The same people who make Biminis and dodgers usually do a good job making custom cushions. I tried to go cheap, by hiring an awning guy in RI to do my cockpit cushions and all I got was crap. There doesn't seem to be a cheap way around this, unless you can do them yourself. Good luck.

 

As with sails they are almost always custom made. This makes them expensive to have them made professionally.

The cheapest source foam that I've found is buying foam mattresses and cutting them to fit the right shape. 4" thick for the bottoms and 3" thick for backrests is typical. Bottom cushion foam is typically denser than back cushion foam.

I'd probably use butcher paper or muslin to make patterns and make your own cushions. If you shop remnant bins you can probably find good material for a cheap price.

 

Want to know something funny? My mom and now it's my brothers', has a pillow furniture and futon store! Basically he orders bulk foam and big rolls of fabric and makes this weird custom furniture.

When my mom owned it I got all the free furniture I wanted, and in hawaii I bought a Catalina 22 that had no cushions. So I picked a colour fabric and measured. It didn't turn out perfect but it was a nice micro fiber. It worked.

However. My brother, for reasons unbeknownst to me, does not like me, so I won't be going that route. He actually won't even sell my mom furniture for less than full retail even though she always gave him free stuff, like furnishing his apartment in college. It's weird.

I wasn't trying to derail my thread into an anecdote. I just think its ironic that my closest family has a full on foam and fabric workshop and I can't use it.

About how much do you think going the pro route would cost? I'm guessing like $800 for the settee. The previous owner claims he paid $800 for the bed(did I already say that?) and I believe him.

Alex. When you say you buy foam in mattress form and cut to fit, what kind of mattress? I have an old singer sewing machine from the 1920's that's built like a tank. It could sew think fabric. This might be a good DIY project the more I think about it.

I really want this boat to be nice. I've never had a boat that I wasn't going to turn around and sell when I was done using it. But there are alot of things I want to do and they can't all be done this year.

See, since I've only bought boats to use and resell, my mind isn't the same as yours in that every time you do a project you(sailnetters) feel ...something. I have always just done what needs to be done to get the boat where I want it for the time period I want it for and it's always been done quick. I've got to change my thinking that this is my boat and I have years to get things where I want them. And maybe then I will have the perfect boat. I've got the best start I could hope for.

So yes. Doesn't all have to be done now. But my last two posts, toilet and cushions have to. I have to be able to relax below. The toilet I'm going cheap Pp. With pump out.

 

Order the foam from an online supplier. Several are recommended. Mended here on other threads. Then I advertised on Craigslist for a seamstress bought my own material and took everything to her. For two Vberth pieces a large settee bottom and a long quarter berth use on I was out $115 for cloth and $250 for swing.

 

I paid about $2000 for a full set of cushions for my Catalina 25. Those were made with Sunbrella furniture fabric that I got on a big discount, but foam at retail prices. The sewing was done by a local store that sounds similar to the one in your family and was about half of the amount.

I bought the foam mattresses from "Foam Factory" and cut them up for my current boat. I used the HD36 foam shown here:
The Foam Factory, Mattresses, Conventional Foam

The cushion covers on my current boat are in great shape, so I haven't made new ones.

To make for a very comfortable bed I put a 2" or 3" memory foam eggcrate pattern topper on top of the cushions, but under sheets. This adds comfort, bridges the gap in the cushions, and the eggcrate helps the bed dry out. I bought these from Overstock.com.

 

Was looking at the Foam Factory site to buy a mattress to cut up for bottom cushions, How do you find the HD 36 foam, is it firm enough at 4" thick?

 

I went with these guys, a little pricey but easy to cut with an electric knife. Basic sewing machine can make you covers.
Open-Cell Foam - Poly, Acoustic, Dryfast, Lux, Color Foam & More

 

$2000 for a 25 foot boat with material you bought yourself, some of it on sale? That's what I was afraid of. I don't know why it costs so much. You could furnish an entire living room for that much. Why are boat cushions so expensive?

Foam by mail is pretty cool

 

$2000 for a 25 foot boat with material you bought yourself, some of it on sale? That's what I was afraid of. I don't know why it costs so much. You could furnish an entire living room for that much. Why are boat cushions so expensive?

You can't furnish an entire living room for that if you get custom shaped furniture, cut and sewn in the US, with fabric that can handle UV, getting wet, and other boat issues.

Labor is expensive. I shopped around quite a bit, $2000-2500 was consistent across multiple estimates.

If boats all had the same interior you could get cushions made overseas, mostly cut and shaped by CNC equipment, for a tiny fraction of this cost.

 

I think that when people provide services to people with boats they assume we are loaded. I think if you score your own foam and find your own fabric and then locate a good seamstress it'll be a lot cheaper.

In my area there are two large fabric warehouses and I was surprised that they both had pretty decent selection of Sunbrella furniture fabric. Keep in mind this is Phoenix and everyone has a pool with lounges and chairs and umbrella's.

This same question was raised on another site and this recommendation came up:

The Marine Supply Store for boat parts, hardware and sailing equipment in Tampa Bay.

Never hurts to get a quote......

 

$2000 is actually a good price for new cushions for a 25' boat. When I got a quote for new cushions for my 23' boat over 10 years ago, it was for more than that.

If you can't or don't want to make them yourself, one other option is to get a quote from a "regular" upholsterer, not a marine canvas store. So long as you can make a pattern for the upholsterer to follow (use butcher paper to trace the outline of the spaces), they can do just as good a job as the marine guys, and they will probably do it for less. The marine guys will know what you want and what the options are (zippers, mesh or waterproof bottoms, open cell foam, etc.), but if you can convey exactly what you want to the land-lubbers, they can make it work for you.

 

re cushions
I live in Western new york and we have an Amish community not too far away.
not that I've had cushions made, but I took my 1921 Model T ford bus down there and guy made me beatiful side curtains out of sunbrella a lot cheaper than an auto place wouldve charged me.
the Amish tarp makers also do boat covers and I'm sure cushions.
Check out the Amish if they are near u
Patrick

 

Foam and fabrics are all made from petroleum, and oil prices are up

It's fairly labor intensive work, especially if done well

But there are sources for DIY

(shameless promo, I used to work there) Sailmaker's Supply/Mainland Canvas Sunbrella, Marine Canvas, Fabrics, Hardware and Supplies - Sailmaker's Supply Jean will be glad to sell you everything you need and has tips as well

(2d shameless promo) I've even got a Pfaff 138 sewing machine I'll be glad to sell to you to do the work with

 

I recently bought a new boat and asked the dealer for Sun Deck pads. Two of them at about 2'x6' each out of Sunbrella were $750. I have since bought an old Juki Industrial Walking Foot Sewing Machine, and attended classes. I intend to make all of my own stuff now. Once you find a good source for fabric it's not so bad, and there are plenty of online folks. However if you can find someone locally that supplies the Canvas Shops and is willing to sell it to you at the price they sell to them it's even better.

 

Labor is expensive but how long does it take to make an $800 vberth mattress? 2 hours max? It's two triangles and a pentagram. It can't take that long. I'm all for American labor, but really. Even if they took 10 hours to make it at $20 an hour that's $200. What's the cost of materials for them getting it in bulk? $100?

I've probably spent 50 days of my life helping my mom make stuff. A custom foam matters for a Queen bed with 8 inches of foam and quality microfiber she sold for $350 and took her less than two hours. I can ask her how long it took to make everything for that Catalina 22.

I'm not trying to turn this into an argument. I think it just struck a chord with me. I don't mind paying for quality but I hate getting ripped off. Sorry to rant and rave.

 

What's the cost of materials for them getting it in bulk?

Define 'bulk.'

A small canvas shop, the usual local canvas house, is by no means purchasing in 'bulk,' not by a long shot.

The prices you quote for your mom's shop are way below what my shop paid wholesale, I do believe. I didn't handle money, I just sewed, so I can't be sure, but I don't know of anyone in canvas on the Gulf Coast who's getting rich at it.

And as far as time…

A good canvas house is going to spend time going out to your boat, measuring exactly what your berth area is (and you may believe, that nothing is exact nor symmetrical on a boat), then patterning the work, bringing that to the shop, fabbing it up, and bringing that back to the boat and fitting/installing the work.

Yeah. it takes time. And skill. My boss forgot more things that I'll ever learn.

 

There are 11 cushions on a Catalina 25: 2 vberth, 5 dinette, 2 settee, 2 quarterberth. I think there was ~25 yards of fabric. ~3 hours of labor per cushion to measure/cut/heat seal edges/sew, add zippers, stuff, add mounting snaps gets you to 30-35 hours. That is close to a full work week, so $1000ish in labor isn't crazy. I don't see this as a ripoff, but if you do you can make your own and save on labor.

 

My first Catalina 22 came with cushions that were pretty much ate up, in the course of updating the cabin I checked with Catalina Direct on new cushions and was surprised by the cost of a new set from them. I opted to chase down foam, ended up buying 2 inch thick and gluing 2 pieces together for seats and vberth, used 2 inch for seat backs and cockpit, bought bunting to keep fabric from sliding, material after a couple week search I wanted to use and had a lady that lives 2 houses down from me that upholsters furniture sew them for me. I spent roughly $500.00 on foam and bunting, $200.00 on fabric and $600.00 on sewing. I used velcro instead of zippers and liked how it worked. After all was said and done I only saved about $250.00, but I couldn't have gotten the fabric I used from CD. My cushions on current boat could use recovered, but I don't need to replace the foam, I purchased a sewing machine that I'm going to take a run at doing them myself this time.

 

Ok. I will start with some four inch foam and try my handiwork on the settee. I can do this. If it doesn't turn out perfect it can be temporary.

I was not trying to tell you you got ripped off. I think different people put different values on different things. I have more respect for the rigger whose skill will keep me safe or the sailmaker whose molded sails are strong and fast and light. Cushions are just not high up there for me.

I don't think $20 an hour for an upholsterer is bad. That at forty hours a week fifty weeks a year is $40000 a year. Plus if they mark up the fabric and foam 100% that's maybe 80000. That's not bad. I think some of you are overestimating this craft. They aren't doctors or a Japanese sword maker who has been trained and in the family for thousands of years.

I also think you overestimate what you are getting and how long it takes. It's not Gucci upholstery. Made by the finest seamstresses in the world. And it doesn't take three hours to sew a square. These people have done this so many times I'll bet a basic square or rectangle cushion takes 20 minutes.

-remember these are just my opinions and I'm neither right nor wrong. I'm not argueing or criticizing just discussing sailboat stuff.

 

The 3 hours isn't for sewing, sewing goes quickly. It is for measuring (remember that there aren't any patterns), cutting, heat sealing, sewing, finish work (like zippers). Cushions that have corners cut look terrible. If you can do all of this in 20 minutes then you should also start doing custom cushions. You know what the market rates for them area.

Many of the cushions also aren't a simple rectangle. The sides of V-berth cushions shouldn't be at 90 degree angles to the top and bottom, they are supposed to taper along with the hull of the boat (so the top triangle on the cushion is larger than the bottom triangle). It's not hard, it just takes a bit more time.

I could do them myself, and if I ever do new cushions for my Pearson 28-2 I'll probably will. At the time that I bought my Catalina 25 my work list was deep and making cushions was one of the less fun projects and more important for resale, so I hired it out.

I supplied my own fabric and the foam and seamstress work were quoted separately. The $1000ish was just the labor cost, not the foam or fabric. Your ideas on how much a basic craftsperson needs to make in Seattle are laughable though. $20/hr might cover someone working off of Craigslist under the table and using a spouses or parents health care. No store can afford to hire out labor that cheaply in this market.

 

I hope you're not taking this personally, since I like your replies as much r more as anyone on this site ad I'm not saying you got ripped off. You didn't. That's what they go for.

I just don't feel like that cost is in line with the cost of other products. I think a lot of sailors might be surprised with what $2000 is worth to a lot of people in this country. I would bet that if you told non sailors how much 11 cushions cost they would be surprised by a lot.

The amount of work people have to do to get and save $2000 exceeds the value of those cushions. My ranger 23 last year cost me $3800. That was a full sailboat with a nice engine and sails etc. It is not only worth less than double 11 cushions.

Standing rigging for my entire boat, measured, cut, swaged and installed is $1500. How can standing rigging be worth less that cushions?

I don't know. We can just disagree. For me it's not something I would pay for. I just don't think its that hard what they do. Lots of people get paid $20 an hour or less. My best friend who lives in Hawaii an went to school for five years now works at a library for $13.50 an hour. Do upholsterers have to go to school for five years and pay back student loans? No yet there work is worth more than a librarian. I just don't think it's such a hard specialty that almost no one can do. Those are the people that get paid a lot. People with a skill others can't do. A lot of people can measure, cut and sew. The premium price they are charging is not because thy are that skilled but because they chose to do it for boats so it's a boat premium.

Besides, how is $20 ridiculous? You estimated 35 hours for yours at $1000. That's $28 an hour. Not so far from $20 that my number is crazy. And you live in seattle, one o the most expensive cities. There are people on this thread posting from the gulf coast where the cost of living is half what is is in seattle. I would bet that the one guy who posted here from Mississippi that worked at a canvas shop did not get paid $20.

 

The amount of work people have to do to get and save $2000 exceeds the value of those cushions. My ranger 23 last year cost me $3800. That was a full sailboat with a nice engine and sails etc. It is not only worth less than double 11 cushions.

Standing rigging for my entire boat, measured, cut, swaged and installed is $1500. How can standing rigging be worth less that cushions?

Your Ranger 23 is an older used boat. You are looking at new cushions, not old ones. A new boat comparable to a Ranger 23 costs over $40,000 today. Actually the Zen 24 Zen 24 sailboat lists for $45,995 and any engine is an option - Yanmar diesel is $11,100.

As far as rigging, there is very little actual labor in installing rigging. With cushions there is a lot of labor as well as skill involved.

 

DIY !!
Is it *that* long ago that folks did their own sewing and repairs? I came of age in a largely upper middleclass neighborhood and most everyone's Mom sewed. "Rich" people had stuiff made custom or hired work out. Regular folks bought off-the-rack or made do.

If your time is worth more thaan what it would ttake to buy custom; then, by all means, pay it. Using the avg. 50K/yr, post taxes/deductions is about $17.50/hr.. It might take 20 hrs to gin up simple covers. #$350 for (assumed) labor and $350 in material (est) makes it $700 of your time and effort(plus costs) to have the satisfaction of having DIY vs paying the current rates.
Now, bless yer heart if yer doing better than avg and can afford it. *Someone's* gottta keept the marine apholsterers in biz! My time's my own and I can afford *me*

I'm currently in process of making a tarp from a blown out main. While 6.5 oz Dar-sail is not a piece-of-cake; I'm doing just fne with a plain vanilla machine and thread./seam tape from Sail-Rite. I *may* be a handy guy and cheap to boot; but it's notrocket science to sew two ormore pieces of cloth together. Sure! It ain't perfect; or even purty; but I've learned scads about sewingand willdo quite well onthe new settee covers.

$2000 + fer store bought or half that (*including a new $300machine) for the satisfaction; let alone the added skill set of having done itone's self...priceless!

 

I DIY a ton. As an example I build my own bicycle frames, made all of my own fixtures for those frames. On the boat front I built my own NMEA 0183 wind instrument, made replacement sheaves for the masts on two of my boats, rewired two boats, made a lot of the canvas on multiple boats, made a skin on frame kayak, and made the boat cover for this dinghy:

I know the basics of sewing, but I'm no professional seamstress. You shouldn't assume that someone doesn't want to DIY just because they didn't DIY one project.

I also make a lot more than your average (which is actually a bit high) and can afford to hire out projects that I want to get done quickly. No cushions would have limited the use of our boat early on. I could afford to hire them out.

I don't know why we are having a discussion of DIY or not. If you have the time you should certainly DIY. I love DIY.

I don't know why we are having the discussion of what cushions should cost. There is an established cost for getting new custom boat cushions. It is hard to find them for under $2000 in the US for a full set of cushions.

 

We are only having this discussion because I want really nice boat cushions but am too cheap to pay what they cost and too lazy to do it myself.

I will try though. 4 inch foam. Start with the settee go from there. Like you Im going to be using the boat a lot and need something. I think I'm just wanting to prioritize these projects this spring.

Head
Bottom paint
Sails or standing rigging
Repainting or reteaking interiors

So I guess we learned from this that I'm cheap and have no respect for upholsterers.

The guy that talks like a cowboy is my new favorite sailnetter

Alex is the sailnet version of the monopoly guy. Sitting at his computer typing in a monocle and top hat, lighting Cuban cigars with $100 bills that his manservant smuggled back from Vancouver. Meanwhile three sports illustrated swimsuit models are jello wrestling on a Siberian tiger rug behind him, in front of a fireplace fueled with the sweat of the common man.

 

I want interior cushions BUT they aren't needed yet as the vinyl ones are still usable I do need cockpit cushions, the boat didn't come with any and $900 for vinyl cushions seems very high. we have a sewing machine but it's medium duty at best and pushing vinyl through it might mess it up, we could go with a light weight vinyl but would end up making a second set of covers as the light stuff would probably tear or wear out in a year or two

 

I do need cockpit cushions

Do you? I don't really like cockpit cushions. They seem to get in the way.

 

I have them now but last year I didn't. I kid you not it took a month after I stopped sailing to heal. Some boats just aren't comfortable.

 

I guess I'll find out. I just bought my first boat last October and haven't even sailed it yet, but I've already tossed the cockpit cushions into the rafters in my garage and I intend to leave them there.

When I've been on OPB or charters I've always found cockpit cushions more of a pain in the *** than the other way around. Leave 'em in the lazarette and use a throwable if you need something to sit on has been my plan.

 

Probably so. I think I had a combination. Of two things wrong. One: I had no autopilot so had to man the tiller sometimes for 8-9 hours. Two: I think my boat had particularly in-ergonomic seats. I'm not a sit at home in my lazy boy watching tv all day comfort junky either but it had actual sores on my sit bones. Now I've got some basic cushions.

I've never noticed uncomfortable on other boats, but also just was
Moving around a lot more, so I don't know how important they are. I'm thinking the more time at the helm, if you're going longer distances, probably very. I at least should have got one of those blue chairs from west marine for like $50.

I'm going to be less stubborn this year. I haven't sailed my boat yet either. I used to have a Catalina 22 and had soooo much fun. It might have been the most fun I've had on a sailboat. I definitely like them. They are nothing fancy, just the perfect little fun daysailer weekender. Don't forget the swim ladder. Hard to get back aboard without a swim ladder. I found that out.

 

I used to have a Catalina 22 and had soooo much fun. It might have been the most fun I've had on a sailboat. I definitely like them. They are nothing fancy, just the perfect little fun daysailer weekender. Don't forget the swim ladder. Hard to get back aboard without a swim ladder. I found that out.

Yeah, I think it'll be fun. The size is new to me. I've sailed bigger boats (34' +) for ASA lessons and on charters, and I've sailed little dinghies like Lasers and MCs, but never this size. I think it should be good for teaching me bigger boat stuff, without the bigger boat price tag.

I've been following this thread because my cushions are, I think, the original 40-year-old cushions. They haven't been heavily used, but they do look really dated. I'm leaning towards re-covering them rather than replacing.

And I have two swim ladders! The boat came with a stainless and a plastic. It makes me wonder if there's something wrong with the stainless one that caused him to buy a plastic replacement…

 

Plywood bottom cushions are the easiest. Nothing to sew. Put your padding on top of the plywood ( I prefer several layers of carpet and underlay) Pull your covering over the padding and under the plywood, and staple it to the bottom of the plywood.
Done!