Centurion upholstery problems

My back row of seats are coming apart at the seams after 3.5 seasons. Centurion told me that it's normal wear and tear, $460, and not under warranty. I was never given warranty info from my dealer, who no longer deals in Centurion. It seems to me that for the dough these boats cost we should get more than 3.5 seasons. Does this sound reasonable?

dayne

This is my 3rd season with my Centurion and havent had any problems. Everything looks pretty solid with the upholstery. Sounds like you might have some bad stuff or you are VERY hard on your seats? The upholstery is definately thinner on these boats so its not a huge surprise, but 3.5 years doesnt seem right. That's also one of the reasons they are thousands less. How many hours?

My dad has on 02 Elite and had to replace the whole back sundeck and re-upholster the back seat. The sent him a piece of treated plywood and he order that stuff that is not wood but not plastic. I cannot remember what it is called. But he did the upholstery work himself.

I put about 100 hrs. a season on my boat. Yeah, the back seat does take a beating, but come on. Jethro, I'm curious if you looked at the warranty info for the upholstery? I've looked and looked and can find nothing about it. But it sounds like Shane's dad had to foot the bill on his also.

That is not uncommon. You might be able to get a couple extra years of life by avoiding standing on your seats, and by treating the vinyl often. When the vinyl dries, the thread pulls right through it. I personally lay towels down on my seats when the sun is beating.

what have you been using to clean them? You should definitely have some sort of warranty on them, i know the seats on my MB are warrantied for 5 years...but honestly, if you use anything more than regular soap and water on a regular basis, and maybe an occasional 303 coating now and then, you're probably prematurely aging them. Most boat vinyl is treated against the stuff you're trying to protect it from already, so adding on is not only expensive, it may actually be harmful.

The occasional magic eraser for really hard spots is fine, but the best way to keep them lasting is a quick soap/water washdown after any long day to get the sweat and oils out of the seats...those are the biggest killers.

this is my 3rd boat, so light soap and water are what they get washed with. yeah, i just assumed that there would be something like a 5 yr warranty. maybe i'm over-reacting, but it seems like they should last a little longer to me.

I pretty sure Centurion's vinyl warranty is 3 years. IMO vinyl is hard to warranty just beacuse the factories have no idea what people are using to clean it with. I also cover my seats with towels to aviod direct sunlight. My 02 vinyl is thin as well but have not had a problem. Centurion has really stepped up the quality vinyl in 04 and more in 05.

On the Centurion web site the warrenty for vinly is three years.

http://www.centurionboats.com/fineline/warranty.html

I have an 04 and the vinyl's still pretty thin. I've seen the 05 though, and it's at least twice as thick. They've REALLY stepped it up.

my vinyl itself is actually in good shape, it's just all my seams.

I had an 01 Mobius V with 660 hours that I sold this spring. Vinyl was showing wear and seams coming apart. Dealer says its very typical of boats with that many hours and where there are small childern who spend alot of time running on seats and keeping everything wet. Dealer also sells Malibu and doesn't see much difference in vinyl life. Cleaning methods seem to have significant impact on seams (thread material) bleach and other cleaners remove natural oils from material and cause pre-mature failure.

I have a malibu and the upholstery on the back seat started to tear bad. It is gonna cost $70 to reupholster. It is our 4th season and 650hrs but the rest of the boat is fine except for the engine cover which is also starting to tear.

I have an '00 Eclipse and had to replace the upolstery on the rear seat. It was pulling loose from the seams. It does take a lot of traffic coming off the sun deck. It looks like I will be replacing the front "sofa" as it take a lot of traffic coming from the bow. I know they don't use the highest quality.

I have an '02 nautique, and the appolstry looks great. Even after many hours of dog use, ski ski, little kids, standing on the seats, etc...

I would say that if it is only the seams that are pulling, and not the vinyl ripping at the seams then 1. they could be fixed at a reasonable cost at an appoulstry (sp?) shop, and 2 there was some dirt that has weakened the thread.

Our Centurion only has 100 hours on it and the upholstery has been fine. We take pretty good care of it. On a side note, the clock on our dash recently split from the console (if that makes any sense). We were pretty upset about that. Going to get that fixed soon.

robert, that's what i'm thinking. that this might be a cheap fix at the upholsterer.

my boat is 02 and I have cracks on all my back seats

My 97 Centurion vinyl (on bottom cushions) lasted 7 seasons, 1100 hours. Just had them re-done last week. Six separate cushions redone for $550 at local place. They did a good job matching to factory.

I've had feedback from a dealer that I really respect, his name is Craig Avery, he's from Austin, TX. He has stood up for Centurion again and again, unsolicited, just because he believes in them. So, just so everyone knows; I'm good.

laterdayne