Cushion Repair
My cushions were looking pretty ratty. Most had seams that were ripped, zippers broken and rusted, and generally looking dirty and dingy. I looked into the cost of new cushions and I think I would have paid more for new cushions than I did for my boat! I decided to repair them.

The first thing I did was to remove the covers and wash them in Woolite. That was a major improvement right there. The material came out looking brighter and the white part was actually white. One thing I also noticed is that I found the source of the powder I kept finding in my boat. The material has some kind of sizing on the inside that has worn out and is crumbling. This makes a fine tan colored dust come out when you hit the cushions. It was making a mess of the boat. After washing the covers I took them outside and gave them a good beating to get as much of the remaining sizing out of the covers. It is much better but not 100% gone.

 

Ripped seams and dirty original cushions
 Wear was mostly at the edges
 Rusty zippers
 Sizing crumbling
 Why did they use something that would rust on a boat?
The first thing I did was use a seam ripper and take apart all the seams where the cloth had ripped. Some of the seams have piping so I will have to make sure to sew it back on. In places where I shortened the cushion by a couple of inches to get to good material for the seam I had to trim the piping so that there would not be excess sticking out.

 

A seam ripper is a good tool to have
 It makes a quick job of removing the zippers
 Overlap the good material and sew the seam Hot glue Velcro for replacement of zippers
 One side is the hooks
The seam ripper made it easier to remove the zippers and take apart the seams. I then overlapped the material until I had solid stuff to make a new seam with. I then sewed it back up. For the zippers, I used velcro attached with hot glue. No more rust!

 

The hooks are on the inside and overlap completely
 The fuzzy part is glued half-way exposed, facing outward
 Tape the hooks when re-inserting the foam
 On the larger cushions I removed some of the foam to account for the smaller cover Put the foam in and close the velcro.
The nice thing about the Velcro is that it does not show once the opening is closed. I used masking tape to cover the hooks when putting the foam back in. Those hooks grab the wool very well. Since I had made the covers smaller when repairing the seams I cut some of the foam off to accommodate the smaller cover. It is quite a bit of work getting the foam back in as the covers are tight.

 

Looks almost new!
 The seam could be a little straighter
All done! Some of the seams came out a little crooked, especially where I had piping. I'll never make it as a seamstress. All five cushions are done and look great! The cost was about $10 worth of Velcro.