Interior Upholstery and fabric

[dclark]

I'm planning on replacing the interior cushions. I'll be doing everything myself except the actual sewing part. For that I have a volunteer.

I was considering the HR foam from www.foamsweetfoam.com

I'm still unsure on the fabric. I'm looking at the "Furniture Fabric" made by Sunbrella as well as regular ole' upholstery fabric.

I'm not real concerned with price although I would like to keep the whole thing (2 v-berth cushions, 4 dinette cusions, 2 opposite dinette cushions only - nothing for the aft bert are aft galley jump seat) to under $400.

Anyone have any advice, opinions, comments, or suggestings?

[TonyHouk]

Dave,
The interior Sunbrella is a light wieght Sunbrella. I would suggest the heavier standard weight unless you are partial to the colors. I have purchased a lot of Sunbrella from Ebay at a great price. I am about finished with mine and altogether it was under $300. Happy sails, Tony

[dclark]

Not partial to the colors. I'm used to "regular" sunbrella but it seems awfully stiff to make comfortable interior cushions. I figured the funiture version would be lighter.

Cheapest I found so far is $11.16/yard if I buy at least 5.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I just received an ad from Sailrite with info on specials for their sunbrella uphostry fabric.

They also had some specials on full sheets of foam.

www.sailrite.com

Last spring we did all our seat foam from www.foamsweetfoam.com .

Here is what we bought

Products on order
=================

Custom Cut Foam (HR Foam, Extra Firm) Dimensions: (3 x 18 x 44 (1 piece))
17 x $1.99 = $33.83

Custom Cut Foam (HR Foam, Extra Firm) Dimensions: (3 x 21 x 34 (1 piece))
15 x $1.99 = $29.85

Custom Cut Foam (HR Foam, Extra Firm) Dimensions: (3 x 23 x 37 (1 piece))
18 x $1.99 = $35.82

Custom Cut Foam (HR Foam, Extra Firm) Dimensions: (3 x 40 x 72 (1 piece))
60 x $1.99 = $119.40

Totals
======
Sub Total : $218.90

Discounts: $0.00
Shipping : $12.50
Tax : $17.95 (at 8.2%)

Grand Total : $249.35

That did both dinette seats, the port setee, and the vee berth cushions both of which came out of the 72" piece. Minimal trimming was needed other than splitting the vee berth one. I just used the old foam as a pattern and cut with a electric carving knife.

We really like the HR extra firm. You don't break through to the surface underneath at all even when kneeling. My wife does prefer a soft topper layer on the vee berth as she thinks it's a bit hard. I find it great.

[dclark]

Thanks Duane, thats great info. A couple questions:

When I talked to them, their suggesstion was to send paper templates and they would cut the foam based on those. Alternatively I could buy larger pieces and cut them down myself using an electric knife. Is that what you did? If you had it to do again, would you do anything different? Thanks again.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Those are the nearest rectangular measurements that fit the cushions. The dining ones needed a cut on the ends, the setee needed a longer curving cut on the back, and the vee berth of course needed two long curving cuts down the center to split the single piece of foam in two.

I laid the old foam on top of the new, marked with a sharpie, then cut with a electric carving knife. It was fairly easy to do. Some of the cuts need a slight bevel as well.

I suppose if you made a good set of templates they could cut it for you, but they may tend to start with a larger piece and have more waste which you have to buy. They may not want to do the vee berth as tight. It worked fine for me, the two curves sort of interlock and touch in the center, but they may want to use a bigger sheet or a separate one for each which wastes material.

Doing it myself was quite easy. The hardest part was getting the new uncompressed foam in the covers. That took twice as long as the cutting did.

[dclark]

That sounds great. I've cut foam a couple times so I know it's not difficult. I kind of had the same feeling as you...cheaper and better to do it myself.

I have one more question to anyone that made new cushions...

I decided against the sunbrella (my girlfriend convinced me I'd feel like I was sitting on outdoor patio furniuture and who wants that?). I bought 12 yards of sythetic uphlostery material from a big local place last night. I figure it's enough to do the aft berths later if I want. But that isn't counting the bottom of the cushions, just the tops and sides. Which brings me to my questions...

What is the best thing to use on the bottoms? Should I just go with a vinyl like what is there? Sailrite sells some stuff called Nauotlex which the say is made for cushion bottoms. From what I can tell it's more of a non-slip almost mesh stuff so air can get in and water drain. I'm not sure that is appropriate for interios cushions though. Maybe just a heavier material or sunbrella for the bottoms would be best?

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

When we looked in to having new covers made last year the boat uphostry place we went to said they always use sunbrella for the bottoms. We were looking at completely new cushions made by them using one of the new fake leather vinyls that look really good. Would have run over $1,000 bucks so we passed and just did the foam instead.

[dclark]

Thanks Duane, I'll go with sunbrella bottoms.

[Harry van der Meer]

Dave did you complete the cushions? What foam did you use? What is comfort level.

I would like to upgrade the foam in the v-berth. Both my wife and I end up with a sore back in the morning. We have tried the thin foam camping mats under the cushions but this does not see to help much. (however, it did eliminate the condensation we used to have between the cushion and the fiberglass).

[dclark]

Dave did you complete the cushions? What foam did you use? What is comfort level.

I would like to upgrade the foam in the v-berth. Both my wife and I end up with a sore back in the morning. We have tried the thin foam camping mats under the cushions but this does not see to help much. (however, it did eliminate the condensation we used to have between the cushion and the fiberglass).

Nope, not yet. Still have the fabric and I'll order the foam from foam-sweet-foam. Then I'll need someone to do the work. I decided it was going to mean removing the cushions for awhile so I decided to hold off until the winter...but soon.

[Harry van der Meer]

Thanks Dave. It appears that the latex foam would be the best choice for a mattress, good ventilation and funges/mildew resistent. What do you think?

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Beware that latex foam is very heavy. It makes a great matress, but is not that good to sit on.

That's the foam dilema, for seating when all your weight is in a small area you need a firm foam not to bottom out. Yet when sleeping with your weight spread over a much larger area a good seating foam seems to hard.

A softer sleeping foam bottoms out when you sit on it. Everything is a compromise.

[dclark]

I was thinking about going with the high density foam for the cushions. Then getting one off those memory foam bed toppers and cut it into a V-berth shape. It could be rolled up and stowed out of the way when not being slept on.