Frequently asked questions
West Michigan Marine Upholstery
What is your turn around time?
It’s about a month, regardless of season. From down payment to finish. Typically we can get it done faster than that, but sometimes getting vinyl in can get delayed by shipping.
How to prepare my boat for you?
All you need to do is remove the cushions and bring them in. If they are dirty, that is ok. No need to clean them up. We ask that you remove all metal parts, screws, latches, etc. We won’t know where they go back on in relation to your boat.
Please don’t bring your boat here and ask for me to help you remove your cushions. Some of your cushions take a long time to remove. I don’t have time to do that. Plus, you will need to know how to put your cushions back on!
Why is the price so low? Cheap materials?
No! We don’t use cheap vinyl. It is soft and thick. Order color samples to feel for yourself. Our vinyl does NOT come from China. Details of our vinyl here.
We do a lot of sewing in bulk. Our production factory allows us to add custom one off jobs without an issue. Your getting production rates without the quantity requirements.
How do you upholster while we keep the cushions?
It’s magic.
Traditional patterning is the way the industry upholstered cushions. It is time consuming and wasteful method.
We don’t give out our process but we can say our process is more accurate and much quicker with minimal waste.
Why do you use only one vinyl?
“Any vinyl the customer wants, as long as it’s Majesta.”
The famous phrase Ford said. The logistics and costs of providing more options would raise the price dramatically. There are future plans to offer more options, but that this time, its just Majesta.
Learn more about our Majesta vinyl.
Why won't you do a couple cushions on my boat?
Great Water Upholstery is trying to lower the costs of marine upholstery without lower quality. Because of our production environment, it’s not worth while for us to do onesie-twosie cushions, or even half a boat.
The cost would be about the same for a complete boat (every cushion on your boat) than it would be for half a boat, or even a single cushion.
In addition, since we only offer one vinyl line, you would never find a match with our colors and your existing vinyl.
Why won't you repair foam, wood?
That’s not our business. We are not a full service upholstery shop. We don’t do canvas, covers, decking, carpet, etc.
We don’t fix or make cushion backers or install new foam. Just vinyl upholstery. If your wood backer is rotten, you will have to replace it before bringing it to us.
Our business is primarily cut and sew production. We offer upholstery as a secondary business year around but install in Holland during the summer/fall months only.
Where are you located?
Great Water Upholstery is an “online-only” cut and sew production supplier located in Holland, Michigan, USA.
Our staple shop is not open to the public. We have almost zero overhead and keeps costs low. This makes it hard to allow the public in.
Secondly, having a physical shop brings in people asking to upholster their kitchen stool, their sofa, their truck seat. We want to concentrate on marine upholstery.
Why can't I call you?
We conduct all correspondence via email. This ensures an accurate record of communications and assists us in providing our customers with prompt service.
You can expect a reply with 24 business hours for any requests submitted 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Inquiries received after hours will be responded to the next business day. We are closed weekends and holidays.
Commercial Vinyl Skin Supplier
What is the MOQ for commercial accounts?
We have no (Minimum Order Quantity) MOQ even for commercial vinyl skin accounts. We only have a MOQ for production cut and sew.
But our requirement of complete boats and no onesie-twosie cushions still applies as it does with West Michigan marine upholstery.
I am not in Michigan. Can I open a commercial account?
Absolutely! Our goal is to help upholstery shops anywhere in the world. We only upholster local boats in our Holland shop.