Settee cushions for MacGregor 25

[FullCircleSailor]

Greetings to you, my fellow MacGregor sailors, stewards, and caretakers.

This is my first post here. I'm the new owner of mid-80's MacGregor 25, and I've been slowly getting her ready for spring. We live in the woods up here in Chelsea, Quebec - a beautiful spot, but there's still 3 feet of snow on our property. Spring comes late to these parts, but I want to be ready.

This is my second MacGregor. In the late 90's I bought a Venture 24, with a very similar layout. I lived aboard that boat in South Carolina as I searched for a bigger blue water vessel. Six months later I found her - a CSY 37 name of Someday. I sold my Venture 24, and in 2005 I sailed Someday single-handed across the Atlantic.

But life got complicated and I had to sell her. Now, almost 20 years later, I've finally bought another sailboat. And for many reasons, it's a MacGregor. Full circle!

This new boat came with everything required to get underway, but the interior needs work. I'm currently working on new cushions for the settee. I don't have the old cushions for reference.

I'm 6' 2'', so I know from experience we'll want to lower the table and sleep there. I've bought some quality 4" foam, and I've been making templates out of poster board to get the measurements just right before I start cutting the foam. My wife will be doing the upholstering, probably with marine-grade vinyl, at least for the top sides.

My question for the group is this: how are the cushions meant to be arranged to make a full double bed? I've seen stock photos - it looks like there were just 3 cushions: 1 for each bench, and large seat-back cushion on the forward side of the settee against the bulkhead. It looks to me like that's the cushion you place on the lowered table to complete the bed.

But it doesn't really fit. There's still a fair bit of uncovered table, plus the couple of inches between the starboard hull and where the table ends.

I'll attach a couple of photos of the templates I've been playing with. The gap at the bottom under the green tape is to accommodate the expected height of the bench cushion (~3.25 inches). The third photo shows the shape of the missing piece.

You can see that there's an awkward key-shaped gap near the hull. I can push it in further, but then the gap will be on the other side, towards the centreline.

I can't easily make the cushion any longer due to the compression post near the centreline of the bulkhead.

I suppose we could try to make a funny-shaped piece to complete the puzzle, then just Velcro it to the underside of the table or something to keep it handy. But that sounds like a hassle. Maybe we won't even notice that empty space? I don't know.

Any advice on how best to shape my cushions to make a comfortable bed for two in this space?

Thanks,
Andrew

[kmclemore]

I don't know how they are laid out for a 25, as I have a 26X, but I believe all of the boats had a bottom and a back cushion, so the sleeping space arrangement will likely contain a combination of both.

My real concern is that you're planning to sleep on vinyl. It's likely to be very hot and sweaty to sleep on, not to mention rather stiff and uncomfortable. I would strongly suggest a cloth cover on the cushions.

[NiceAft]

I have no idea what the interior of a 25 looks like. I went to our resources section and looked up the manual. Unfortunately, since our new system of protection for the Mac site prevents me from uploading photos from my phone’s photo app. I will try to explain what I saw in the 25’s manual.

There is a cushion which fits on the settee table when the table is lowered. This cushion is the same thickness as the seat cushions. The length and width of this cushion matches the dimensions of the lowered table top.

This configuration is the same as what is on my

To be honest, I’m not certain what you are asking. It seems you are confused about the cushion that fits on the dropped settee table; I may be wrong?

The one thing I am certain about is do not sleep on vinyl. This reminds me of sitting on a sofa which has been covered in clear, plastic slip covers. Your skin gets sweaty after awhile.

To find the manual for your Mac, click on the “Main Site” section above. Then click on “Resorces”. Then select the manual for your 25. The photos will show what the cushions look like in the cabin.

[OverEasy]

Hi FullCircleSailor!

Congratulations on your new old boat!

For what it’s worth….
When we made our new cushions we recognized that we didn’t use the dinette as a dinette so we just left it down as a berth/lounge/bench and made the new cushions to fit in that configuration. It made things a lot simpler. (We kept the old cushions wrapped up in the attic just in case if there was ever a future owner.) We have no intention of ever needing or using the dinette.

We used 6” memory foam mattress for the cushions.
Then we wrapped the foam with 1/2 inch thick polyester wool sheet material.
To eliminate the potential aspect of mold or mildew we then sealed each foam cushion in 7mil plastic sheeting.
(That way there was little to no chance that the foam or poly wool would ever get wet or saturated.)
We used a quality soft feel Sunbrella fabric to make the outer wrappers for each cushion. This actually makes the cushions quite nice to sit and lay on with no stickiness (like vinyl).
Under each cushion we make cut sections of 1/2 air vent sheet. This keeps the cushion up off the bottom fiberglass surface and allows some ventilation under the cushions. This eliminates any potential moisture traps,
This has worked out really well for us and our several extended travels.

We documented this in the Mods section….
https://macgregorsailors.com/mods/index ... em&id=2200

For the cockpit we have four folding cushions from West Marine. We like these SOOOO MUCH better than the original MacGregor 26X cushions. They have a lot more functionality and comfort! We also can use them in the cabin to make lounge seats when desired. (They also clean up like a dream with simple soap and water when necessary and air dry relatively quickly.



Hope this might be useful to you

Best Regards,
Over Easy
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