Monday, December 7, 2020

Cabin Cushions Update

 Updating the Cabin Cushions

I'm pretty sure that the boat cabin cushions are all original, that means they are 33 years old. Some of them even have the original markings on the back from the Catalina factory in 1987. The V-berth cushions are in good shape, compared to the saloon cushions, they are hardly used. Same goes for the Aft berth cushions. The cushions are also a dark blue with a grey dot pattern and buttons to create a surface shape that is not particularly effective.  Time for an update.

The original cushions were used even though the raised starboard cabin seats were a slightly different shape. The cushions are very worn and have little support, it's a bit like sitting on a plank of wood.

This picture of the starboard fore seat shows that there is no seat back, so the occupant (it's Peggy's seat for meals) has to suffer leaning against the hard wood bulkhead.

That also makes the cabin dark, off of that dark blue and the, seemingly, large bulkhead at the front end of the main cabin.


So, as usual, it takes a bit of planning.


To figure out the amount of cushion foam I would need, I used Google Draw.
The process was pretty simple:- Start a new Draw project, set the page to a Custom size the same as the size of a sheet of foam. I chose National Foam Products with is 10 minutes away from our house. No shipping charges and they have everything I would need for the foam in stock.
So now I have a google draw that has a page dimension of 82x55 
Next I created a rectangle for each cushion piece measured to the nearest inch and moved that round the page. With all of the pieces displayed and maneuvered on the page to fit, some were left over and I simply copied them onto a second draw page. I ended up with 4 google draw pages.
#1 Cabin Seat Foam 4"
#2 Cabin Seat Foam 4"
#3 Cabin Seat Foam 2"
#3 Cabin Seat Foam 1"

This method worked so well that I decided to use the same technique to determine how much material I would need.
I created a new Google draw page 54 x 288 (that's 54 to match the material width and 288 was my initial guess of 8 yards (8 * 36)

Same process, I calculated the size of the seat top plates then added a rectangle to the page to scale, repeated that for all of the cushions. Then did the same for the cushion end plates (or boxing) and it turns out the best fit was 8 yards - good guesstimate.

I have plenty of Phifertex to use for the seat backing and the 'stretchers' used to create the Knee Risers at the front edge of each cushion.

Then it was time to place the orders:
Eversoft Vinyl Fabric Cushion Cover Material

8 Yards of Silver (it's a shade of grey) EverSoft textured vinyl from Sailrite, they really do have the best choices.
Then High Density Polyurethane Foam from National Foam Products in Pompano Beach Florida.
2 82 x 55 sheets of 4"  
1 82 x 55 sheet of 2" 
1 82 x 55 sheet of 1" 
and a couple of cans of Foam Glue, they were cheaper at Sailrite, but no shipping from NFP.



Total cost for the 9 pieces (seats and backs) is less than $800, just imagine how much it would cost to have them made! And that includes getting glue and a foam cutter.

Fabric is on it's way, Foam company confirmed the price of that part too. Should have everything to start in about 10 days. Making progress 👍

Of course, if the weather & tides allow us to go sailing, then perhaps we'll see you on the water.






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