How to upholster inside corners?
Question:How to upholster inside corners ?we have a boat that we are carpeting aand we have an inside corner the we cannot get .
Answers:
The trick here is getting the carpet to fall into the corner with no bunching, warping, etc. Compicating the situation is whether or not you are also carpeting the deck at the inside corner. Most likely, the carpet is pretty low pile, so there's no "fluff" to hide irregularities.
If you are carpeting just the inside of the hull separately from the deck, you probably have a slope to account for. Thus, when one hull meets the other at the corner, the carpet won't continue to run in a straight, level line around the "return wall," it will start running "up." If the hull is smooth all the way around, with no obstructions such as a seat or support member, then you need to lay out a piece that is "too big" and position it so that when the carpet start to slope up, there is still enough excess at the bottom to trim it to the deck, and trim away at the top.
But, if the carpet has a pattern, that might look a bit funky. In that case, run the carpet to the return corner, and cut it to butt to the return wall evenly. Then you start with a new piece, properly leveled and cut to meet the edge of the first piece. If you keep the joint exactly at the corner, the line where they meet will make sense in terms of the geometry because you would expect a line there anywhere just from the fold in the carpet even if it were a single piece. In any case, cut the carpet from the BACK side with a new carpet blade -NOT a utility knife which is way too thick and dull.
How do you know where to cut, exactly? Assuming a straight line runs from bottom to top of carpet (even if sloped) you make a small cut in the carpet at the top of the corner. Do the same at the bottom. This can be done through the face of the carpet.
Now peel the carpet back and reveal the BACK. Find the top and bottom cuts, and lay a straight edge between them. Hold it down firmly and run the blade along it. There should be no tilt to the blade side to side -you want it exactly perpendicular to the carpet. Place a board or something else under the face of the carpet while you do this so the blade can penetrate all the way through and not damage anything else.
Your carpet may be "spot glued" except at the corners or anywhere else that 2 pieces butt together. There, glue all along the seam, 2 or 3 inches to both sides. Otherwise, glue should be applied along the entire surface wherever a carpet edge terminates against something -floor to hull, hull to top flashing -whatever. Normal carpet paste probably is not going to work, because the hull surface is slick and you're working on a vertical slope, so some type of contact cement may be a better choice. The spary-on stuff might not have enough muscle to attach a fibre type backing to the surface -but if the backing is solid rubber with no irregularities, I doubt it. Best thing is to experiement with swatches here and there and see what works best. The boat yard itself might have a good product.
Actual "upholstery" is done wherever the joins between sections just won't work, visually, any other way. Use piping as a transition from one plane to another. Roll up a section of carpet and glue (or sew) the edges together. That will be the "back side" of the pipe. It should be somewhat longer than the line to be covered, so you can trim in the ends later. Now apply the piping to the transition area using holt-melt glue -toughest stuff you can get, and you'll need to work fast. Press the pipe with a thick bead of hot glue against the existing carpet in the transition area, or cut away a groove to expose the hull or deck surface and provide a nook to receive the pipe. Normally, teeny tiny brads are used to nail the pipe in place -but that only works in wood, such as the edge of steps, and some dimpling results.
Finicky work -which I did for many years.
I hope I've understood your dilemma
use spray on adhesive. 3m makes a good one. spray the adhesive on the area and then on the carpet. install the carpet and smooth every inch of it with your hands to make good adhesion. trim away the excess with a sharp utility knife.
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