Back to the main site

SimTex or Traditional Vinyl

Of course, replacing all of your interior will not be cheap, but it is an investment in your boat which will bring you much delight and a better resale value. On the other hand, I can guarantee that the cost of a new boat will be much more than what you'd spend on fabric. If you like your boat then move forward. If you'd rather have a different size, layout or more HP, save you money and put her up for sale. Just my two sense... ;)
 
Well I think I have decided to Switch to SimTex. I can’t be 100% on this but I have a factory bennington replacement skin. I use it to match the vinyl colors. It has the Ostrich skin vinyl. My ulpolstry guy said that the Ostrich Skin material is not even Marine Vinyl. ?????
WTH! It makes sense because All of the vinyl that has broken down is the Ostrich Skin vinyl that is a accent piece in almost all my interior
 
Well I delayed and delayed, but I figured if I wanna have a boat by Spring I better get cracking on my winter projects and pull the trigger.
I decided to go SimTex. I’m gonna replace what’s ripped and torn Now. And then slowly replace the reaming seat bases from traditional Vinyl to Sim Tex. Yes I would love to throw 6-8k at doing all the vinyl @ once but I dont have that kind of money right now. So I ordered 10 yards of SimTex at $23 per yard and a sheet of High density(Harder Foam) to replace the factory foam in 2 of the Seat bases.
 
I got 10 yards of SimTex and a sheet of the HD foam. $370
 

Attachments

  • 674B8CB1-6504-404D-8FED-094CBAC0B911.jpeg
    674B8CB1-6504-404D-8FED-094CBAC0B911.jpeg
    139.2 KB · Views: 27
This is my take away: I think that bennington does a great job at making the boats sit very comfortable. Part of making that happen is having a very soft foam. I think they want people to “sink” into the seats giving people a very luxurious feel. The down side is that after a few years (disclaimer) Our boat gets lots of use. 2 to 3 times the typical boat owner is what I imagine . With heavy use very soft foam breaks down and now the seats are bottomed out. I think if they would have started with High Density foam it would be to hard for most customers but after a year or so of use the seats would getting softer and softer. It may be somthing they may want to address. But I think because we use our boat so much we are not average customers.
 
I had a local guy do one of the seats.
Here is a before. And the 2 pics below are a After with the new foam and Sim Tex vinyl. The pics don’t look great but the seat looks like factory.
 

Attachments

  • 7F33A22D-F0D9-4C96-A46A-30706055246E.jpeg
    7F33A22D-F0D9-4C96-A46A-30706055246E.jpeg
    114.3 KB · Views: 89
  • A452307E-FA23-4E4C-8D7B-0070ED6C42C4.jpeg
    A452307E-FA23-4E4C-8D7B-0070ED6C42C4.jpeg
    165.2 KB · Views: 89
  • FBB7DF6D-270C-48E1-8A2A-BAF2277072B9.jpeg
    FBB7DF6D-270C-48E1-8A2A-BAF2277072B9.jpeg
    180.2 KB · Views: 89
Looks good.
 
After looking at pics of Brand new Bennington seats I spotted that the Edge of a Brand new seat had more shape or roundness then my newly refinished seats. I pointed it out the the Upolstry shop and they agreed.

The solution was to place a 1 inch topper foam on the round piece of foam at the edge of the seat. This gave the seat cushion more shape or curves. The foam at the edge didn’t need to be replaced it felt fine as far as support. I’ll take some pics when I go to the shop today.
 
Looking good!
 
Michael Lyman said:
Question for everybody on the Sim Tex. How does the Sim Tex clean up from sunscreen etc.?
Click to expand...
We almost always have sunscreen on when on the boat, and don’t have any stains or problems. We put the spray kind on dockside, and don’t apply spray sunscreen while on the boat. Once on the boat, we re-apply the lotion kind so as to avoid any inadvertent seat overspray.

Our seats clean up nicely and don’t have any apparent sunscreen stains. Not sure if it stains, and if so, how it would clean out if someone sprayed or squirted sunscreen directly on them. Hopefully it would clean out well.
 
Vikingstaff said:
First, I have no experience with regular vinyl. Our 2017 Bennington is our first boat. However, we LOVE the SimTex. It wipes clean so easily. We think it looks good. Since our boat is a 2017, we have no idea how longer term durable it might be, but we are hopeful it holds up great.
Click to expand...
What about oil based sunscreen? Does it stain SimTex?
 
Vikingstaff said:
We almost always have sunscreen on when on the boat, and don’t have any stains or problems. We put the spray kind on dockside, and don’t apply spray sunscreen while on the boat. Once on the boat, we re-apply the lotion kind so as to avoid any inadvertent seat overspray.

Our seats clean up nicely and don’t have any apparent sunscreen stains. Not sure if it stains, and if so, how it would clean out if someone sprayed or squirted sunscreen directly on them. Hopefully it would clean out well.
Click to expand...
Good to know. What color of simtex seating to you have on your boat? You mentioned clean up. Assuming you just use the recommended soap and water wash to clean up with?
 
We use spray sunscreen a lot as well :). Alcohol based sprays are not a issue. However friends seem to bring someone that's usually real tan with oil-based sunscreens like Panama Jack. These heavy dark oils are what I was inquiring about. Any experience with oils on SimTex ?
 
I like the SimTex, but we did have a problem.

We left a ski jacket behind the co-captain chair with the cover on so that the kids could grab it for jet ski rides. The ski jacket (not a cheapo) had a decal on the back that melted during a very hot stretch with the cover on. It ended up melting to the SimTex and per the manufacturer, there is no way to remove given the nature of the SimTex fibers. They said the decal essentially melted into and with the SimTex fibers. The only option is to replace the section. Maybe the result would have been the same with any other fabric.

Important to keep life jackets and other materials off the seats while covered. Simtex is made by heating up a chemical compound. The heat inside the covered pontoon heated up the life jacket emblem (most likely some other plastic compound) that resulted in binding the two together.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top