KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: IraqvetUSMC on March 23, 2015, 10:09:53 PM
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So I have decided to tackle recovering the seat myself. I picked up a 3' x 54" sheet of marine vinyl and I am going to recover the seat myself. I have no template to go off of, after riding my sled this winter the seat cover annilated itself and just fell apart in big sections altogether while riding it. My question is, is their anyway to recover the seat and follow the contour without having a big air pocket due to the rear of the seat backing being higher than where you sit? I would imagine I could buy a piece of foam to level the seat out and that would work but if anyone has done this with making it fit halfway decent that would be great. Thanks
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Here are some premade ones you should check out.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=kawasaki+snowmobile&_from=R40&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xkawasaki+snowmobile+seat+cover.TRS1&_nkw=kawasaki+snowmobile+seat+cover&ghostText=&_sacat=0
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Thanks for the reply bud. I am keeping it cheap with my $15 piece of marine vinyl and I don't know how to sew lol. $100 for a seat cover is to expensive for me for a 79 Invader lol.
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I had to perform a similar repair to my Invaders seat a few years ago. My upholstery skills suck. I just used a piece of vinyl to wrap around the front part of the seat, where the driver sits. I didn't even attempt to cover the compound curves of the stepped up back part of the seat. The good, old black duct tape had to do for a couple cracks in that area.
The front 2/3 of the seat actually turned out pretty decent, if I may say so. ;) ;)
I used a razor blade to cut up partway at the front corners of the vinyl, then wrapped the front of the seat kinda like wrapping a Christmas present. The places where I cut the new vinyl at the front corners overlapped, and once I had stapled the vinyl all around it didn't look half bad. I stopped the cuts at the front corners of the seat just before they would have become visible at the top of the seat.
I was ready to start an upholstery shop... 8)
I don't know what to tell you about the back half of the seat...that will be a bear. Perhaps you could make the same kind of cuts in the vinyl at the back corners. Trouble is, they won't be hidden by the gas tank like the front corners are. But, it would be better than trying to "scrunch" everything up at the back corners.
Good Luck!
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I once made an entire seat cover on a 71 Polaris Charger with a role of red duct tape ::) It actually turned out pretty good and lasted a few years as a rider and still looked good when I sold it :)
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I think I understand what you are talking about with the front of the seat cover. From what I envision, you are making a straight line cut where the front corners are and the cut goes straight & towards the corners of the foam and you are laying the vinyl over the other rather than pinching it at the corners and trying to staple through that. I was thinking I could also go back to the craft store and buy a block of foam & use a meat carving knife to carve a contour and that would eliminate having a stepped up part and it would look as if the seat was just a flat rectangle. However the hillbilly duct tape approach sounds much easier lol. Or maybe do like you said and cover the front 2/3 and then cover the step and glue the section where the step up is onto the front cover ( I am sure that would hold wortha crap though haha).
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Here she is 8)
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I bet you could do the front of the seat like I did, and use the vinyl to extend to the back edge of the seat. Putting some foam to smooth the transition to the raised part of the seat would sure help. You could pull the vinyl tightly from front to back, and staple it to the underside of the seat base. I bet it would look pretty good if you just carefully trimmed the vinyl to be even and stop at the back. I wouldn't bother with the back end of the seat, above the tailight. I wouldn't have a clue how to include covering that part, and wrapping it around the back corners.
Gilson435...that looks pretty darned good. Can't beat the "100 MPH" tape. 8)
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I wrapped it around the entire seat the long way front to back, then wrapped it all the way around across the seat to give it that factory pleated look ;) LOL!! It worked anyway ;D
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That tape is extra special, that's the 120 mph tape hahaha. From the picture it looks factory lol. I would almost have to cut it out around the storage compartment like the stock seat cover was. To me their seems to be no way to staple the seat cover and not have that air pocket where the raise in the foam is unless it was cut & sewed like in the pictures of the seat covers on ebay or by placing a section of foam to raise it up and take up the space. I think the idea of covering the 2/3 like you did and then covering the back raise with a separate section of vinyl would be the only way but I am having a hard time wanting the have two separate sections of vinyl and I would hate to have that seam peel up. I think I may try the foam route. I was hoping to make this look halfway decent as more of a challenge for myself but this could turn out to look like a 2nd grade art project lol.
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Got home from work, popped open a cold one, and searched a bit on the internet.
Check this out...right up our alley. Search for the YouTube video..."How to recover motorcycle seats on the cheap!" Young guy does it pretty well. I never would have thought of warming the vinyl in a clothes dryer.
Hope that gives you a few ideas to help.
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Thanks for the link rminier I will check that out later on. I was thinking about using some sort of heat to form it, I do have a heat gun but I want to see this guys idea. A nice seat cover makes anything look good, or almost good haha.
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So after watching that video that seat turned out real nice. Actually I bought the exact same fabric from Joann that this guy is using. I wonder how long it stays pliable and stretchy after being heated. Although our sled seats have a much higher back then the bike seat does it goes to show you can get the air pockets worked out by having to remove some staples and pulling it tighter. Good find on the video though. Maybe the heat gun on low heat will help it stretch tighter while working it.
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Here is my first try at upholstery on a seat. It isn't perfect by any means but it works for a rider. I used the cold crack vinyl. I laid my vinyl wrong side out over the seat foam and just marked it with a magic marker into my shapes cut out my vinyl and went to sewing. I had my wife help with attaching the cover. She put almost full body pressure on the seat pan while I pulled the cover to staple it on.
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That turned out pretty nice for your first time 8) I'd like to see the rest of the sled with that yellow paint job! Like the tweety snow flap :)
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That's an awesome job on the seat. Since I have no way to sew it, I will be doing the cut & tuck method with a solid sheet of vinyl. The hardest parts are the front and rear due to the compartment and the front has the large indentations in the base. I am looking at ways to do this without cutting it and deciding it was a bad idea because one wrong cut will screw up the whole cover haha.
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Here is a couple more pictures my daughters invader. She wanted a yellow machine. I am still looking for a decal of something like an angry yellow jacket to put on the black on the hood.
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Nice job! Looks good yellow 8)
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Sled looks good bud. I need to repair or replace my hood all together, the hood isn't horrible and has 2 cracks, one by the lower left hinge and the cable is missing so I think the hood got whipped open and slammed and that's why its broke. I hate cracked hoods haha. I plan on changing crank seals this summer and cleaning everything up. Which is why I am trying to do a home made seat cover without sewing and have it look decent, not sure if its possible and I may be asking to much lol.
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Ok guys I am 0-2 so far. I have tried both a manual and an electric stapler, both will not even attempt to touch the plastic base. I won't even go in 1 mm so next up is to try a air stapler. The plastic base is really hard plastic, must be cuse of its age. I think I may try a heat gun to soften it up a little.
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I have a local shop that I use to have my seats done. They always complain about how hard the seat bases are. They say that even their best industrial staplers have a hard time sinking staples.
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That's not the answer I wanted to hear Gixxer lol. I think I am going to have to bust out the heat gun and get the plastic to soften up a little. I am sure with adding that extra step, the outcome of my home made seat cover is going to be less that stellar haha. If the heat gun works and I get the cover on I will post some pics if its not a complete disaster.
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You have to use a air stapler on them
That's the only luck I've had lol.
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I will ask some guys I know if they have an air stapler otherwise I will try heating the plastic up to soften it and if that still doesn't work I will be making a trip to harbor freight for an air stapler lol.
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I have an air stapler and it drives the staple clear thru!
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Really? Darn!
Mine has an adjustment on it , it adjusts the nials or staples depthness
I guess anyone use air stapler at own risk!!
Maybe I had good luck ? Lol.
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To bad you can buy a new base. 3 out of 4 corners are broke off where the nuts are. I'm think about screwing 2 steel bars lengthways of the seat an either drilling and tapping a thread or drill holes and weld nuts into the bar. Of course someone had to break the seat off lol
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While I admire the wonderful engineering of the Kawi sleds 99% of the time, the way the seats were secured to the tunnel was not their "finest moment" :(
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They can be a bit of a challenge for sure. What would be a better way?
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I agree, their is even old glue left from where someone else attempted to repair it. Not sure how they woul all break like that, other than rolling the sled. We're these seats known to break just from the design, age and weathering.
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There was a member from Canada a few years back that was making replacement seat bases out of fiberglass with wood inlaid around the edges to have something to staple to. They also had stainless t-nuts on each corner for mounting. I bought a couple for my projects. They are really nice.
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There was a member from Canada a few years back that was making replacement seat bases out of fiberglass with wood inlaid around the edges to have something to staple to. They also had stainless t-nuts on each corner for mounting. I bought a couple for my projects. They are really nice.
I sent him an email to check on availability.
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That would be awsome if he was still making the bases. The wood inlay is a great idea.
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I got a reply from him and he said he would come here in the next few weeks with an update on the bases.
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Sounds good, just let me know price and availability. Thanks
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Been gone for awhile, but I have done a few seats and an air stapler will do the trick. also best to do the recovering on a warm sunny day to help stretching the material. The best jobs I have done were using the cover from Image Enterprise. Fit was good and it has lasted a long time.
Attaching the seat to the sled , I found the easiest way is to run a couple of self drilling screws with the hex heads through the tunnel and into the seat plastic along the outside edge of the tunnel. Use a long extension and a good screw driver gun. Next time you need to remove the seats, just break off the screws and use some new ones. It doesn't take much to hold the seat in place and rebuilding the corners with welded nuts takes time and will still be prone to rust as that is where the snow and ice ends up under the tunnel. 2 screws per side does the trick just fine.
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That sounds easier to attach the seat by just going to a different location under the pan and screwing in self taping screws into the seat base, may come down to that lol. I would use a SS bolt and nut and cake it with antiseize and hope for the best if I welded the nut on.