Anyone replace the bunk cushions?

[SEA3PO]

Yesterday, I was putzing around in the boat, and to my horror I found that the hydraulic steering unit had leaked and covered the underside of the bunk (on my side) with oil..... we are trying to wash the sunbrella cover but think we will replace the foam .... I don't think we can ever get the oil out of the foam.....

Has anyone replaced their foam ? I think I would like a bit stiffer foam...actually I would like about a 6" thick mattress in there... I bottom out the existing foam...never liked it that much...too soft,

Might anyone know what weight foam came in the boats? the density

Thanks..

Joel
SEA3PO

[johnr]

I would at least give washing it a try (what do you have to lose?). Foam is shockingly expensive.

[icewater]

When we got our Classic, it had no cushions in the berth. Since one of our goals was to spend some time fishing overnight, we ordered 4" closed cell foam. Wife ordered some green Sunbrella and sewed up the cushions. Very pleased with them.

She was very forgiving when we had to replace the steering cable and got some grease on the cushions. Closed cell foam helps a lot.

[redbaronace]

We also sought to increase the comfort of the berth cushions for sleeping.

What we did was add the hyper vent under the cushions and a memory foam topper cut to size on top. When we sleep, we lay out a sleeping bag spread out over the memory foam and between all the layers, it is very very comfortable.

The hypervent also helps cut the condensation build up so that is the other benefit. I believe the hypervent was around $130 and the 4 inch memory foam was around $60 from Overstock.com.

One helpful tip about cutting the memory foam is to use an electric knife. They can be purchased for around $15 from walmart.

Total cost for everything around $200 and 3 hours of time.

[Sea Wolf]

Joel-

I don't know about Oxnard, Ventura, etc.,but when we lived in Fremont there was an outfit called Bob's Foam Factory down by the GM/Toyota plant that could make anything you wanted out of any kind of foam on the planet, including custom laminations, shapes, etc. Probably a similar outfit somewhere near you.

He had a huge toothless band saw and 12x 12 foot table to cut foam on. Would have made a great prop for a magician's "cut them in half down the middle" act! (He was the father of one of our girls at Irvington High where I taught.) Probably could make up your cushions and send them to you. Great guy, reliable, honest!

http://www.bobsfoam.com/

Joe.

[thataway]

Joel,
I would find a local (as local as you can find) and see what they have. Then try them out. We have had custom boat cushions made for several of our boats. Usually we combine several densities of foam, glued together, and then a batting on the top. You can also combine a higher density foam, and a memory foam. But go try it out first.

[DuckDogTitus]

interesting and irrelevant side note... I found that I slept so much better in the boat on the foam that after one season with the c-dory my wife and I gave away our mattress and bought a foam bed from bedinabox last month. its been amazing for my back. Would be great if they offered custom sizes for boats

[Sunbeam]

I haven't replaced any of the C-Dory foam, but I have sourced foam for campers and other furniture. Basically there are two parameters (which you can mix and match):

1) Density. This is how much "foam is in the foam." Denser = heavier, longer-lasting, basically better. This is independent of soft or firmness. Typically measured in lbs per cubic foot.

2) Softness/firmness. Look for "ILD" (deflection rating). Something like an 18 is really soft; 45+ is really firm. There many numbers in between.

In other words, you can get a high quality soft foam, a low quality firm foam, or vice versa.

Since there is typically no "discount" for buying, say, one piece of 4" thick foam vs. two pieces of 2" thick foam, I sometimes get two (or more) different ILD pieces and put them together (no need to glue or etc. since they are trapped in the cover). That way you can sort of "make" a thinner foam work like a thicker one (i.e. 2" of 40 ILD on the bottom so you don't bottom out, with 2" of 25 on top for cushion). You can even get four 1" pieces. Another plus of that is that it's always hard to tell what it will be like until you really use it. With the multiple pieces you can adjust it slightly by changing the order of the layers in the stack.

Sunbeam

[teflonmom]

We went to a foam mattress manufacturer and had a new matress and cover made. My wife picked a very expensive fabric and we used memory foam. The price was bad, but we sure slept well. They did the whole job using the original cushions as a pattern.

[C-Hawk]

Peggy made new cushions for us when ours went bad.

[Redƒox]

Currently I have evolved my bedding to mem' foam (2 inch bottom layer) toped off with a wool mattress topper (2 inch), with a 1-inch thick half-size camping air mat under it all, the top part (head and shoulders) for added support... a 3 layer system, easy to take it all out in the sun for good house keeping. Very good support and very warm.

All of that I cut into a v-shape (except the short camp mat) and even sewed covers for them as well.

[rogerbum]

On the Tomcat, I went to a local mattress factory and had custom 6" mattresses made. Cost was about $1k, but the bed is now as comfy as the one at home.

[Montana Kev]

We bought standard 4" foam from Joann fabrics (the aqua blue foam) and replaced the C-Dory factory foam that was really hard. We were able to reuse the original vberth cushion covers that have zippers in them. The old foam smelled musty but I found plenty of takers and gave it away. We then bought a standard 2” queen memory foam topper from Target and cut it to fit. We then made a simple slip cover for the memory foam and it sits on top of the 4” as a topper. Soft on top and firmer on the bottom. Sleeps great! If you get more than 6” of bedding it starts cutting into your vberth headroom. We also have placed closed cell foam in the berth side walls to cut down on condensation and it give a nice soft feel if you snuggle against the hull. We also added 2 pieces of the closed cell foam on snaps that fit in the low space above our heads, no worries when you forget you’re on the boat and go to sit upright in the middle of the night. If you join the mail list at Joanns, you will get coupons that give you up to 40% off of foam and fabrics. You will need an electric knife to cut the foam. We probably spent less than $200.00 for everything, including the fabric for the topper cover and the electric knife.

Kevin

[helm]

We have replaced the foam in our V Berth twice, once before we left for our Great Loop trip, and then again this year. This time we used West Coast Canvas, they put new foam in the V Berth and replaced the foam and seat covers in the cabin, adding leather to the wear points and even did the C- Dory embroidery for us. They are at Tower Park by Lodi

[Redƒox]

Check out "Latex Foam" or did someone already mention it? Looks to be the best of the best to me...