foam and I wanted to make sure I had enough to do it twice in case I screwed up the first attempt. Through careful planning I was able to nail it my first try though. I simply drew my cut lines with a Sharpie and used a sharp serrated steak knife to do the cutting. I took it slow and carefully to as not to cut into the Styrofoam backing.

main spot.jpg main spot cut out.jpg main spot plug.jpg

Once I cut the outline I carefully peeled it from the aerosol adhesive that held it to the Styrofoam backing in one piece so that I could trace it onto the new foam.

main spot new plug.jpg

I forgot to measure how thick I needed before I went to Joanne's so at the store I was forced to guesstimate. As it turns out, 3" was overkill. 2" would have been more than sufficient and cheaper. It also would have been easier to form as the 3" was so thick that I had to cut some reliefs across it as I was forming to allow it to bend to the contours that I needed. Once I had it stuck to all the faces and formed, I started going at it with my electric turkey carving knife to whittle it down to the correct thickness and general shape. After that I used a grinder with a flap disc on it to smooth out any sharp edges and do final forming. Be careful with the grinder, it digs in fast and easily.

main spot carving 1.jpg main spot carving done.jpg cuisenart.jpg

Unfortunately, the small lengthwise cuts you can see in some areas are where I cut my reliefs too deep. I don't foresee this affecting the seat though. Really wish I would have got 2" as it would have been less work and better results but you know what they say about hindsight. The HD Foam that Joanne sells is really close to the same feel as the factory form. I'm 100% confident there will be no discernible difference to my butt cheeks.

TBC
 
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I was pretty happy to have the worst area knocked out in less than an hour with such good results, but running out of time for the night. So I went ahead and marked and cut the remaining 3 areas of the seat bottom that will need to be done. I'll cut the replacement foam and glue it all in on Sat. most likely.

spots 2 3.jpg spot 4.jpg spots 2 3 4 plugs.jpg

Besides this seat bottom, there are some small areas on the seat back and both arm rests that need repair as well, which I will also document.
 
I got mine done last April 2019 with this white/lime green color..... Sea doo Challenger 2000
That's funny. Mine is lime-green as well. Most of the upholstery is new and doesn't need to be replaced, which is why I've been communicating with Jet Armor about finding the same material for this bench. He contacted me last night with the good news that he was able to find it! here's the aftermarket seats that I hate.

20191114_121908.jpg
 
That's a nice aftermarket seat though but lime green at Jet Armor is not the same shade/brightness as what you have in the pictures, mine as well change everything and had a color the you really like... The reason I chose lime green is because of the decals I used outside the boat and I used also a lime green floor mat from black tip sports instead of using hydroturf... I regret why I used lime green mat I should have used black from hydroturf since cleaning it and fading is very susceptible on lime green or any light colors mat, leason learned... black mat is ideal if you do a lot of traffic, fishing and family trips since cleaning is easy and you can see the black spots while light colors cleaning is forever....Good luck to your upholstery project, it took me about 4 weeks to finish it myself with over 2000 pneumatic 1/2" staples that I used....
 
That's a nice aftermarket seat though but lime green at Jet Armor is not the same shade/brightness as what you have in the pictures, mine as well change everything and had a color the you really like... The reason I chose lime green is because of the decals I used outside the boat and I used also a lime green floor mat from black tip sports instead of using hydroturf... I regret why I used lime green mat I should have used black from hydroturf since cleaning it and fading is very susceptible on lime green or any light colors mat, leason learned... black mat is ideal if you do a lot of traffic, fishing and family trips since cleaning is easy and you can see the black spots while light colors cleaning is forever....Good luck to your upholstery project, it took me about 4 weeks to finish it myself with over 2000 pneumatic 1/2" staples that I used....

I don't think you understood my post. Jetarmor has matched the green material. It's special order. Not something he stocks.
 
If you haven't already stapled your new seat covers, I would recommend using Monel staples instead of stainless steel. Monel is less corrosive. I'm pretty sure all stainless steel staples are 304 stainless, which will definitely rust over time. 316 stainless is less corrosive than 304 stainless, but I don't think you can find any. Search Amazon for "Arrow Fastener 506M1" for the Monel.
 
If you haven't already stapled your new seat covers, I would recommend using Monel staples instead of stainless steel. Monel is less corrosive. I'm pretty sure all stainless steel staples are 304 stainless, which will definitely rust over time. 316 stainless is less corrosive than 304 stainless, but I don't think you can find any. Search Amazon for "Arrow Fastener 506M1" for the Monel.

Max at Jetarmor told me to use stainless or Monel. I thought Monel was a brand name so I just got stainless. I see now that you're right that it is less prone to corrode than stainless. I'll get some monel staples now. Thanks! Incidentally, the new vinyl he sent arived and it matches my old stuff perfectly!

I went on vacation and wasn't working on this for a while. But I'm home now and finished up the foam repair.

20191128_164539.jpg 20191128_172712.jpg 20191128_181131.jpg 20191128_182553.jpg

I need to find an alternative for those rivnuts before I can continue now ...
 
I had about half an hour tonight to test my hand at stretching vinyl so I did one of my armrests. I'm pretty tickled with the results. Hopefully have time tomorrow to get more done.

20191202_201524.jpg
 
Thank you, I'm pleased with it as well!

I tried pulling the bolts out of my glued-on nuts last night. Two came out fine, the glue broke on the third. It wasn't completely dry yet despite giving it the required 24 hours of dry time. So I re-glued it and am going to give it until Sun. to dry, which is when I hope to continue working on it.
 
Two came out fine, the glue broke on the third.

What kind of glue and what is the material you're gluing into? My glue of choice is 45-minute epoxy. It sets up really hard compared to 5-minute or 30-minute. If I need it to be less viscous before setting up, I'll mix it with a little sawdust. In 24 hours, it should be rock hard, and when mixed with sawdust, it makes it less brittle so it can flex without cracking and you can easily drill into it if necessary.
 
What kind of glue and what is the material you're gluing into? My glue of choice is 45-minute epoxy. It sets up really hard compared to 5-minute or 30-minute. If I need it to be less viscous before setting up, I'll mix it with a little sawdust. In 24 hours, it should be rock hard, and when mixed with sawdust, it makes it less brittle so it can flex without cracking and you can easily drill into it if necessary.

3M 5200 fast-dry. It might not be the best choice. I have no clue. LOL! I just know how hard it is to get something off once 5200 is dry.
 
I don't think that's the right kind of glue to secure a nut. It's designed to be a sealant, so it remains rubbery and flexible. I would use glue that drys hard and has high tinsel strength.

You're probably right but do you have any specific suggestions?
 
I had an unexpectedly crappy day today. It started out fun by being in a Christmas parade for work but while I was in it I got a call from the storage unit that I keep my RV at letting me know that they had a break-in last night and my 5th wheel had been broken into and vandalized. So I tried to hurry home from the parade but had to swing by work and got caught up there for a few hours. I'm a UGA fan so I was trying to get all this done before the game started. Made it up to the RV, met with the police, and by the time all the reports were filed it was halftime. The thieves got away with about $2000 worth of my stuff, including a gun that I had in there. Sucks for them because that makes it armed robbery instead of petty theft and the idiots left tons of fingerprints. I'll have to replace the window they pried open with a pry bar and there was some cleaning up to do inside, but at least they didn't completely destroy the family's second home. (We camp in the RV almost monthly.) The hilarious part is that they pried open all the basement doors, looked at the thousands of dollars of tools I keep down there, and left them all. They seemed to only be interested in my gun and some electronics. At this point I had already lost most of my day and the game wasn't turning out like I had hoped so I decided to get what I could done on the seats. Did the other arm rest and got started on the seat bottom. Doing the bottom requires lots of work, time, and finesse with a hair dryer. I enlisted my wife's help. No way I could have done it alone. We're going to continue working on it tomorrow.

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JB Weld 8265S Original Cold-Weld Steel Reinforced Epoxy would be perfect.

Or, any epoxy that requires mixing A and B. The longer the set time, the harder it will cure.

You were right, the 5300 came loose again. I tried the other two that hadn't come loose and they were almost loose so I just pulled them off to start anew. I'll get some epoxy tomorrow.
 
Only ended up with about 2 hours to work today but finished the bottom.

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Also i JB welded those nuts on. Hopefully they hold this time.
 
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The JB weld didn't work. Need to find a different alternative. Maybe going back to nutserts is the best thing. This is holding up the project now.
 
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