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After years of complaining about the narrow aft-bunk, I finally did something about it. I made a bunk extension and replaced the mattress. The extension fits on a lip on the edge of the bunk above the drawers, on the engine box, and on a hatchboard rack I made a few years back. A shelf with a wide fiddle fits in this space and holds a filler cushion. When not in use, the shelf slides under the cushion and out of the way. The mattress and filler is made from a memory-foam cushion. It is now the width of a queen when the filler is in place.
I’m not really sure this will give me more room at night. My wife is a bed-hog. I think I’ll still get pinned up against the hull but maybe I have a fighting chance now.
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I had trouble loading photos, had to do them one at a time with reduced resolution.
Next project is to refinish the woodwork in the aft cabin, for the Nth time.
BTW: I made the cushion covers myself. I’m not ready to quit my day job with my sewing projects but it came out OK. I bought a Sailrite sewing machine and that made the job much easier. That thing will sew through a sheet of plywood if you can get it under the foot.
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Rich
Nice job!
When convenient, would you please take/send a pic from the door to the galley looking aft at the bed. How wide is you aft berth? My Admiral thinks that, not counting the addition, it doesn’t look as wide as ours.
Also – I highly recommend a product called Tuft Topper (http://tuftedtopper.com/)… we were unhappy and prepared to go the commercial mattress route in the V berth until we bought this product. It eliminated any feeling of the cracks between foam sections and prevents bottoming out… all around really improved our sleeping experience. Everyone we know who has purchased this product has really liked it, including a couple who live-aboard.
Regards
Rick
Eclipse #73 -
Rick
The link to a topper shows a V-berth. That was our daughter’s cabin until very recently. She’s on her own now and rarely joins us on the boat anymore. Maybe when we hopefully have grandkids the bunk will get used again. For the first time, we slept up there last summer when we had guests onboard. We found it almost impossible to get in and out of there. You have to do a somersault to get in and out. Our V-berth mattress is one piece so there’s no crack to fall into. It’s comfortable once you get in there but a PIA to do so. Here’s a link to the mattresses we bought. Easy to cut with an electric knife.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7R9IHA/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1I added a photo that shows aft. This is taken without the filler in place. You can see the lip the shelf sits on. The bunk is exactly as wide as it used to be with the addition of a filler, approx 12″. The aft end doesn’t get wider. The fiddle holds the two pieces together. I’ll be cutting a mattress pad to fit too. If I’m covering the thing with a mattress pad, sewing a cover on the mattress was probably a waste of time.
I want to be able to remove the filler when not in use, otherwise the aft cabin would be very narrow. I widened the nav station many years ago; got tired of banging my head against the breaker-panel.
The mattress is quite comfortable. It’s much thicker than the original mattress provided by the builder and raises the bunk as expected. This reduces the clearance to the bookcase. Adding yet a mattress topper might make it difficult to read in bed.
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Rich
Thanks the picture was helpful. Your aft bunk is the same as ours.
We experience the same issues getting into and out of the V berth.
Sounds like you have a great sleeping solution that works for you.
FWIW the TuftTopper people send you a template and make it to fit whatever configuration you have (V Berth, Saloon, aft berth, etc)
Thanks again
Rick
Eclipse #73 -
Thanks for this. I’ve got a similar project underway. The mattress from hip level up will be expanded in a trapezoida-ish shape so that the top half is about 8” inside the doorway.
I need to create fiddles for this and a few other galley upgrades. Did you shape fiddles yourself or were you able to find some ready made?
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I made the fiddles myself. There’s a hardwood specialty store not far from where I live that sells teak and other exotic woods. Cutting the teak is straightforward if you have the right tools. Be careful selecting the mattress pad. The thicker the pad, the lower the book-rack goes. Cutting foam is easy with an electric carving knife. I sewed upholstery fabric to make a cover but you really don’t need it if you use a mattress pad.
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