Salon furniture 43'DC

[mttopd]

I'm planning on getting new furniture for the salon of our 43DC. I've taken measurements of the door/hatch entry. We then went shopping at the local furniture outlets. Found that all couchs, sofas and sectionals seem to be built to roughly the same dimensions (with the legs removed), the backs being 26" or greater. The entry width is 24". I'm having trouble envisioning wrestling these in through this space. I've looked at photos of furniture in 43DCs on YW and they look like the normal household stuff we've been looking at. Just don't want to purchase something and have it not fit through the door. Am I worried for no reason. Don't want to buy custom built, that all looks too modern for my taste. Any experiences that could be shared would be appreciated.

Thanks, Brian.

[SeaEric]

Jennifer Convertibles sells a very basic queen sleeper (the varsity?) that should go in the door with the legs off. If you want it to fit on the aft salon bulkhead, the question is what space do you have from the stbd bulkhead to the entry stairs? I'm not sure it fits that direction.

I found it. Here's a link:

http://promotions.jenniferfurniture....catterback.php

In general, boat furniture is 3/4 scale. Most furniture vendors don't know what 3/4 scale is. There are suppliers, if you search the net, that sell sofas that the back comes off.

[Capt. Tobb]

Would a futon work for a couch? makes a nice bed too, plus you can wash the cover. Big Bill used them in his 58YF and they are nice. Most of them can be put together in place.

[Craig]

We put a Jennifer convertable on our 42c. It's the queen sleeper. I can say we are not very happy with it, as a bed it's terribly uncomfortable, as a sofa it's barely passible.

[kwerges]

Flexsteel Furniture makes some very nice stuff. Made for RV's and boats, the sofa/sleeper measurements were perfect for our 42C...

[holtcl]

We went through all this on our 44TC. Looked at Flexsteel and many boats use it but it is very expensive and in my opinion (I'll probably get in trouble here) sort of industrial looking.

At first I went with a World Market futon but it neither held up nor was comfortable; so that didn't last long.

I also priced out a custom loveseat like they are putting in the new Hatteras- very nice but super expensive.

If you take out your salon window frame you will have a much wider opening and this will provide you with more options. We were able to find a nice leather set: loveseat, chair, ottoman; that was both comfortable and is 'real furniture'.

It was not difficult at all to remove the window and re-caulk. You may also need to take a portion of the handrail from the bottom bracket so that you have clearance; but again this is not a huge deal.

Good luck!

[SeaEric]

I had "high dollar" custom-made-for-me Flexsteel sofas on my last 2 boats. I didn't think they were very comfortable. The Flexsteel barrel chairs IMHO are really bad. The seat depth on both is rather short which means that you're sitting more straight up rather than able to lean back.

Whatever you decide to buy, go sit in/on it first!

As far as sofa beds, none of them really work well in both applications.

[Canuck Dennis]

The P.O. our 43 had the couch and easy chair custom made and final assy, inside the boat, they are really comfy, overstuffed and soft, no labels so cannot help there. Suggest finding a custom upholstery shop and go from there otherwise you may end up frustrated with make do stuff....See, boats are like women,... the rigging costs more than the hull....

[bigbill]

as capt tobb said, i put two futons in my 58yf, they have the extra thick matresses, they are very comfortable to sit in, and i hear they are very comfortable to sleep on, but i cant say anything about sleeping, i sleep in THE BIG BED in the master stateroom. they are 4 years old and holding up great. bigbill

[RTyler]

Our 1979 43 DC original sofa completely disassembled such that we could easily haul it out the door. It is extremely heavy duty, and well built so we just had it re-upholstered and did some minor work to the legs. It looks like new and is holding up very well. Point being that you may want to think about just reworking your existing furniture.