DIY Seat Upholstery

Source: 2024 Q1 Beartracks, Mark Richardson
Those of us who are building (or have built) an airplane know that there is a lot to learn over and above being a pilot. Leaving aside manual skills, we need to learn about the rules and regulations for building and licensing, avionics and electrical design, AC-43.13B contents and how to actually do … stuff … correctly, it’s the manual skills that are the bread and butter of aircraft building and the most fun.

With all models of the Bearhawk you need to learn how to rivet (both solid and pop), work metal (bending, forming, filing, etc), do fabric covering, run cables, install the engine, fit and prep fibreglass, cut, trim, and fit plexiglass, and a plethora of other detailed skills. If you are brave (stupid?) enough and decide to scratch build, you also need to learn to weld, operate metals shears and brakes, build and align jigs, and so on. There are lots and lots of jobs and skills you will learn by building an airplane.

A couple of the jobs that are often farmed out to the pros are aircraft painting and seat upholstery. I had already learned to paint an airplane when I built my RV-8 20 years ago (Google C-GURV) so although I am using a completely different paint process this time (Stewart vice Imron), it wasn’t totally new.

Which brings me to the purpose of this short article; how I upholstered my aircraft seats (your mileage may vary, batteries not included). I had considered (very seriously) just buying upholstered seats and carrying on. However, three things made me change my mind: 1) this would be a new skill that might be fun to learn, 2) I’m now retired so I have time, and 3) OMG it is expensive to have seats professionally done! I won’t lie, I found this the most challenging thing to learn yet. But it was actually fun and I am, well, not richer, but certainly not poorer by hundreds of dollars by doing it myself. I can’t give a step by step how-to with measurements and detailed instructions otherwise this article would be book length. However, I will show a bunch of pictures with descriptions of what is happening and notes on things to think about and avoid. Yes, even you can learn to do this.

The tools and materials:
We have a 60 year old Singer sewing machine that we bought fully restored a couple of years ago. No fancy computer features but it is indestructible and works great. You’ll need pinking shears for the fabric, regular scissors for the foam, sewing clips, rulers, marking pens, paper/cardboard for templates, tape, spray contact cement and a work surface. I used an electric carving knife to carve up the foam for the seat parts.
For the fabric I used RipStop because it is quite inexpensive, is super tough, it won’t give me third degree burns on a sunny day like leather, and actually looks really good. You’ll need some backing foam (1/2” or 1cm) that has a backing material on it, and foam for the seat bases and back. I got the Confor Foam seat bases from Aircraft Spruce for the front seat bases and used 2” firm upholstery foam for the rest.

The Method:
I made templates out of paper and cardboard for the various components of the seat cushions that were then used to cut out the fabric, backing foam, and to lay out the sewing lines. After a LOT of trial an error (mostly error), I added 3/4” on all sides to my fabric and backing foam patterns and just snipped off the excess at the end. Once the fabric pieces and backing foam were cut out, I used spray contact cement to apply the fabric to the foam (this is temporary to keep everything in place for initial sewing). I then used the paper template to mark on the back of the foam where I wanted to sew. Again, trial and error taught me to sew with the fabric side down as the feeder foot (or whatever it is called on the sewing machine) worked way better this way.

Once you get the various individual parts made you need to put them together. The trick is to overlay the existing sewn seams on the two sides such that when you sew the pieces together the seam disappears. Use LOTS of clamps. I put an extra 2” of material where the fabric would wrap around the back of the seat so there is material to pull on to tighten the fabric then staple. I used 1/4” birch ply with lightening holes as the backing material and stapled the fabric to the ply. The ply is quite light, and since the RipStop weighs almost nothing, the seats are not at all heavy. I will use Velcro to attach the seat components to the actual seat frames.

I realize this is hardly a “this is how to do it” article, but I hope it is an encouragement to try it yourself the next time you need seats for your airplane. The most expensive part of the whole thing were the Confor Foam seat bottoms ($200 CAN each!!). The rest was very inexpensive with the RipStop material < $5/running yard. Our own Michel Roy is the one who inspired me to do this with the seats he made for his Bearhawk using RipStop and between looking at his pictures and watching a BUNCH of YouTube videos, I was able to produce these:

Carbon Fiber Gull Wing Doors

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Seat Upholstery by Sport Aircraft Seats

Source: 2021 Q3 Beartracks There have been several options over the years for seat upholstery, but in recent times one provider that has emerged as a bit of a Bearhawk specialist. Dan Maccarone of Sport Aircraft Seats has been in the airplane seat business for 21 years. At the age of 17, he and his brother started making seats for 135 operators in bush Alaska. They soon saw demand for an option that operators could install on their own in the field, minimizing down time. They created a system and it has grown from there, currently to 60 seats per month, shipped around the world. Dan has delivered several sets of Bearhawk seats, having had builders send seat frames to his shop at the Wolf Lake Airport in Palmer, Alaska. To make things easier, Mark Goldberg has sent a sample of each kit seat frame to Dan, allowing Dan to make templates and skip the frame shipping for future orders. Each kit consists of everything you need to upholster your seats from the frame up. They will have foam inside of upholstery that snaps or velcros to the seats, plus a tough herculite webbing system to support the cushions. Eventually he’ll have a fancy ordering interface on his website (sportaircraftseats.com) like he does for the other aircraft types, but for now just call him at 907-382-1230 or fill out the form on his website. The other types will give a good sense of how the colors look, since the Bearhawk seats will be very similar to the others. He can do single or dual colors in textile or leather, with or without seatback pockets. The colors look really sharp and there is enough variety to match the rest of your decor. The second-most important question is, are they comfortable? Last week I had a chance to fly the Bearhawk Companion from New Hampshire to Virginia, and my first leg was 3:45. I never flew a leg that long in my airplane. That brings us to the final important question, price. The more frugal of builders will not find his pricing cheap, but if you’d like to have more context, be sure to get a quote from a place like Oregon Aero. Keeping in mind that his package includes covers, foam, and suspension, and having done some of the seat work in our plane ourselves and not having it turn out as nice as Dan’s work, I think there is a lot of value. Pricing varies by options, but to give a range, single occupant seats in one color fabric are $925 per seat, or $1300 for two-tone leather. Rear seats for the 4-Place and Five are $1300 for single fabric up to $1850 for two-tone leather. He says there is a little more material in the bench seats but the labor for one bench seat is only a little more than the single seats, which is reflected in the price. Patrol and LSA rear seats fall between the bucket and bench seats for pricing. I’m glad to know that we have Dan as an option for good seats!

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Updates from Bob, 2021 Q2

There have been two recent safety updates. The first was a minor drafting error in the flap hinge, which impacted the Model B 4-Place, Patrol, Companion and Five, and was distributed in April. This photo shows the revision: There is also a new update released 6/28/2021, which will also show up at bearhawksafety.com in the coming days. This is an Engineering Change that relates to the way the covering is tucked into the channel at the top of the windshield. Bob’s instructions are, “Fabric attachment at top of fuselage to windshield mounting frame channel- A few aircraft have had fabric come loose. As shown is a good way to glue in place.” If your fuselage is already covered and isn’t routed as shown in the update, he says, “If it has been flying for a while, it should be fine, but it is something that we need to let people know about.” Bob also brings up the point that it’s crucial to follow the instructions of the covering system that the builder selects. Popular systems including Polyfiber, Stewarts, and Oratex vary greatly with crucial details. In a recent case, reinforcing tapes were able to peel up with fingernail intervention, which prompts Bob to bring up that point. Bob and Mike have been busy building engines, trying to reduce the lead time which has grown long due to strong demand. His Bearhawk LSA is back to flying status, thanks to builder Collin Campbell in Missouri. Bob flew the airplane home and was pleased to report it flies straight after the extensive rebuild. Some of the original engine parts fly again in the new plane.

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