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Salon cushion redo

11K views 32 replies 12 participants last post by  dsullyec1 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, to catch u guys up, we bought our 42CC Beneteau a few months ago and getting ready to leave for the Bahamas. We are docked in Kemah TX, Waterford Marina. After spending the last 3 months getting use to liveaboard,I have a major issue that needs correcting before leaving. Even though the cushions in the salon area look and feel wonderful, they are sooooo uncomfortable. I do not sew. What has others done to make the cushions more comfortable?
 
#12 ·
I agree... I'm redoing all the interior cushions on my boat and the yellow high density foam is too stiff so I am cutting the top 1-2 inches off the foam and bonding the top layer with 1-2 inches of lower density foam... also added 1" of polyester fill that comes in rolls bonded to the low density foam... it is now plush and soft on our bottoms but springy due to the high density foam underneath... all covered in brand new Royal Navy blue cotton duck... looks great... oh and I'm sewing the cushion covers myself... ;)
 
#4 ·
Keep in mind that you can use any upholstery company to do the change - it doesn't have to be a marine related company.
Opening up your cushions on the back and changing the foam is not near as bad as having them remade. Check for a local "JoAnn's" or whatever your area has for a major sewing shop and make a visit, maybe they have a bulletin board that has folks listed that do that kind of work on the side. The folks at the sewing store can give you advice and how to's if you want to do it yourself - right up to what kind of foam, in what thickness and layering you need to get the cushions to be what you want.
IF you want to re-do the cushions Beneteau builds in the US, and may have shared out patterns. Check around and see if they have a company that works with them and you may find a less expensive option.
When we had our previous/previous boat redone (a hunter) we found a company that did the entire set from bow to stern for 1800 bucks, quality work and everything fit exactly because they had the pattern already.
 
#6 ·
CaptainsWench ....

You are suggesting if I'm correct that it is not really the quality of the cushioning but the overal design of the seating, as in it is not close enough to a proper sitting room lounge chair ?

I'm not at all sure what you are planning but there are a number of European builders who have chairs to starboard and settee/dinette to port. Two builders to check out would be Malo (http://www.maloyachts.se)and Hallberg Rassy (Hallberg-Rassy - Sturdy construction, superb craftsmanship and signature seaworthiness).

Otoh, if what you are planning is what it seems on the surface I confess that to me it sounds really dumb but maybe I am misunderstanding your intentions.
 
#7 ·
We looked at a whitby 42 that had one of the settee's pulled out and two (seriously) automobile seats installed (seat belts and all).

Not a look I favor.

Pulling out the table means you are pulling out the only large flat space available. Not a option I'd like either.
 
#8 ·
if you do want new foam, check out THE FOAM STORE. they have the best prices I've found around here(kemah). Is the seatback too striaght, or the bottoms too shallow? Maybe you could go with thinner foam in the backs, or cut to a wedge shape. That would need only minor adjustments to the covers. For extending the bottoms....it can be done. As for the other. I don't have a table; I can put out lawn chairs in my salon. I'm thinking of hanging a disco ball up in here; but, what I really, really want is a table! just sayin...
 
#13 ·
Ok .... remember that lounge chairs have some form of springing under the cushions be that coils, webbing or other systems. Boat cushions sit on plywood so you will never get the same comfort no matter what you do. Boat cushions are also rarely shaped to provide decent back support.

Otoh re making the cusions out of two or even three different foam densities can make for surprisingly comfortable seating while a loose lumber support can solve the back problem.

I also like wrapping the top of the cushions in Dacron wadding. (Dacron is a trade name, there are non Dacron products that do teh same thing.)
 
#14 ·
We're having a boat surveyed that is in good shape except for the salon settees. They both are in bad need of replacing. I am not really much of a seamstress, and I know nothing of how to make cushions. Are they hard to put together for the lackey? Otherwise, I may use the advice on this link about hiring someone to do them for us. We don't need the berths done, just the settees. I like the idea of the 2 or even 3 layers of density foams to make for comfortable cushions. Glad I read this link! We'll be staying in the Watergate Marina in Kemah.
 
#15 ·
A good upholsterer could have some ideas that would help.. Different foam densities, additional lumbar support,contoured foams all leading to more comfort. We have some similar issues and having an assortment of throw pillows helps a lot. As a bonus we stuff the pillows into the shelving port and stbd to keep everything in place underway.
 
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#16 ·
Thanks for the tips, Faster! I like the idea of throw pillows, too. I wonder if anyone on this thread knows of an upholsterer in Kemah, TX? That's where we'll be located. How much do they charge for settee cusions? We looked up the "The Foam Store" that someone mentioned on this thread, and it's in Houston. We may have to drive over there to get the foam...unless someone knows of a store in Kemah. We were thinking of using white Nauga-soft to use as the material, which looks like leather, and says it's very sturdy. Any comments on this?
 
#17 ·
Costs for upholstery are wildly varied.. the last time we redid ours (7 years back or so) we had estimates ranging from $2500 TO $6000 new foam/fabric for the entire boat (V, settees, settee backs aft double and nav stn). We used the lower cost vendor, did have to drive an hour or so each way and are very pleased with the results. The person we used was a private individual that worked out of her garage. We had used her before on a previous boat so we knew what we were getting.

We did the V berth in Sunbrella because occasionally we dropped wet sails or an inflatable down there.. it's primarily our guest quarters otherwise... the rest of the boat is in microfleece..
 
#18 ·
I too had $3500-4000 for estimates so I decided to do them myself... I'd done the upholstery for my two cars earlier so I had some skills going into this... the upholstery on the sailboat was much, much easier to work on... I bought all the materials and extra foam for less than $300 and with the sewing machine in the boat I took apart the old cushions using them as patterns and made new ones discarding the metal zippers and using velcro as there is no chance of rusting the zippers (I could have gone with nylon zippers but the cost was astronomical :eek:).

The foam was cut with nicro-thermo wire strung between two wooden studs... as the wire heated the foam was run through allowing 1-2 inches of foam to be removed (clean and sharp cutting like a hot knife on butter) and the new lower density foam adhesively bonded to the high density foam... then the polyester batting bonded to the lower density foam... worked great... in the v-berth I made a sunbrella cover with elastic band that covers the cotton duck in the entire v-birth. Vinyl is also under the sunbrella to prevent water from going into the v-birth cushions and keeps them dry when we store our wet sails in there... otherwise the v-birth cushions will need to be removed and allowed to dry... and who has that time? :(

It looks like a new boat inside and the color combination and softness of the cushions is like no other.... worth doing the different density foam. :) Now tackling the teak and holly sole... darn varnishing! :mad:
 
#19 ·
Thanks Guitar Guy! Wow, quite an ordeal with the re-upholstering of your boat! Sounds like it came out very nice. What material did you use for your settees? I also like the idea of velcro. Makes life a lot easier and can be re-placed easily when it gets old. I MIGHT try it on my own, it does sound a lot less expensive. I don't really have a very good sewing machine though. How much time did it take you to do this?
 
#20 ·
Faster, I see that you live in BC, so I won't have access to this individual that you hired to make your settees/etc. Darn! She sounds good, too. Our V looks ok for now. We'll probably cover it later. Just the settees look pretty used and abused. The microfleece idea sounds interesting. Does that work out well for durability, ability to clean easily, etc? How much of it did you have to buy for the settees? We liked the Nauga-soft because it wears extremely well, (according to the manufacturer) and looks very much like leather.

Thanks for your feedback on this. I was reading Guitarguys post and he has encouraged me to try to do it myself, but I'm nervous about it, first of all because I'm not the best seamstress, and second, because my sewing machine is ancient and doesn't always work well...so I could be looking at a nightmare waiting to happen. We'll see what happens.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Dsully... my wife is an accomplished seamstress and quilter with excellent equipment and she chose not to do this herself.. but that's her.. I think the scale of the project and our living in a condo were factors.

The microfleece was recommended precisely because spills clean up easily without staining if you get on it right away. The cushions are nearly 8 years old now.
This pic when they were recent:



This pic was taken a week or so back..

 
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#24 ·
Thanks for posting pics of your salon. It really is lovely inside. What kind of boat do you have? I love the blue material you chose. It's so pretty with the wood inside. Your boat appears to be in very good condition. The boat we're buying is older (a 1983 S2-11C) and the salon is fairly dark inside, so we decided to go with white to lighten up the space. Well, it's good to know that your wife decided to go with a seamstress to do this work...that makes me think probably I should go that route as well. Especially since I'm NOT real talented at sewing. I can pretty much do anything I set my mind to do, but don't know if it's worth the hassle this time. I want it to look good, too, and it may not if I do it. Thanks again for the pics. I enjoyed looking.
 
#22 ·
Thanks... the material I used was Royal navy cotton duck... just like sunbrella fabric only not waterproof but much softer and much cheaper ($7.00/yd compared to $21/yd for sunbrella)... you can buy this material at any fabric store... the foam was bought there as well only it was a little more expensive than what could have been bought at Walmart... it took me about two weeks to put everything together (most of the time was spent having the foam in sterilization to kill any mold spores and make them like new after wash and dry) :puke ... they came out great and clean smelling! :)

Faster... your salon looks great... although looking at your cushions they don't have many curves and look square, mine had many curves and angles... was a bear but they turned out great... +1 on the velcro.... makes them easy to work with and they'll last forever... they are also adjustable to remove wrinkles in the fabric... my cushions are very tight without looseness or wrinkles. Everyone comments on how great they look! ;)
 
#23 ·
Hi Guitarguy,

Do you have pics of your settees? I would love to see them. How do you put the foam in sterilization? That stumped me. Yes, Faster's salon looks very nice. Love the color of their settees and was thinking of going that color as well, but we're going for white. We need to lighten up our salon as it seems kinda' dark in there. Our cushions are square, too. Is there a way to make them curved? I don't know how to do that. Would like to see how you did that trick with the velcro. Are you close by Kemah, TX? Probably not, but thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
#25 ·
New foam is a bit spendy these days. Quite often foam may be revitalized by steaming. A simple garment steamer will re-moisturize the cushions, but a better method is to actually inject the steam into the center core of the cushion. Look for an upholstery shop with a pressure steamer. Also, in my shop, I always wrap every cushion with a dacron layer. This provides a bit more loft, and encourages air flow. Dacron may be purchased in a roll, usually 24 inches wide and about 20 feet long. Often you may find a shop that will sell you a slab for a reasonable price.
I use a spray (you can use a canned version) of general purpose adhesive found in most fabric stores. If the dacron is a good thickness, it can be split so not quite as thick. Spray glue on both the cushion and the dacron, place the dacron on a table and position the cushion so there is enough dacron to fold over the sides. I like to start the dacron at the top rear, and run it completely over the nose and under the bottom of the cushion. After the dacron is bonded to the cushion, trim the dacron as needed. I usually make a running stitch on each side of the dacron to keep it in place. No fancy stitching, just a simple long basting stitch.
To restuff the cushion into the cover, the easiest way is to put the dacron covered cushion int a cheap, thin garbage bag, with the open end at the rear side of the cushion. Gather the excess bag, making a temporary seal. Then use a vacuum cleaner (with a hose or tube attachment) to suck the air out of the bag. The collapsed cushion can be inserted into the cover, then simply tear the bag and pull it out. A bit of adhesive or masking tape along the path of the zipper (on the dacron) will aid in keeping the dacron out of the zipper.
 
#26 ·
You may also try creating a roll at the nose of the seat cushion. After plumping and restuffing, as above, measure in approximately 5 inches from the front edge.
Purchase some nice buttons (the kind with an wire eye on the back, not a flat button) and some heavy polyester twine. A good 12" needle is needed here, they're not expensive. I like to put the buttons about 6" apart. Plot out the positions of the buttons, using chalk to mark the locations of the buttons.
Thread the twine thru the needle, and one button. Pierce the cushion at the marked spot on the top cushion face, then thread another button on the bottom of the cushion. Make a slip knot and pull. The idea is to sink both buttons into the cushion from opposite sides. When you have sunk the buttons about an inch into the cushion, finish off the slip knot so it won't let go. Do this at every pre-measured spot.
By putting the buttons nearer the front edge, rather than the center of the cushon, it creates a 'roll' near the front, providing more support under the knees. The dacron will give a tad more softness as well.
You may be able to make the original cushions more comfortable like this, without totally re-making the covers.
 
#28 · (Edited)
#29 ·
My wife is in the middle of redoing our cushions we purchase good fabric and new foat and she is able to dart the folds on the curves and crazy angles and is using buttons to pull in the wrinkes on the longer pieces.

We are expecting this will change to look of our cabin immensly.

dave
 
#30 ·
I had an upholstery shop for a few years, doing lots of furniture, cars and an occasional boat. I moved to Oregon, and have been a truck owner-operator for the past 11 years. I still dabble in upholstery and canvas, though. I would like to get out of trucking, buy a nice blue water boat (I've been drooling over a Hans Christian 36 and a Union 36), and live aboard while learning to sail.
I'm kicking round the idea of a 'mobile' canvas/upholstery shop. Something like an enclosed trailer with fold down work tables and a generator for power.
I'm thinking that a shop that comes to the boat is better than a shop that requires moving the work to the shop.
 
#32 ·
Wow! We sure do wish you were close to us! We would want to hire you! Sounds like a great idea. Go for it.
 
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