Yacht steering wheel hide covering

When we bought our boat three years ago, the elk hide grip on the wheel was already well past its best. It was a bit green in places, some of the stitching was missing and the leather had started to harden. I've been meaning to get round to replacing it for a while, but hadn't stumbled across where to get this done.

Option 1: DIY Kit - Clyde Marine Leather
You tell them the dimensions of the wheel and they send you a kit:

"Our kits do not include the spats for covering the spokes but we can supply them at £2.50 each

I need the diameter of the wheel and the diameter of the outer rim to get the correct wheel cover size.

A measurement of the spokes diameter helps also

The kits come in a choice of silver or tan marine suede and have full instructions needle and thread."

Small - wheels up to 77cm (30") diameter	£81.50
Medium - wheels up to 111cm (44") diameterr	£87.50
Large - wheels up to 178cm (70") diameter	£98.50

This option is great if you're very price sensitive. For our 36'' wheel, the cost would be £87.50 + 6 spokes @ £2.50 = £102.50. From a price comparison standpoint I got a quote from someone else a while back and it was in the €250 ballpark, making this very competitive.

The only real detractor of this option is the question of how good a job you're going to make of it. It's such a prominent feature of your boat, that a bad fitting of the kit could really impact on your ability to enjoy a drink in the cockpit... I know it would bother my OCD. :)

Option 2: Complete service - Hawke House

I stumbled across this option at the Southampton boat show this weekend.

Hawkes house are best known for Westerly headlining kits. They offer a complete service: You give them your wheel and you get it back a couple of weeks later looking like it just left the factory:

24" Diameter	£111.60
30" Diameter	£117.60
36" Diameter	£138.00
40" Diameter	£153.60
42" Diameter	£162.00

Apparently the "turk's head" (the little white knot applied at the centre position) is extra as are the spoke coverings at £5.40 each. So again, for our 36" wheel, we'd be looking at:
 £138 + 6 spokes @ £5.40 + Turks head at £5.40 = £175.80. 

If you compare that to the kit price, there's really only £80 charge for the labour, which given the potential for mistake feels like a bargain to me.

Option 3: New Wheel

This is semi-tongue-in-cheek suggestion, but it's worth keeping an eye on. The last two years at Beulieu boat jumble I've seen people leaving with brand new wheels. This year I asked one woman how much she paid and she said "Amazing...£80... less than the cost of getting the old one recovered."

I've scoured the internet for option 3... and think I'm unlikely to beat the initial stampede as the gates open at Beulieu next year, so I'm going to go with option 2. The big issue is finding a 3 week window when I don't want to use the boat. I'll report on the finished product when it's done.