Interior Cushion Upholstery Material

[jreddington]

The V-Berth and quarterberth cushions on my 1984 E-28+ have had it with splits in them.

The thing is I love the material. It is a dark (but lighter than Navy) blue with white dots. I think it is Ericson original since I've seen this same pattern on Ericsons of that vintage listed on Yachtworld.

Would love to find matching fabric. First, because I just like the pattern. Second, the main cabin cushions are still in great condition and it would save me some bucks if I only had to replace the V and quarter cushions.

Anybody know a source?

My backup is to locate a solid color fabric as close in color to the main cabin cushions as possible. Purchase extra fabric for those cushions, do the v and quarters. Then see if I like the result or see if it drive me nuts. Then the next season do the main cabin cushions. At least that spreads the cost out a little in the budget.

[Guy Stevens]

Do a search here in the list, and an upholster and member went looking for it a while back. He found out what it was, and found out that it is no longer available.

Sorry,

[Christian Williams]

Anyone have any recent luck with a close match to the original Ericson "blue sky and stars" upholstery fabric?

[Tom Metzger]

My upholstery guy told me that the the Ericson material was no longer available when I first had a cushion redone 10 or 15 year ago. At that time I could get away without because it was for the aft cabin and solid blue worked nicely.

Now the admiral is starting to notice the RIT dye being used on a thin spot in the main cabin. Right now I am leaning towards solid blue, or maybe burgundy, on the bottoms and leaving the original on the seat backs that have no wear.

[Christian Williams]

I went today to a large fabric store in LA, and essentially got nowhere--beyond Sunbrella "Canvas Navy" (AKA "Captain's navy"?). It's much darker than the original Ericson night-with-stars upholstery.

Then on the Sailrite Web site I ran into these. Anyone ever seen them "in person"?



Sunbrella is pretty confusing. Names change. Monitor colors not reliable. And in all the Subrella books at Diamond Foam and Fabric, these patterns never appeared.

[Tom Metzger]

Get samples, either from Sailrite or Sunbrella.

[jreddington]

I just ordered a sample of this (only 99¢). When I get it, I'll post my observations. Will also see if a photo of it against my original cushions will give a perspective and post here.

[Christian Williams]

Got the samples. Say, Bubble Indigo is a very close match--closer than the photos suggest. The indigo is actually somewhat darker than the fabric on my 1985 boat, which might even be the result of time. In any case, I would think this solves the matching issue entirely. My need is to re-cover the V-berths, and the difference in color from the saloon upholstery will not be noticeable at all. As a patch, Bubble Indigo would read as "newer" material. It's a Sunbrella marine product, with the same weight and feel as the original.

What luck!

[jreddington]

I ordered a sample myself. Meant to take photos of it similar to Christian but got distracted. I was pleased by the very close look of the fabric. However, the Bubble Indigo seems to have a significantly different feel. The original is soft to the touch and slightly ribbed (a little like corduroy). You can see the texture in Christian's pictures. But the Sunbrella fabric is flat and much coarser to the touch, not like most upsholstery fabrics. I'm not sure if it would be very pleasent to lounge on. As I would expect, this seems to be more of a fabric for exterior use.

[Tom Metzger]

My canvas guy told me that Sunbrella is not intended to accept much abrasion, so I would think that interior cushion fabric would not be a good application. Just thinking of my bony ass. Of course, he may have been thinking about water resistance in regard to the abrasion; I don't really know.

[Christian Williams]

I finished redoing my V-berth with it. Came out fine and very comfortable (and smells good!). The color/pattern match is very close and looks identical unless close inspection. It is not as tough a fabric as the original Ericson product, much of which after 27 years on my boat still looks like new. The areas that fell apart were all under hatches and it was the UV without a doubt.

I am overdue to write this up as a blog. Will get to it.