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bobfnbw · Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 73

Having just read thru the old discussion forum on cushions I thought I would update it a bit here.
Cost of GOOD Marine grade foam has gone up considerably in the last few years with oil going up. So what is a sailer to do these days?

Since I am in the middle of a mini refit of our E40, I thought I would wait till spring for things like comfort items, I am now in the middle of tank replacement, water and fuel, and propane system replacement, and will start the crazyness of rewireing the boat as soon as the tanks are finished, moving the batteries, all new panels, wire etc, but sailrite had a 7% off discount, so I figured what the heck, get it now.

But I digress.
Cushions.

I shoped at www.sailrite.com for most of the items.
Most is tools to do the job, but a significant cost was new foam.
I used their 4" dry fast foam. I will not hold any water, important on a boat, and that is a good reason to bite the bullet and replace the origianal foam. Also the density of the original foam is low, and of course it smells.
Yeah you can wash it out and frebreze it like I did on our last boat, but not this time.
For the cushion I am using 1/2" closed cell foam on the bottom, then 4" of foam, and finally poly batting to soften it up. This should feel nice on the bottom. Very Happy

I purchased the sailrite LSZ1 zigzag sewing machine and all the stuff needed to sew it with. I also intend to replace the dodger, bimini, sail covers, awnings, winch covers etc this year, and will save many dollars, more than enough to pay for this thing. And when it comes time for full time liveabord/retirement, I hope to make a few bucks repairing peoples broken dodgers, sails ect.

For fabric I went pricy. and am purchasing 7 yards of ultraleather.
There is a seller on ebay, a yacht company that is currently listing this, and for $56 per yard is a nice discount over the usual price. This is a leather like poly fabric, mold and mildew resistant, UV resistant and will last a very long time, while looking pretty awesome. I plan to cover both settees, and the nav and aft berth seat with it.
The bottom of the cushion is a low cost fabric they recomend for air and water breathing. And to keep the cost down. No reason to put a high price fabric on the back side. I am also using all new zippers, for one its the right thing to do, and two the cushions on the boat now have none.....

My MSR bunk has a custom spring mattress so no worries there.
The vberth cushios will be for another day. Kids sleep on them now and they are sufficent for the time being, but I plan to put a top layer of memory foam on them this year.

All in all, the project is coming along slow but satisfying.
Now if I can get my diesel tank emptied, I can get on with getting the darn thing out of my boat and ordering a new one.

Happy Holidays.

Bob