Camper Seat Recover Project

Twelve years ago we purchased our Snow River truck camper. We bought a camper style we loved and agreed that we would keep this camper maintained so that it would last until we could no longer travel. We have used it continuously and have taken adventures leading us to many beautiful locations. We even spent a winter living in Mexico in our little home.

Repairs are the norm with RVs. The wear and tear of camping and traveling takes its toll, but if you keep up with the maintenance you can have a beautiful living space for a long time. 

After a decade of adventuring, we noticed that the upholstery on the bench seats in the camper were wearing and needed to be recovered. 

Looking around the area for an upholstery shop our research led to a business in Rathdrum that had a great reputation.  We took our seat cushions to the Furniture Doctor and got a quote on the project. It was expensive, but the business had a very good reputation and we knew that the final product would be top-notch.

The repairs were scheduled and we were able to work around our proposed trip to Arizona for the winter. The project materials were ordered in September and the project would be completed in May. Note, we were not able to go to Arizona for the winter due to parental issues. 

Getting the seat cushions out was not a problem, the hard part was that when the camper was built, they finished off the seatbacks with a padded top and side rail. This had to be removed and the pads need to be recovered with the same fabric as the cushions. 

After looking at the repair requirements and getting a quote on the cushion recovery, I decided to order extra fabric and attempt the rail recovery myself. 

As the fabric was ordered I took apart the seats removing the four rail pieces. During this process I upgraded some parts of the rails and made them stronger, then I covered them. 

Below is the project from start to finish in photos.  

The original seat covers.

Backside of the old pads.

Worn fabric.

Seat with plywood pulled off
to get to the screws to remove pads'

Cutting the new fabric for the top and side pads.

The new pads in place and the project complete.