Interior refit 1970's kit sailboat questions

[Spot]

Originally Posted by wingless

With that large ell shape, it won't be possible to attain gravity retention. The 90° bend that conforms w/ the cabinet may mandate moving the hinge away from the hull, so the inboard surface is parallel to the cabin top when opened.

It may be that a fore / aft angle exists between the cabin top and the inboard cover surface when latched open.

Tossing needles are always the first step to fixing sewing machine problems.

Yes, yes, and yes. As always thanks for the input.

I took some measurements yesterday and clearance ceiling to berth is 36" because of a small beam supporting the cabin top, except for a small section right at the corner of the ceiling that is a bit tapered. with a 16" tall cabinet 18" deep hinged section I should not have difficulty swinging the L just past 90 degrees but will with 100% certainty need something to hold it open during use and closed during trailering.

I am still waiting on foam. I added to my order and suspect I got sent to the back of the line because of that, OK as it saved me shipping. I did find a nice selection of electric knives at the second hand store. I picked a vintage Sears #400.47760 for 2$ US that had a milder hook on the blades. So far I cut dense carpet padding (memory foam type) and a glued up piece of lighter weight anti-static foam so I have high hopes for plain upholstery foam. I am itching to do some sewing, I might make a bag or case for the knife.

[wingless]

YW

Good choice on the electric knife for foam cutting. A hot knife is the best way for fabric cutting. I use a large retired mirror door for hot knife fabric cutting.

[Spot]

I am getting ready to do some sewing.

The first batch of foam is in and it looks good. I have a couple different thicknesses and firmness-es to try. I also go in more needles, a couple aftermarket presser feet (misplaced all the other stock ones, will probably find them after project is done...) and some regular thread for everyday matching and sewing. Last time I needed a hot knife for nylon I re-purposed an older soldering iron. If I can find the old wood burning set it'd be even better as that takes Xacto knife blades so I'd get a nice cut/melt off the iron.

Weather is supposed to improve for a few days. It would be nice to get the cabinets done but I don't know if I can do all that in a short week's time. So I may go back to making sure all patterns are ready and then work on things indoors.

[Spot]

I got to mess around with the sewing yesterday.

It was interesting from a standpoint of using reclaimed materials, other than the zipper and the thread. All I used was a muffin pan to cut out the top and bottom (plates) and rulers to mark out the sides (boxing).

I felt a little ham-fisted trying to sew something so small (to think I have an aunt who sewed Barbie Doll and GI Joe doll clothes) and forgot to cut the small slits needed so the boxing could be more easily sewn to the plates. One corner got really bad, I tore out the seam, added the slits, and it worked a treat. I also did not figure out the zipper boxing correctly to start. I measured it for an invisible zipper installation and then at the last minute I decided to add some reveal to the zipper to allow more black to show in the finished product. This turned out to be a good thing as the case was not designed deep enough and the reveal added depth.

Where it got really dicey was that I let the zipper boxing be too long and sewed it in from the middle first. When I got to the overlap I did not make good decisions, tried to interlock the middle seam, and ended up making it look funny from the outside. I am guessing I should have stopped sooner, did a simple single seam to join the plain ends of the zipper boxing. I also need to work on my back-stitching, getting forward and reverse to stay in the same line.

Even though I tell tales of trial and woe, I am pretty happy with the result. It has an interesting look, vintage cloth and rough-and-tumble stitching. It may fit the Garmin GPS/fish finder better than the electric knife so there could be another go at this. I am thinking just a draw-string bag with a hanging loop...

Cold and windy today, milder with nights above freezing and sunshine rest of week. We had 20 mph (30km/h) gusting 40mph (60km/h) last night so I took down the tarp.

My mind is going back to cabinets and final adjustments to the side berths. It would be nice to be through some more of this before winter fully sets in.

I made the side berths from 24" wide pieces and the foam is also 24". The 1/2" (12mm) berth tops overhang the longitudinal supports, unsupported, by 3-1/4" (82mm) or so. I was going to cut them back to the supports at the cabinet locations and am considering making them a little narrower the rest of the way down. I am considering tapering the foam to hull as the two sides are not exactly the same so the plan to make them 'flippable' which would involve port going to starboard and vise versa seems less practical.

I also need to test the foam, now that it has breathed for a few days. It seemed quite stiff but this could be a false reading from having so much older/softer foam in the house and camper to compare to.

[wingless]

Nice progress and updates.

Too bad the cushions cannot be reversed. The first time there is a spill / stain that won't come out then that will be an issue.

Here is my hot knife. It was terrific during my sewing projects.

[Spot]

WL thanks for the hot knife picture. I 'googled' a bit and found a hack for an old soldering gun to make a blade like that using 12ga solid copper wire: https://youtu.be/zso-p2KTMoY

Between family, work, house, elections... I have not spent much time on/in the boat even though the weather is nothing short of glorious for November.
Some of the 'crew' (adult children) were over and helped me test the cushion foam. There is quite a difference between sitting and sleeping and squishing a piece of foam in one's hand is not a good enough tell for me.

Here's a couple pic of the camper cushions I did a few years ago. The green ones are a first go before I figured out about slightly under-sizing the cover or over-sizing the foam. The striped one was my second project with lessons learned from the first. After trying the new boat foam, the camper cushions feel too soft. Another project...

[Spot]

My soldering guns do not seem as compatible to the 'hot knife hack' as anticipated.
I did find the red 'fat pencil' iron that I used to cut out the orange nylon pendant. The tip is not full sharp, more like a smaller screwdriver or butter knife.
It also turns out that the 2 small pieces of cloth I bought at the mill-end fabric store last time are 'decorator' (natural) instead of 'Sunbrella' (synthetic) and are not compatible with the hot knife. They are intended for chairs in the house anyways so it is not a loss. The repurposed boat cover fabric is synthetic and cuts were comparable with the nylon, improving as I adjusted pressure and speed. If I use the mill-end store I will need to double-check the fiber content (things are not labelled like in a retail fabric store) before buying a bunch for the boat.

[wingless]

Too bad the Weller hot knife conversion didn't work as hoped.

The ~$100 for a real hot knife was worth it on my projects.

When I had lots of fabric to cut I used a retired closet door w/ a mirror as the cutting surface. When smaller quantities were being cut I used a smaller backing board.

[Spot]

I ordered a hot knife earlier in the week after a couple of failed attempts to fashion a cutting element for the one soldering gun. I was not able to gain enough resistance to generate and keep heat in the blade area. The new one is 100w, R type blade, adjustable temp, and has the foot. It was easier for me to cut on the brass bar without the foot than with the foot so I imagine I'll use the old mirror as Wingless has mentioned. If the new one were to fail, the red soldering iron from before also work.

I also happened into a Walmart and they had on clearance a bolt of 6oz 100% black and white polyester indoor/outdoor fabric. Normally 6.97$ on sale for 1.50$ a square yard. The bolt had 4 3/4 yards so I sprung for all of it. I do not think it'll be the pattern I will use in the boat, nor is it enough, but is more than enough to practice with the hot knife and sewing machine.

[SailingFan]

This is a very interesting refit! I will be watching! I have a less intensive refit to complete. I will be quite interested especially in how you resolve your surface finishes on the hull sides and cabin overhead areas. Keep it going!

[Spot]

Originally Posted by SailingFan

This is a very interesting refit! I will be watching! I have a less intensive refit to complete. I will be quite interested especially in how you resolve your surface finishes on the hull sides and cabin overhead areas. Keep it going!

Thanks for the encouragement!


I worked on the patterns today. Amazing how cold one can get at 32F (0C) even when out of the wind...17 knots gusting 35 and slapping the tarp against the hull. All ports covered by the tarp so I had to use cabin lighting and an ancient incandescent 'emergency' light from the RV.


1. Precut 36" (92cm) rosin paper (what I had laying around) to 25 x 97" (63 x 247 cm) slightly larger than max dimension of berths
2. Place paper aligned with straight outer edge. Staple into place w/ cardboad backers to allow easier staple removal
3. Smooth paper into corner, staple, trim, forget to measure bevels, pull staples, roll up and rubber band
4. Repeat on other side checking bevels before rolling

With a 4" (100mm) cushion my bevels would be about 1" (25mm) all around except a small bit at the foot ends that 'tumbles' out a little more. The point made earlier by Wingless about trying to make them straight and able to be flipped will be reviewed again with the patterns on the table.

Jury is still out on wall coverings. I was thinking thin EVA like is used for traction on stand-up paddle boards. I have a couple closed-cell seat cushions in the boat, they were awful stiff with the cooler temps. Upper hull and ceiling will most likely be painted after I get the port lights and deck core issues resolved and new wires chased around boat.

[wingless]

Thanks for all the updates. Great progress. Too bad about the frigid temperatures. It really sucks working in the cold.

The 1¼" hull taper will make flipping the cushions difficult even if the pattern symmetry works because the hull side of the cushion should be wider on the top than the bottom for a good fit.

One way to have square sides is to have an integrated wall backrest/cushion. If going that route, then the backrest bottom 3" could taper from 1¼" to 0", or whatever thickness is selected for that backrest.

Sea Ray built my boat w/ attached salon backrest cushions that hook on the top and screw on the bottom. They hide stuff behind those cushions that only need access when upgrading or repairing.

[wingless]

Originally Posted by wingless

Sea Ray built my boat w/ attached salon backrest cushions that hook on the top and screw on the bottom. They hide stuff behind those cushions that only need access when upgrading or repairing.

This image shows the salon backrest cushions for my model boat (not my boat).

If going that route, then a thinner solution would work better on the OP's boat, but maybe using that concept. A rolled top edge, about 2" thick, with interior hidden pins (bolts) pointing down, fitting into holes on a perimeter board attached to the hull.

The backside could be shape retention ribs for the curved plywood panel and the front side could be thin padding and upholstery.

That backrest could even overlap the seat cushion, like shown in the image, eliminating the requirement to follow the hull taper. (Always nice to eliminate the requirement for a perfect fit w/ concealed gaps).

This type of solution would create a location for hiding the wiring, under the perimeter board.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by wingless

This image shows the salon backrest cushions for my model boat (not my boat)...

I think I am following you WL, thanks for the pic, and your suggestion just may be the ticket to fixing an awkward seating position. The hull curves out and away at the prime sitting spot making it 24" to the edge. By having a thick and sculpted backrest, easily removable, the sitting function would be more square to the world, a little easier to sit on and get up from, and the most visible gap well hidden. It could taken off the berth giving the sleeper a few more inches for head and shoulders.

Now if only I could get my boat as 'shiny' as that example picture...

[Spot]

Here is a comparison between the berth sides, starboard being a bit larger than port. I imagine this can be attributed to the mold and/or the assembled kit nature of the boat. I can see more and more advantages to making the berth cushions and covers un-beveled and swappable between sides than disadvantages, especially if the seatbacks are well done. About 1/2 of the berth is under the cockpit seats so there will be no seatback in those areas. I am also still leaning to a slight trim of the 96" long straight edges of the berths to reduce the overhang and allow the cushion to be slightly proud of the plywood.