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Spot · 19-03-2021, 20:41

So I took the 2 matching pattern out to the boat and they seemed 'too big' even for foam so I took 1/2" (13mm) off of the hull edges, 1+1/2" (38mm) off of the bow point, and 1/4" (6.4mm) more around the head hatch and compression post. Things seemed to be a much better fit. I rigged a little cardboard guide to allow me to chase the new curved hull edge and re-draw my lines for fabric edge and nominal intent so I did not have to try bending a batten to match my latest 'edit'.

I was optimistic that I could get one side from one piece of foam with a couple of glued-on additions. I marked everything and stared cutting. Somehow I moved my template and could not get it to line up again. At first I thought the template had wandered while I was marking. I was resigning myself to have 'wrecked' the foam. I went through some of the stages of grief and walked around the tables enough times to call the project Jericho. Eventually I pulled and tugged and moved everything around that it fit once more. Then i did the grafts and final cuts with my secondhand store electric knife. It is important to support the larger cut-offs so they do no affect the angle of the blade as it is cutting. Sliding in a thin - 1/8" (3.2mm)- piece of plywood underneath the foam behind the cut usually did the trick.

My final piece has one main section and 6 'grafts' and the actual scrap was minimal. 4 of the grafts were needed to complete the bow section, the other 2 were planned to fill in corners missed by the main section. I got Loctite 300 'Professional' spray adhesive from the local big-box home improvement store. It says 'upholstery' on the can and it did the trick. The bond between foams and glue is stronger than the foam itself. I wish I had been more liberal with the application as there are a couple spots on the edges that were not 100% glued. Some of this was from trying trying to avoid over-spray. I would have been better off wearing disposable gloves and taking all of the pieces outside to spray. Based on the destructive test, these are probably more cosmetic that structural issues and the bright, low-angle sun makes the 'cracks' look worse than they are.

I am hoping to finish the second foam layup while the weather is still nice. More snow and rain in a couple days for a couple days, might be good indoor sewing weather.

GILow · 19-03-2021, 23:00

Looking good, but now I am realising what complex shapes they will be to sew. Glad it’s you not me.

On a positive note, I had one glue seam between two bits of foam where I hadn’t brought the glue close enough to the edge. I was worried about it at the time, but it is holding up fine and I realised later that the foam is held in mild compression by the cushion-cover anyway.

Spot · 20-03-2021, 16:28

Thanks Matt. Good point about the foam being in compression.

I did the other one and it went much quicker 2-3 hours instead of all afternoon.
I did figure a way to get the paper and foam re-aligned after taking it on and off. I took a paper punch and put holes in all of the corners and midpoints of the longer sides. I dotted through the holes with a green marker and stuck pushpins in to resist movement.
I was able to use larger pieces of foam for the bow graft so I went from 6 to 4 pieces. I made an over-spray guard and used more glue and wore gloves. The can's nozzle seemed 'drippy' this time so I had to clean up a bit with mineral spirits. Had I not worn gloves the dripping and cleanup would have been miserable
When there is less than 3/4" (19mm) of foam on each side of the blade, it can wander a bit vertically, or if the foam is free to flop around once cut. I had maybe 2-3 spots that did not cut really straight up and down. Once it happens it's difficult to trim off the 'smeared' section. It's be fun to try this on a big table with a cutter that has the base that slides under the foam...The small scraps from each cushion is shown, only about 10x24" (254 x 608mm). I will still need a little less than 2 running feet (608mm) from the third piece to make the hatch cover but will also be able to use the remainder of the third piece for the back cushions for the side berths.

Spot · 27-03-2021, 13:23

I have may over-calculated my need for fabric.

I guess I will not be wanting for back rests and the like. The red boxes represent my available pieces, the white and blue what I need to cut for the v-berth. I could have made it on 6 yards instead of 13 and I still have almost 2 yards left over from last time.

Spot · 27-03-2021, 14:22

I forgot to add boxing for the pointy end, the compression post, and then straight side in the middle on one of the views. It might go better to use the 6.9yd piece instead of the 5.8yd piece.

Spot · 02-04-2021, 05:31

Everything is cut out for the v-berths. I spent some extra time making sure I was cutting the tops and bottoms with the printed side out. The flashlight on the hot knife helped. I am still using the foot on the knife so a can work without a piece of glass under the blade. I did the zipper plaques last night. I still have thoughts about getting a different (walking foot instead of 'home' type sewing machine) especially after this one skips a stitch or drifts without rhyme or reason...or just plain operator error...but I am now down to regular inside seams so I should be OK.

Spot · 04-04-2021, 09:40

V-berth cushions are sewn. It took most of my yesterday and a hour or so to finish today. Moat of the time was on cushion 1 and cushion 2 benefited from lessons learned on 1.

I regret having made the small corners for the compression post and the blunting of the point at the peak. Had I simplified these I could have easily save 2 hours. I also regret not tapering the 'add' to the foam along the curved edge. If I would have reduced it as the bow pulled in, the covers would sit a little nicer around the foam. I still need to do a final push-pull adjustment on all of the cushions. Reworking a tapered cut on the foam at this point is difficult between the glued-up tips and the need for a decent amount of foam around the blade of the electric knife to make a nice cut.

There was some slipping and sliding as far as the fabric feeding was concerned. If it got bad enough for me to notice, I would stop and rip seams back a few inches and do-over. I could see the benefits of a walking foot or needle feed in this situation. I was tempted to get one. A coworker has one that I may ask to try once they wear the 'new machine smell' off of it... I also messed around with double-sided tape at the end to maintain my seam allowances without slipping. It was an office variety rather than a real 'basting' or sewing type so it wasn't 100% ideal (not the right width, no release paper) but it did help keep the top and bottom fabric layers in unison as they fed into the machine.

Now I need to go after the leaks in the ceiling and windows and companionway so that the boat stays dry so the cushions can stay in there between sails...along with everything else

wingless · 05-04-2021, 08:37

Wow! Looks great! Thanks for sharing!

When the initial plans were posted, I was wondering about the difficulty for that post notch, but I haven't made cushions myself yet, so I had nothing to contribute.

When I did my canvas projects I frequently used sewing basting tape. It was sooo handy. I have all three widths. I also used it on all the top canvas seams where holes exist from top surface to interior to limit rainwater ingress along the PTFE thread.

wingless · 05-04-2021, 08:41

Are the rainwater intrusion points all known? What is leaking?

LittleWing77 · 05-04-2021, 10:20

Spot!

SO fantastic! You're an inspiration to all of us.

Bet you're just itching to get her into the water and go sailing...!

LittleWing77

Spot · 05-04-2021, 18:47

Thanks WL and LW77!
Yes, looking forward to season...
Leaks are port lights, the hardware holding on the wooden tracks for the companionway top slider, and a couple miscellaneous deck fittings (not shown) and the wall separating cabin and cockpit where things were installed then removed. Covering the boat over winder seems to hace helped keep everything much drier. The decision will be how far to take the cabin ceiling rebuild- weak points only or larger or all cored areas. I do not want to go from the outside as that is relatively sound unpainted gel coat and non-skid. The inside ceiling is rather tough looking so I don't mid cutting into it. I will talk it through with my local fiberglass vendor, he has done lots with old boats.

Spot · 24-04-2021, 19:48

Spring still teases us here in the Upper Midwest.
After a cool and wet start today, we got a burst of clearing skies and sunshine and with that I found the energy to cut up the cardboard boxes, used for the cushion foam, into pieces and head out to the driveway and boat to begin making templates the galley cabinets.

I took a tool that I normally use for marking parallel lines and added a pointed dowel to its end to allow me to better track the curve of the hull, keeping the tool level to the berth top as I went along. Sometimes the first trace and cut would turn out fair enough, sometimes another line with the pencil or a marker alone laid against the hull was enough to get a nice accurate curve. The key is to start out with enough cardboard to allow an initial cut and a trim cut. Once the curve was fair, I marked the cardboard to the edge of the berth and struck a line with the square and trimmed it as shown.

I am planning to make the side a couple inches lower than the hull joint and I am also planning on trimming the overhang of the berth in front of the cabinets so the templates will be a little smaller when all is said and done,as shown by the picture with the mark-ups. I used the port templates to mark the rough cut on the starboard ones. They were close enough to make me feel good about the shape of the boat but the pieces fit much better when each is marked in place and trimmed.

For those paying attention to the mug buoy, the boat is really not at that angle, it just needs to warm up/loosen up...

wingless · 24-04-2021, 22:39

Looking good.

So those sink and stove walls are being placed to work w/ these existing cushions?

GILow · 25-04-2021, 03:31

Do you know, sometimes I think this forum needs a “like” button.

Looking good, keep up the great work. It’s inspiring me, I’ve just gutted the single cabin and I’m in a sea of scrap timber plus the extraordinary quantity of “stuff” that I had to remove from that cabin and the aft cabin to reroute all of the aft wiring.

Nice to see someone else up to their neck in it and having fun.