Comfortable Cabin Seating for R-31

[bemiller75]

My First Mate and I were admiring a sharp-looking Unity RV van parked nearby; she noticed that the RV had two recliner chairs and she commented on how comfortable they looked. Since the R-31 dinette seating is not particularly comfortable for much more than a day trip, that observation led immediately to a discussion of how hard it would be to convert the dinette seating area on our Ranger into something a bit more comfortable for evenings on the boat (after it gets too windy, buggy, or cold to use the cockpit). We’re very curious if any R-31 owners have been able to make any such a modifications, perhaps with something like recliners for two. If so, any ideas, pictures or plans would be much appreciated. I have a feeling that we will need to make some improvements before I retire and we start making the longer cruises we are planning.

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

The practical obstacles to adding recliners to a boat with an 8 foot beam... Can't get the chairs through the aft door without disassembling. The footprint of an RV recliner is still larger than the area associated with the dinette and when reclined, the footprint becomes larger than 1/2 the width of the boat. Then there's the weight. The chairs combined with two people sitting in them will have the boat looking like it's about to capsize. So that's the bad news. The good news is that you'll get a really good price for the R31 and can use the money on a nice 42' sundeck trawler that will come with 2 nice recliners already in the salon. 😀

 

[SJI Sailor]

It would certainly be quite a modification!

On our C30 the most comfortable ways to sit are folding chairs in the cockpit (full enclosure makes it work almost year round) and sitting sideways on the dinette/helm benches with a long, fat throw pillow against the wall as a backrest. Allows stretching legs out nicely. Not sure how well it would translate to the different table layout on an RT. Sitting up on the master berth is OK, too, although not so great during the day as it's dark.

 

[piglet 2013]

My wife and I have the same issue in our c28. My solution is to do what the other reply suggested sitting sideways with a cushion for a backrest. We are going one step farther by adding a flip up footrest on the end of each dinette seat. Not a recliner but better for sitting for longer periods.