Marine
Custom winter boat cover vs shrink-wrap in Quebec
Shrink-wrap redone every fall, or a winter cover sewn to your boat. Ventilation, snow, fabric and the Quebec storage calendar.
· 4 min read
Workshop notes
Notes from the workshop on materials, care and custom work. Written for boat and classic car owners.
Custom work
Custom upholstery, or a replacement kit
Custom upholstery costs more and takes longer than a replacement kit. What the difference buys on a boat or a classic car, and when the kit is still the right call.
· 9 min read
Materials
Choosing the leather colour for your car interior
Choosing the leather colour for your car interior before anything is cut. What rules a shade out, what a swatch hides, and what makes the decision final.
· 7 min read
Materials
Leather or fabric for a classic car interior
Leather or fabric for a classic car interior. What each material actually holds up to, piece by piece, and how the choice gets made before anything is cut.
· 8 min read
Classic cars
1965-1968 Mustang interior: what to remake, what to buy
A 1965-1968 Mustang interior is unusually well served by the reproduction catalogue. Here is what it covers properly, and the parts worth having made.
· 7 min read
Classic cars
Recovering a classic car dashboard
Recovering a classic car dashboard is not the same as capping it. What splits the vinyl, what sits under it, and what decides how the piece is rebuilt.
· 8 min read
Marine
Remaking a boat cabin interior: where the work stops
Remaking a boat cabin interior is never one job. Here are the pieces that belong to an upholstery shop, the ones that go to a woodworker, and where to start.
· 7 min read
Classic cars
Classic car headliner and door panels
A classic car headliner and its door panels fail differently from the seats. Here is what goes wrong behind each one, and what decides recover against remake.
· 7 min read
Marine
Leather embroidery: a club logo on your headrests
Embroidery on leather, marine vinyl or canvas: what actually holds a club logo on your headrests. The decisions that belong in the quote.
· 7 min read
Marine
Marine upholstery in Montreal when the shop works in French
Marine upholstery in Montreal is a French-language trade. What a shop actually makes for your boat, how the quote works, and how to deal with one in English.
· 7 min read
Classic cars
Upholstery, rembourrage, classic car trim in Quebec
Sellerie, rembourrage, garniture or classic car trim: what each word actually means in Quebec. Which one to use when you call a shop on the North Shore.
· 6 min read
Marine
Remaking a boat cushion: the base under your seat
Remaking a boat cushion without checking the wooden base means tensioning a new cover over a soft panel. It goes slack within a season or two. Here is the test.
· 7 min read
Marine
Boat canvas lifespan: what wears one out in Quebec
Boat canvas lifespan is not measured in years. UV, freeze-thaw and standing water decide it, and the stitching gives out well before the cloth does.
· 6 min read
Materials
Why marine vinyl cracks, and what it says about the foam
Marine vinyl that cracks dried out long before the first split. Once the split is open, the foam underneath decides what happens next.
· 7 min read
Materials
Sunbrella fabric or marine vinyl: which goes where
Sunbrella fabric breathes, marine vinyl seals. What ten Quebec summers do to each, and which one belongs on your boat canvas and which on your seats.
· 7 min read
Classic cars
Recolour or remake your classic car interior
Dye fixes the colour of a classic car interior, never the fibre underneath. Here is what decides between recolouring a cover and remaking the seat completely.
· 8 min read
Materials
What a Quebec winter does to leather, vinyl and canvas
Your leather needs feeding before winter. Your boat canvas needs the exact opposite. Three materials, three treatments, one winter.
· 5 min read