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Help! Soft top repair ideas?

7K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  luxige 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I apologize if I'm posting this is the wrong place, but after 30 pages of interior/exterior and 22 pages of repairs, I figured this is as good a place as any.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge as far as what works for repairing knife damage to a soft top? Someone last night got the great idea to slash my top while it was in the parking lot. :mad::mad:

It is the touring edition with the insulation, but I don't really care about the insulation. The main purpose of the soft top is to keep me dry and I rarely use it anyway.

Any help or points in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
#4 ·
Might be cheaper to have the top replaced at a leather upholstery shop. Hopefully they carry the fabric, or can get one for you.
 
#5 ·
If patched from the inside, it might not look too bad from the outside.....it will be noticeable of course, but a lot cheaper than buying a new top.
 
#7 ·
I would bring to an apholstery shop and see what they can do for you. They should have some reasonably priced options available. Look out for used ones posted here as well...
 
#8 ·
I've always wondered if a boat shop would be able to able to use the existing ends and cables and make/attach a new canvas to them. ???

Keep watching here as well. They pop up from time to time. I've seen a few sell on here anywhere from $250-$600
 
#10 ·
I would guess that a Soft Top shop could remove the damaged panel and stitch in a new one. Lotus really wants $1400? Did you try Hanger 111 in the UK?
 
#12 ·
I've always wondered if a boat shop would be able to able to use the existing ends and cables and make/attach a new canvas to them. ??
In my former life, I was a sailmaker (before discovering that i'm actually interested in a decent wage bracket).

Should not be much of a challenge for a descent canvasworker to turn out a new soft-top, if you are not interested in the insulation. There is no shape to the piece, other than induced shape, and the edge trims (wire passes) are similarly pretty basic.

I would expect that you will have to go through a couple fitting iterations. The lateral sizing of the piece will be the hardest part, I expect. The fabric, edging, and wire passes all have different stretch characteristics which will take a bit of adjustment to sync up.

Frankly, I would avoid taking it to a sailmaker (or a clothesmaker, for that matter) unless they also do a good volume of canvas work. They are each pretty specific skillsets.
 
#14 ·
Thanks all for the suggestions. I was hoping someone had gone through a similar situation. Someone decided to slash the soft top, didn't steal anything, didn't hurt anything else, just the top.

And it figures, the one night it's not in the garage.

Thanks again for all the wonderful suggestions. I'm going to possibly pursue a few different routes and I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
 
#16 ·
Hey Paddy.

Damn I hate seeing crap like this and the people who do it. Where did this happen? Do you still have your hard top to put on? If not, I am not using my soft top, and you may borrow mine until you get yours sorted out.

All the best with the repair/ replacement.

Alex
 
#19 ·
Some many years ago my friends and I bought a GP medium, as in Tent, General Purpose, Medium,,,.....The US Army's definition of 'medium' is `16'x32' as in the tents from MASH, in fact it was Korean war vintage. WE bought some canvas and some adhesive that was probably similar to GE 5200 and patched it up. The patches didn't leak. It served as a garage for my +2 for one winter, and as a weekend camping party tent many times

Army Duck Canvas Fabric | Black | 10.10 ounce | 60" wide | Wholesale

for instance

patch from the inside, one tear at a time, put glue on the face of the patch and lay the top over it. weight it down overnight with some books or somesuch so it stay flat. If you are careful you will see the line of the cut and a flat spot the size of the patch but you will not see buckling like stitching would and it won't leak

no experience:

Canvas Repair Kits - Iron Patches | ironpatches.co

but may be worth a try
 
#20 ·
A suggestion - do a good patch with watertightness being the main concern over aesthetics. (You'd never be able to hide it anyway.) Then cover the repair with a racing stripe in a contrasting color of fabric.
 
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