Seat cushions crunched after storage

dbaker10085

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My marine shop just delivered my 2018 Bennington 23R to my boat hoist after it's been in outside shrinkwrap storage all winter in northern Michigan. This is about the 4th year doing shrinkwrap storage with no prior issues. Attached are two pics. One is the port side front corner seat cushions to show what "normal" looks like. The other pic is the starboard side front corner seat cushions that are extremely crunched and distorted. The cushions are pretty resilient to springing back after someone steps on them like they probably had to do in order to put the hoist canopy cover back on. However, this extreme wrinkled distortion is definitely from something else. Something very heavy had to be compressing this part of the seat cushions all winter. The marine shop says they have no clue what happened.

My question is do you think once we get some days warm days that the seat cushions may slowly go back to their normal shape sitting in the hot sun? Even if I replaced the upholstery, the foam underneath seems to be permanently squashed so it's like I would have to replace the whole seat sections (or just live with it). I'll demand that the marine shop somehow "fix" the problem but they are not a Bennington dealer (I did not buy the boat from them) so I don't hold out much hope.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.
 

Attachments

  • port side front corner seat.jpg
    port side front corner seat.jpg
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  • starbrd side frt corner seat pic.jpg
    starbrd side frt corner seat pic.jpg
    150.8 KB · Views: 29
I would start a warranty claim . If it doesn't straighten out, claim is started if it does dealer can close the claim
 
Wow - that’s a new one. Sorry for your situation. I have not seen a situation like that before. My goodness!
 
That is really strange looking. I wonder if they somehow had part of the shrink wrap post structure pushed against the seat after they heated it up. If the strapping is not perfectly tight, the posts might move once they apply the heat to shrink the cover. Just my guess. So sorry for your headache. Maybe putting your cover on and leaving it in the sun for a few days will help the cushion bounce back. (My interior got so hot once that it melted a decal on the back of a ski vest permanently into the cushion fabric).
 
I’m also suspecting there was some portion of the shrinkwrap support structure that was on the seat.
I coincidentally will be bringing my boat to my original dealership (that I purchased the boat from) about June 1st for some work (not related to the seat cushion issue). I will see about filing a warranty claim with them. However they are not the people who winterized and stored my boat. I suspect they may look at the seats and say it looks like abuse (a close look indicates some small local sharp imprints) rather than a manufacturer’s defect.
 
Have you talked to who ever did the shrink wrap?
 
Yeah…I totally lean in something went sideways with shrink wrapping as well. Insurance claim against the shop that winterized it is probably the direction this will have to go. Such a seemingly needless hassle.
 
I did show a picture and talked to the service manager of the place who shrinkwrapped and stored my boat. She said she’ll get with the team and investigate what could have happened. They’ll need the boat back to check it out in person but not until after the busy Memorial weekend.
 
Hopefully they make up for it. The storage places around me make you sign a waiver with small print that indicates they are not responsible for damage, but a good partnership will make up for it.
 
Holy crap!!!
 
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