Tag Archives: boat interiors

Cockpit Cushion Toppers: A Cheap and Easy Boat Trick

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Regular readers will recall that we recently had new mattresses made for our aft cabin. Part of that remodel was the purchase of some rather expensive latex foam toppers for the berths. These came at a cost of $570 for the space. That’s not an insignificant cost, even though it was completely worth every single penny. As every boat owner knows, boat beds do not come in regular sizes like your earthbound beds. Therefore, in order to get what you need, you frequently have to cut to fit. And you know what that means.  That’s right. That means extra material. Extra EXPENSIVE material!

That nice 3″ latex foam. We still love it.

When we picked up our new mattresses we were blessed to receive all of the extra pieces of latex foam, neatly stuffed down into large plastic bags. I was going to toss them, but being the cheap and easy boat trick queen, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I don’t like to throw away perfectly good materials that I might put to use. So I kept them and waited for an idea to pop into my head. And it did.

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Let’s build some rectangles!

Galapagos has a great cockpit. We love it. But one of the things that I’ve wanted to improve is the napability of the two longest sides. They are long enough to lie down on (one of the absolute requirements for us in a boat, being the famous sleepers that we are), but the hard Bottomsider-style cushions that came with the boat are dead uncomfortable. I decided to see if I had enough latex foam to make cushion toppers for them.

After measuring the sides, I lay the foam pieces out on some plastic up in our workshop/storage space at the marina. Supplied with Elmer’s spray glue and a healthy love of puzzles, I began piecing the foam together to make the long, thin rectangles required. I glued the seams as firmly as possible and then let them sit for a day to cure. Although I had the garage door open for all the gluing, I cannot swear that I didn’t lose a few brain cells to that spray. Do make sure you have good ventilation with that stuff. I trimmed the uneven ends with large scissors, making several cuts from the top down. Sure, I have an electric knife, the tool of choice for this job. It’s at  home. Not at the marina. Scissors worked just fine. We’re not building the Parthenon here. p1100501

As I did with the new cushions in the v-berth and aft cabin, I decided I wanted to protect these with that PUL fabric I used to keep water from soaking into the foam. This also makes coverings easy to take off and put back on.  Once again, I used the handy 40% off coupon Hobby Lobby has each week.

My only concern here is that there really are a lot of glued seams on these. It is possible that the glue will not hold up in the heat of Mexico and beyond. If that happens, though, I will still have all the other materials all set up to pop the latex out and replace it with foam all in one piece. The PUL fabric has a lot of stretch to it so it can be pulled tightly around the latex. It supports the seams in the foam as well as making the whole thing waterproof. The extra support makes it less likely that we’ll experience a total fail just from moving the cushions around.

Neatly covered in waterproof fabric.

Neatly covered in waterproof fabric, ready for canvas.

To ‘upholster’ these, I wanted outdoor canvas that was water and UV resistant. Since it’s fall, this is a good time to look for summer fabric in the clearance section of Joanne Fabrics. I made a beeline for the clearance bin and found some perfect yellow canvas for $3.50/yard. Done! I actually bought extra of this because I liked it and it was such an excellent price. Retail on this canvas is $29.99/yard. As if I would ever pay that much.

The sewing was straight forward; not exactly my favorite kind of sewing but at least with this project my machine doesn’t protest. I cut two rectangles, some sides, then sewed them together.

Cheerful and comfortable!

Cheerful and comfortable!

These are just the ticket in the cockpit for sitting or laying around at anchor. While underway they can be stored along the sides in the v-berth, or even in the aft cabin, just tucked under the shelf, which will hold them in place. They are a cheap and cheerful addition to the comforts of home on board Galapagos.

Cost Breakdown:

Latex foam – 0 because it was leftover from another project, destined to be thrown out

PUL fabric – 4 yards, 40% off – $31.20

Yellow Canvas – 4 yards at $3.50/yd – $14.00

Yellow thread – $3.00

Total cost: $48.20 plus tax. Win!

Stored in the v berth with Patrick.

Stored in the v berth with Patrick.

 

Aft Cabin: Fait accompli!

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I’ve been waiting over two years to write this post. We finally have the aft cabin we’ve been wanting on this boat. It’s been quite the process. The problem: while large, the aft cabin offered no way for us to sleep together. This was a bit of a let down when we looked at the boat, but one that didn’t keep us from loving her anyhow. One side had been updated to a ‘double’ berth, which frankly, in boat language, means that one adult can sleep comfortably with their partner if the partner is the size of a tiny, swaddled babe. The other side was a narrow single. So basically one of us, usually me, could get a decent night’s sleep and the other one got a marginal sleep. I don’t know about you, but good sleep is the foundation upon which I stand.

The middle 'seat' was basically useless.

The middle ‘seat’ was basically useless. We just never used it at all.

When we bought the boat there was a worn out mattress on the ‘double’ side. That had to go quickly. For a short term solution I bought a foam mattress on Amazon, meant for an RV, and cut it to fit the space. That was a good solution for awhile, but we always knew it was temporary.

A minor upgrade, but a world of difference in the short term.

This year we got serious. I went to the boat show in Seattle and spent the day with an agenda to talk to mattress manufacturers. I knew this was going to be pricey because it’s a big space. I used a king sized mattress cut for a V berth by way of comparison, although I knew it would be a bit more than that because we have a large middle piece. The lowest bid I got was from an east coast firm that quoted me a price of $3700, plus shipping for a bed that felt pretty good on the showroom floor, but I was not sure how long it would last. At that point, I really didn’t know the right questions to ask about foam quality. That was a low ball price with very basic fabric covering. The other bid I got was closer to $5000 after taxes. Again, that was for the basic model. I’m not known for choosing the basic model of anything. I can upsell myself like a champ.

Ikea had a natural latex mattress, but I would have to do all the work myself, and I didn’t actually want to, especially as the mattresses alone would have been about $2200 after taxes. I was okay with that price, but not sure I was up to handling the task willingly. Sometimes I just want to pay to have things done. This was one of those times. Every time Mike would see me toying with the idea of doing the whole thing myself to save money, he would shake his head and say, ‘No, Lucy.’.  I love that man, but already I was getting a little concerned we’d have to choose between a new strong track for the mast and a decent bed. I consider the idea of ‘compromise’ to be a challenge for me to get my cake and eat it, too. The little grey cells in my head began to work.

We decided to press the ‘pause’ button for awhile and get the final design on the template in the aft cabin completed so we’d know exactly what we would be working with. We played with measurements and made a cardboard template, then a butcher paper pattern from that. I took measurements at intervals along the hull to get the curvature right. I learned how to do this on You Tube, where people learn how to do everything these days. What a world we live in.

Measuring for the curvature.

In the end, we ended up with this expanded sleeping space.

We lost a tiny bit of walking space on the right, but nothing in the middle since we couldn’t walk there anyhow. We don’t miss the few inches we lost on the right in the photo.

During our ‘pause’ we played with combinations by redoing the foam in both of the other cabins, educating ourselves on foam types. We were killing the proverbial two birds with one stone; a metaphor that while violent, is apt. We created our ‘rumpus’ room in the v-berth by using a firm foam base with a medium foam on top of that. It’s good for sitting, fine for sleeping if you like a firm mattress. We love that space now and are able to sit and watch our DVD’s on our new little TV/DVD player combo Mike wrote about. It will be a great guest cabin.

We used the old foam with a 3″ latex topper to remake the midship cabin. It’s a luxurious sleep now. We liked the latex topper from Sleep On Latex so much we decided it was a win for the aft cabin. One decision down.

On a whim I took our pattern up to Seattle to Friendly Foam. The young man who helped me was, indeed, friendly as he wrote out the bid for something close to $6,000. Without upholstery. That’s just for the foam, cutting, and gluing.  Ouch and OUCH! I bowed and scraped my way out of the shop, trying not to run,  wondering what I was even thinking of going in there. I mean, these people probably do great work, but they pay Seattle real estate prices for their shop.

In the end, we took our pattern, our latex, and our desires to our local Best Foam and Fabric shop in Tacoma and they did the cutting, gluing and upholstery for us. Let me tell you, there is something grand about having an expert you work with who knows his topic and is willing to spend some time educating others. We love this place and will always go to them first whenever we need upholstery or foam for any kind of project. If you live in Seattle, make the drive to Tacoma before you make a decision on who is going to do your foam and upholstery. They are awesome and their prices are more than fair. We ended up using a three layer approach with a 3″ dense base layer, a 2″ medium layer, and the 3″ natural latex topper. After making sure these fit perfectly (they did!), and covering them with the PUL waterproof fabric, I took them back to be upholstered.

Three layers of foam.

Here’s the final cost breakdown. By way of comparison, I had to order one queen sized topper and one full sized one in order to get enough latex material for the entire cabin. I ordered the latex myself because the good folks at Best Foam couldn’t get a better price than I could at Sleep On Latex and they were impressed with the quality of latex I showed them.

Foam:  dense and medium, 1100$
Latex: $570
PUL fabric: (used 40% discount coupon from HobbyLobby) $78.00
Upholstery Fabric: major discounted find at Hancock Fabrics, may it rest in peace. $120
Upholstery labor: $400

Total cost: $2,268 , a savings of at least 50%. Sweet. The only labor involved for me was covering the foam mattresses with the PUL fabric. Best Foam and Fabric couldn’t do that for me because her sewing machine was for heavy duty fabrics only.

In a previous post I wrote about how I wanted to be able to lift these mattresses up with ease to get to the stowage underneath. Getting to the stowage isn’t as hard as we predicted it would be so we are forgoing that little project in favor of other, more urgent things.

The bed feels luxurious and should last 20 years with good care. We are very happy with it. Now I get to design bedding! The little grey cells, they are working their magic.

And here is a link to the last post in this series, whereby we finally get sheets.

Ta Da!

Pillows are storage for blankets and other bedding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put the ‘Fun’ in Functional Storage with this Cheap Trick

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I was complaining of being bored the other day. We won’t be moving aboard until at least the end of the summer, and we don’t get to have a long cruise this year because of Mike’s work. That pesky annual leave thing is going to be a thing of the past soon enough, so we’re content to wait out the remaining months doing a little bit here and there to move forward with our plan. The house and yard are in maintenance mode, my practice continues to slowly wind down. I’m fine with living in the liminal space, as a rule. But finding myself kind of wandering aimlessly around the house trying to look busy just isn’t my style.  It’s like don’t know what to do with myself. I decided I needed a few small but useful projects for the boat, starting with that cool cockpit mat.cockpitmat

The rumpus room in the v berth is taking shape and we will be using this cabin to watch movies and TV shows we like. To move forward with that plan,  I sorted and stored our DVD collection, throwing out all the colorful plastic containers and storing each DVD in its own plastic sleeve. I then labeled and stored them in nifty snap-locking containers I bought at JoAnn Fabric for 8$ apiece. I know many cruisers store hundreds of movies on thumb drives and maybe that will be in our future. For now, I don’t have the patience for that. This was quick and easy and finding what we want will also be quick and easy.

Our midship cabin got refurbished, too, with the addition of a layer of latex to the foam, and new upholstery.

You’ll be glad to know that the aft cabin project is moving along. We took possession of the finished mattresses this week and I carted them down to the boat to see that they fit before getting them covered. It’s probably overkill, but since I didn’t have any old foam to take in to use as patterns ( I had made my own paper pattern) I just wanted to eyeball the fit before covering. They fit beautifully and allow us to sleep any old which way. The bed is going to be very comfortable and will last for 20 years if we protect them. The next task is to bring them home so I can cover them in that PUL fabric, then take them for their final upholstery. After that, I get to make custom covers and sheets. Won’t that be a creative undertaking! I do believe our goal of having a totally comfortable, sleepable aft cabin is coming to fruition.

So much nicer than what we had before!

The trusty Brother sewing machine has been dusted off and I am rediscovering my love of sewing. As we are now envisioning being able to live with that aft cabin, it was time to turn my thoughts to how we would store our clothing there. We have one hanging locker, a small set of drawers, and a small drawer under each side of the bunk. There are shelves along the hull on each side and I’d like to keep them uncluttered. I would like to keep both clothing and bedding in that cabin and I wanted that storage to be easy to access because otherwise I am tempted to leave my clothes laying around draped decoratively on doorknobs and corners of objects. I know it’s a long shot, but we both really want to keep a neat and tidy look in our boat. It just feels better that way.

Cuteness overload!

Cuteness overload!

I had been considering colorful soft sided baskets to keep clothing in but where to put them was in question. Instead I opted to make fabric bags that look like pillow shams of different sizes and shapes. I bought 1.5 yards of this super cute owl outdoor fabric on sale for 12$/yard.  Then I found a 3$ remnant of orange fabric that matched. I purchased thread, some velcro, and a set of nylon upholstery zippers.  Total cost for materials was about 40$. For that price, plus some fun time at the sewing machine, I have a selection of sizes of storage containers for soft things like bedding and clothing: 2 large for blankets and such, two standard sized bolsters for shorts, tops, bathing suits, and three additional sizes – 7 storage units in all. These can be stored right in sight on the beds as pillows. The fabric is water repellant and UV protected. Plus…owls! Seriously, you can fit a ton of stuff in these things. Functional, practical, and fun!

The largest bag is 15″ x 26″, for scale purposes.

Mike is working on a couple of interior projects that he will write about soon. Our next joint project will be putting shelving in most, if not all, of the hanging lockers. We have a generous amount of hanging locker space, most of which is completely wasted because we don’t have that many clothes that hang. We already know that this job is going to be a pain in the hind end, so if you have any shortcut tips on how to make it easier, do tell. We want the shelves to take full advantage of all space, so that means they will have have to be custom cut.

This currently holds two blankets and two pillows. It would work great in the forward cabin as an extra pillow for lounging.

Oh, and guess what! We get to go on a short cruise over the Memorial Day weekend. We’ve got friends to stay with Skippy, so Thursday night we are out of here! Yay! We are both so ready for that.