I'm currently having the cockpit of my '85 Mistress reupholstered. I was wondering if those of you that have reupholstered an old school boat kept the pleats in the upholstery or went with the more modern non-pleated look.

I'm adding a couple of updates - I had Lipship embroider a Cigarette oval logo on the bench seat back. It came out awesome but wasn't cheap. $350 just for the logo to be sewn onto a vinyl panel I sent to them. I'm also updating the grab handle to new aluminum handles to replace the bent aluminum bar stock Cig used. I also added to cup holders in the side cushions. I'd like to update the seat brackets to the billet Dana stuff but $2000 is pretty steep. I might just polish and powdercoat the original or fab some new one's out of aluminum tube and plate. Any ideas?

Team Marine is making me new switch panels and I'm going to have gauge panels made to match later.

Also, if anyone has any pics of reupholstered cockpits, I'd be interested in seeing them.

Hi Monty,
Boy what you are asking is a pretty subjective question, whether to redo your existing pleats or not. Most of the time we've found people to opt for a little more modern approach, but everybody's different and its just what you want or like. Yours has pretty narrow pleats as I recall, so maybe you could have whoever is doing them to be a little creative in the design but still give it the old school flavor, like maybe fewer pleats or maybe make them wider. You're the one who has to be happy with it regardless what other people think of it. Sounds like you are on the right track with the other mods. Good luck. And be sure and post some pics when you get it all done.

John
Sunrise Upholstery
www.sunriseuph.com

I got rid of the pleats. Went for a more modern look. People don't believe me when I tell them it's an '88.

No pleats in my 1986 Mistress, but the bolsters, seats, and pad do have a subtle design in the stitching. No piping at all. My opinion is biased, but I feel it looks very nice and modern.

The cup holders are a good idea, these work great.

BTW this 35 Cig is in the classifieds!!!!

I re-did mine in 2002. I kept some of the pleats and got rid of some, mainly side panels. But as you can see with the teak dash and old trip wire, I wanted to keep SOME the old school stuff.

Cignificant, your interior looks GOOD!

They're all beautifull when it says Cigarette on it!

Those all look great! Mine is going to look alot like CignificantOthers, I also put cupholders in the side cushions, but only 1 in each. I replaced the flat bar grab handles with billet aluminum one's though.

I told the upholstery shop to delete the pleats and piping. I went with Windswept Pearl Marine Vinyl from Miami Corporation. It's the same line of vinyl we used for the sunpads and surround last year, it seems like good stuff and was one of the heaviest vinyls they had.

They're almost done with everything, so I should get it back early next week and install it back in the boat the first weekend in April. The only thing I'm wating for are some stainless steel hinges from Dana for the drop down bolster seats. I replaced alot of wood that formed the seat and bolster framing with marine grade ply. I basically rebuilt the entire bench seat due to several soft spots in the wood, expecially on the base where it sits on the cockpit sole. For a 20 year old boat it was in surprisingly good shape but I figured if I have it all apart, I might as well do it right and fix anything that wasn't 100%. Plus I'm adding 4 10" subwoofers to the bench seat base so it needed modifying anyway.

Thanks Rebar!

Monty, post some pics when it's completed.

Will do.

Well, better late than never. What do you think? I still need to mount the 4 subwoofers under the bench as well as install the bollet grab handles to the back of the bolsters but I finally got it installed.