Adding the Vinyl to your Rail

Lay your now glued foam and rail (upside down) onto your stretched out vinyl.

You can get vinyl pretty much anywhere (Jo Ann's, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabric).  You'll want about 3 yards to cover your rail.

Center your rail the best you can. 

You'll want to do some "pre-staple" testing.  Just make sure your vinyl will come up over your foam and leave you enough to staple it down into your rail.

Start by stapling the outer curves. 

Simply wrap your vinyl around and staple.  As you move along, pull your vinyl, and run your hand along the bottom (top) of your rail to make sure it's fold and bubble free.

You'll probably want to use an electric stapler, since you're going to be using the better part of 500 staples to complete your rail. 

Having a partner on this part is beneficial as well.  Once can pull the vinyl while the other staples.

As you move along, pull the vinyl towards your existing staples.

Here's the view from one end.

You'll notice folds and wrinkles along the side of your rail and that's fine.  It's the top you need to be most worried about. 

If you pull your vinyl tight and then staple, you'll be fine.

Here's a view with both ends of the rail completed. 

Once you're that far, start along either outer edge and continue stapling away.

You'll want to take your time on this part, and check frequently for folds or bubbles.  Just run your hand along the top of your rail before you staple. 

If there's a bubble there, you'll notice it.  Simply readjust your vinyl and staple.  It's not a hard process, but is a bit time consuming since you want it to look nice.

Here's a view of our vinyl along the outer edge. 

Notice that we only had about a quarter of an inch to staple to our rail. 

This is more than adequate, and you don't need any hang over material anyway.  Just make sure your vinyl has plenty of staples to hold it in place. 

Once the outer edges are complete, you're free to cut out a square on the inner vinyl. 

Leave yourself about four inches from the sides of your rail.

Also, you'll want to cut across where you initially hammered in your nail.  The outer edges are a bit trickier, and require a bit more finesse.

You get the idea.

We didn't take any pics of our triangle cuts in order to wrap the vinyl around. 

Detailed instructions can be found at Junell's site on his vinyl installation. 

If you need any further instructions, you can check out pcpotato.com and his section on vinyl.

We did have a tough time at first getting the inner arcs started.  The vinyl will be tight, and it's normal.  You'll just have to work with it and take your time.  You obviously don't want to rush and possibly tear your material.  I'd strongly suggest reviewing other websites on this step.

After we stapled down our inner vinyl, we simply cut away the excess, and you're left with the pic on the left.

If done right, your fingers will be sore from stretching and holding vinyl in place to be stapled.

Here's an over head view of what you're going to be looking at.

Tip:  We didn't have a heavy duty industrial electric stapler, and due to budget constraints had to deal with a $29 model from Lowes. 

It probably won't hurt to have a hammer near by so you can give those stubborn staples a little extra push.

Again, we used around 500 for each rail we constructed.

Here's a pic of the finished rail from the side. 

I must say, it's pretty damn nice for two schmoes who don't know too much about construction or building anything.  There weren't any wrinkles or folds on the visible portion of the rail, and in our estimates was perfect.

The foam gave the perfect amount of push back, and is rather comfortable.