Classic Aero - Leather vs Ultra Leather

[db1yg]

Dave,

I had a set of ultra-leather seats made up locally for my RV9a just prior to completion in 1995. We used multiple layers of varying density closed cell foam along with a high quality grey ultra-leather material to custom fit the seats to my---uhhh--torso. I chose the ultra-leather because it is; incredibly soft, specs indicate greater scuff durability than leather, ease of maintenace and cleaning, and the material is significantly lighter than leather.

I flew the plane for over a year with this interior and was perfectly satisfied but my wife missed that wonderful smell of real leather like we had in the Mooney prior to building the RV.

I finally relented and bought a set of seats in leather (grey with deep red inserts) from Luke at Classic Aero Designs. These seats are also very comfortable, excellent workmanship, look great but they are CONSIDERABLY heavier than the old seats---however, the boss is now happy!

If I had it to do over again, I would go with Luke's ultra leather option with no reservations due to the lighter wt, durability, and ease of cleaning!!

BTW, my brother is happily flying around in his recently finished RV7a with those custom made ultra leather seats.

My two cents worth.

Cheers,

db