92 Prostar 205 interior

[Hglide09]

Been working on cleaning up the interior of my Prostar, finally got into the back seat that's need driving me crazy for 2 years. All the staples failed due to the wood being rotten in the tack areas of the rear bench. Does anybody know where to get this wood, looks like maybe 3/16" strips of plywood most about 1 1/2" wide but no more than 2". I scraped all the rotten wood out of the channels in the foam. Also looking for what type of adhesive to secure the new wood to the styrofoam, this is the very dense and formed styrofoam?? Any help would be great.

Thanks

[mikeg205]

I would replace with starboard.

[jamesmu2]

Been working on cleaning up the interior of my Prostar, finally got into the back seat that's need driving me crazy for 2 years. All the staples failed due to the wood being rotten in the tack areas of the rear bench. Does anybody know where to get this wood, looks like maybe 3/16" strips of plywood most about 1 1/2" wide but no more than 2". I scraped all the rotten wood out of the channels in the foam. Also looking for what type of adhesive to secure the new wood to the styrofoam, this is the very dense and formed styrofoam?? Any help would be great.

Thanks

Did you figure out what to use....been couple years but not sure if anybody has figured out what to replace the wood with.

[Titanic]

I am thinking of using plywood underlayment (I believe it is available in 3/32 thickness), cutting it to fit the styrofoam dimensions, then coating it with 3 or 4 coats of polyurethane. The staples will pierce the poly and eventually let some water in the wood, but this sounds like an easy and cheap replacement that should buy me 5 or 6 years before I have to replace it again.

My '94 205 has an additional problem: the vinyl on the upper part of the seat has shrunk a little and no longer extends down far enough to staple into the wood. The vinyl is not ripped and otherwise would not need replacement. Has anyone figured out a way to safely stretch the existing vinyl so that it can be stapled back in place?

[d2jp]

I am thinking of using plywood underlayment (I believe it is available in 3/32 thickness), cutting it to fit the styrofoam dimensions, then coating it with 3 or 4 coats of polyurethane. The staples will pierce the poly and eventually let some water in the wood, but this sounds like an easy and cheap replacement that should buy me 5 or 6 years before I have to replace it again.

My '94 205 has an additional problem: the vinyl on the upper part of the seat has shrunk a little and no longer extends down far enough to staple into the wood. The vinyl is not ripped and otherwise would not need replacement. Has anyone figured out a way to safely stretch the existing vinyl so that it can be stapled back in place?

Same issues here on my '92 and here's how I fixed it:

I tried Starboard, but found it too hard to staple. I replaced the wooden strips on the bottom of the seat (floor side) with pressure treated lattice strips (Home Depot or Lowes), glued into place with Titebond glue. I didn't want to use a glue or epoxy that might damage the styrofoam, and have used Titebond for many exterior projects before. I hate working with Gorilla Glue due to the mess, I like G-Flex epoxy but thought it might damage the styrofoam, and Titebond is good stuff and easy to work with. The lattice strips are not quite as large as the original pieces, but close enough to work fine. Being pressure treated, piercing them with stainless staples won't hurt them. The upper part of the seat back - I had the same problem. My seatback had also shrunk a little and the staples had pulled loose. There are also wooden strips on the upper part, just like the ones on the lower part which hold the vinyl seat back in place. So, just like the bench bottom, I replaced the strips on the upper part of the seat. I then set the seat in the sun for several hours, and with the help of my wife we stretched the vinyl back into place quite easily. I then stapled the edge of the seatback into the new strips, using the stitched trim, (or welting) that was originally used. I did this last spring and so far, so good. My MCOCD has me thinking I should prop the rear seat up on some blocks at the end of the weekend's use to allow some air to circulate and dry the carpet under the rear bench. Before I had my boat on a lift, I would remove the seat to allow it to dry.
Anyway, it's a pretty simple fix with the lattice trim pieces, Titebond glue and stainless staples. I have an electric stapler which makes the job a little easier IMO.

[waterlogged882]

All good information above.

I will say this; a couple of tips and preferences:

The starboard is the ticket but I realize you are only replacing the outer pieces of the shell and not the entire seat shell. The mentioned methods will work fine. For me (because I have the material readily available) I'd use epoxy resin for coating or water-proofing any wood, but that is merely a preference.

As for the staple gun for reassembly, a hand activated mechanical stapler is sufficient but not recommended for ease and non-destructive results; hear me out:

I prefer a pneumatic stapler for tacking upholstery back to a frame, etc. The electric stapler may very well be just fine, I have not used electric.

With the pneumatic stapler, you can adjust the pressure (PSI) through a pressure regulator with practice first to drive the staple only to the point of depth that will work for the need. The objective is to seat the staple only to the point of entry and not to drive the head of the staple through the material or even to the point of pinching the material under the head of the staple. That is where the tears can begin to leave the lasting results less than desirable.

There is an additional modification and step for best results (along with pressure regulating adjustment) because a pressure regulator is only so sensitive and certainly un-calibrated is to practice a few shots for the right pressure (relative to the base material you are stapling into). I use around 45 PSI on epoxy-treated ply wood. That will get you very close but you may still find the stapler is driving the head of the staple too far down and pinching (tearing) the upholstery material. So.... take a bastard file ( I like Nichols' files) and file the striker head of the stapler down flush with the frame of the driver. Most staplers will send the striker beyond the frame and that seats the staple deeper (and to my point of pinching). Activate the stapler with air, fire off a blank round and hold the trigger to keep the striker extended...then file that down close to flush to the frame without damaging the unit. One thing here is to be careful and patient to file the striker evenly (all the way across the striker) as well as near-flush in removal of the protruding striker. Now you have the stapler to where it is set on a good pressure and will only drive the staple to the extent of the surface of the material (by virtue of the striker not extending as far) preventing pinching of the material or driving the staple head too deeply into the material.

Take it for what it is worth or not but a good pneumatic stapler and appropriate settings will make life much easier with upholstery. I am not anywhere close to being an upholsterer or even an amateur expert. Your mileage may vary but this will get you close. This modification is especially good when working with material that has already been stapled and the edges are somewhat used and abused. Find an unused area in the material edge for the new staples and do not try and use an old entry point.

$0.02 from mistakes and lessons learned

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