Modification of V berth cushions ?

[MACHAYA21]

R 23 v berth cushions come attached to a plywood backing. This makes moving individual cushions in this confined area a pain. Asked about having them separated from the wood bu t company won't do it. Is it possible to separate the cushions from the ply without damaging them? Are cushions stapled or glued to the wood? What to do to make it easier to handle that bulky combination ?
Manny

 

[Capt’nKarl]

Good afternoon Manny. We had the same issue with the V-berth in our 21EC. There is a lot of storage space under the cushions but getting to the space was cumbersome. Here’s what we did and there are pics in our album. Several owners have made this modification. I removed the cushions, bought a 3 inch memory foam mattress, marked the areas I wanted cut on the back side of the cushions and cut the memory foam to fit each section. I took everything to our localmarine canvas shop and they did the rest. They were able to remove the fabric, cut the boards to size, place the memory foam mattress and recover. Now we have much easier access to the storage area and a much more comfortable mattress. See our pictures for more details. One of the best modifications we’ve made.
Cheers!

Karl and Sara

 

[MACHAYA21]

Hi Karl,
Checked your photo and was very impressed with the results. Looks great. Will consider that method when R23 arrives in 'April '. Thank for the info.
Manny
Toms River, N.J.

 

[Capt’nKarl]

Thanks Manny. I forgot to add a small but important detail. I had the canvas shop sew a sturdy handle on each cushion edge to make them easier to grab. You can’t see that detail in the picture but it really helps.

Karl

 

[MACHAYA21]

Karl,
Great idea.
Manny

 

[Shangie]

Karl, Husband made your V-berth modification this weekend and it turned out fantastic- A huge help to me when needing to access storage. He did put grab handles on the sides that tuck into the upholstery. And he used the same material as the existing slip cover, just adding to what was left on each piece to finish them. When we purchased the boat it had the original seashell motif in great condition (Sunbrella Beachcomber Dune) so we purchased a couple yards online should we need to do repairs, etc. Took about 2-3 hours per section due to a gazillion staples.

Next we will work on adjusting the side upholstery pieces in the v- berth so we don't have to lift them to get the cushions out.

Thanks Karl for a great modification.

 

[az9133bm]

We felt the same way about the usefulness of the cushions and storage issues on our R-23. Refer to our Photo Album for more details. Let me know if you have any questions.
George

 

[Capt’nKarl]

Take a look at our photo album on what we did to modify the Vee berth cushions to give us better utilization of the space underneath.
Karl