Bunk/seat cushions

[Tales]

Has anyone had new bunk/seat cushions made up recently?
The old brown vinyl ones on Tales are not particularly comfortable and require restiching on a regular basis.
Any advice welcome!
Tom

[storm petrel]

Hi Tom,

I went to a local upholstery place last week to have my tatty vinyl v-berth cushions replaced with v-berth and centre cushions to make a double bed in Storm Petrel's 'stateroom'. I broke it up into five new cushions with new foam covered in vinyl with piping around the edges. I hope to get the finished cushions this week. The cost was $700, which hurt but I suppose is reasonable considering the materials and the amount of labour involved. They still made the vinyl that was originally used for the cushions so the new cushions will match the others in the main cabin. I guess I will replace these as well some time in the future when my finances recover.

Cheers,
Mark

[Swift]

Hi Tom

When I first bought Swift I made new fabric cushions for the bunk and V birth. This included new foam as the old stuff had collapsed. Also, I made some vinyl cockpit cushions. I used my wives little domestic sewing machine which only just coped with the layers required for sewing the piping for the cabin cushions. There was no way it would cope with sewing piping in the vinyl. But it proves it can be done on a home machine.

I mention this because although I am not a total novice (having, in a past life, a fair bit of experience with heavy industrial leather sewing machines) I still found this project challenging and very time consuming. So when the time comes to pay for what may seem an excessive price for new cushions the pain can be eased by keeping in mind that for the time and effort involved it is actually one of the better value items on a boat.

Cheers
Keith

[8philip8]

hi
where do one buy the piping?
as I'm thinking of making my own cushions for the cockpit.
I do have a old singer patcher.
I know it 'll take a day or two to do.
but that is half of the fun of boating
8philip8

[Swift]

Hi Philip

You might be able to get piping at Spotlight. Way back when I used to buy it in industrial quantities I used to get plastic piping or small diameter and rolled paper for larger radius piping. Which illustrates that you can use almost any cord that is round and pliable. On my last project I used small diameter nylon that I had left over from a roll I bought for building lazyjacks. It was very soft and easy to use.

Cheers
Keith