Settee Cushions

Now that we had the bunk foam cut and test fit I started pondering what we would do for the back rests.

On my previous small vessels some had one piece bunk cushions and some had a two piece arrangement making it easier to access the lockers below. I quickly learned that the two piece was uncomfortable too sleep on and I much preferred a single bunk cushion. When lying on my back in the bunk the backrest cushion was in the way narrowing the width of the bunk just enough to be very annoying. I used to toss the backrest cushion into the V-berth at bed-time to give a little extra room on the bunk.

So I decided on this vessel I would keep the bunk cushion as one piece and make the backrest cushion a partial that would leave the lower section open and provide a little more width for sleeping.

The drawback to a long bunk cushion is it flops around when trying to move it or gain access to the lockers below it. A good way to solve the problem is to mount the cushion to a thin sheet of plywood.

It makes it far easier to move around and when the cushion is lifted to gain access below, it acts like a locker lid and "hinges" up nicely and takes little effort to hold it there while digging in the locker.

The bunk cushion was laid on a quarter inch thick sheet of plywood and the outline drawn onto the wood.

The wood was trimmed a half inch on all sides to allow for the wrapping of the upholstery.

The foam was then glued to the plywood with contact cement.  Half inch thick low density foam with a scrim was rolled out onto the work table and the cushion was inverted onto it so the plywood bottom was now on top.The foam was pulled up over the sides and stapled down to the plywood. It was then carried aboard and test for fit. The fit was good so we rolled out the vinyl and repeated the process.

The backrest was done in a similar manner but we used two inch medium density foam to start with. We ran the edges through the band-saw with the table set at a forty-five degree angle to give a nice bevel on all sides. Quarter inch foam was glued onto the face of the cushion keeping it back two inches from the  sides. This helped form the gentle radius shape. Then the half inch thick foam was laid out and the cushion was finished in the same manner as the bunk cushion. The finished back-rest was secured to the settee with strips of Velcro.

Jessie and I started in the afternoon and was later joined by Jared and Kyle. Once we got started we wouldn't stop! We all wanted to see the end results before calling it a night.

As the evening wore on Jared broke away from the production line to whip us up a fantastic meal. Hes an amazing cook and before too long he laid out a feast of tempura yams and zucchini complete with dipping sauce, and chicken katsu served on a bed of rice with a lovely lemongrass, coconut curry sauce over it.

The feat was impressive considering he did it all on a one burner hotplate and a small deep fryer.

After the meal we completed the job and installed the cushions. They fit well and everyone had big smiles as we congratulated one another......it was two am, and a major milestone was behind us!

Thank you guys! Thank you very, very, much! It was a tremendous success and a wonderful evening.