Our boat came with Bottom Siders - otherwise we would never have experienced
them. Now we are anticipating replacing them - probably with more Bottom
Siders (or similar). Our cat took a fancy to clawing the vinyl, which made
little holes progressing into craters. We tried glueing them back together
with the material Bottom Siders provides, but it didn't work. We then
covered them with Sunbrella, glueing the cloth on with vinyl adhesive. That
took care of the existing pits and craters, stopped the formation of new
ones, and eliminated that "sweaty" feeling from skin on hot vinyl. They are
also - ta da! - color coordinated. The cushions are now about fifteen years
old and not "springy" enough to use comfortably for sleeping in the cockpit.
While at the Oakland Boat Show, we ran across a small company in Santa Cruz,
CA that makes similar closed cell vinyl cushions - for much less cost - so
we may go with them. If we can find their business card again. As for
storage when not in use - we don't know, the cushions have always been on
the cockpit seats...
As for interior cushions, we went with automobile upholstery, tough stuff
that can withstand moisture, dust, sliding in and out around the table,
cleans up easily. Got ours at UFO, Upholsterer's Furnishing(?) Outlet, a
discount place in National City or San Diego. Our interior is teak veneer,
so we got the cloth in "teak" color. The end result was quite satisfactory.
(As for cost, a fellow ran them up for us in San Carlos - we supplied the
cloth, motorcycle seat foam, and the old cushion foam for designing new
multilayer, curved pads, he took out the vinyl bottoms and zippers from our
old cushions, sewed up new ones and charged us about $300. Probably wouldn't
get that in the US...)

Michael & Elizabeth
S/V Cambria
Loreto, BCS

On 6/5/07, Harvey J. Karten <hjkarten@ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Tom,
> What are your choices for cockpit cushions? I looked at Bottom Siders (?),
> but didn't like the idea of sitting on rubbery vinyl and the associated
> sweaty feeling. I think that they make them by spray painting with a
> rubbery
> vinyl.
> regards,
> Harvey
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Beard" <tom16@wavecable.com>
> To: <baba-l@ballreich.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 11:04 AM
> Subject: RE: [Baba-L] Interior cushions for a Baba
>
>
> > Rich,
> >
> > Ah, that old re-modeling again. While I have no idea of NE fabric
> workers
> > to
> > do the job, we have had this done several times in different
> locations--on
> > different boats. Our favorite and best craftsman happens to be here in
> our
> > town--however...
> >
> > A couple of ideas for you to consider: We, from a lot of living aboard
> > experience (20+ years) find nylon velour in a solid dark color to be
> best
> > suited to a boat's interior. Its wicking ability is superior. It is--or
> > seems--always dry. It cleans up amazingly well--even engine oil does not
> > show (from firsthand experience). And most of all, it cast an aura of
> > elegance combined with the teak.
> >
> > We found that most--that we experienced--cushion makers have a great
> > difficulty in making the curved foam pieces. And if supplied with a
> curved
> > foam, they cannot properly cover it. If you plan to replace the foam,
> you
> > might consider layering foam pieces making the bottom 2/3 firm and the
> top
> > 1/3 (or approximately) soft. This works extremely well with the berth
> > mattresses. You might add an inch or two of thickness to these as well.
> > Have
> > some test foam pads made up to find what suits you. For the bottom
> > coverings
> > of all the cushions we used the vinyl coated Dacron (as I recall) screen
> > material. It is tougher and more stable than canvas and not prone to
> > mildew.
> > Air, water and moisture passes through as well.
> >
> > As for costs--I have no idea. One plan that we did once was to journey
> > inland to the fabric mill areas in the mountains of the eastern
> Carolinas.
> > There are "factory outlet" stores in this region that sell remnants. We
> > found enough from a roll that was claimed to be used by Chrysler for
> some
> > upscale cars. Nice stuff. Though you might get a bargain on material,
> you
> > have to estimate very well because there is no finding more if you run
> > short. This means probably buying more just in case, in which case some
> of
> > the bargain will be absorbed. But you might have extra in case of
> > accident.
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > MOONSHADOW
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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Received on Mon Jun 11 14:42:47 2007