New, Custom Mattresses!

[Angela]

Other than the master stateroom, which is a standard queen mattress, the other six beds on the boat are the original 36-year-old foam mattresses. So, I thought I'd give mattress-making a try. I am so impressed at just how nice these mattresses turned out that I had to share them with you. I experimented on the crew bunks and I'm very, very happy with the outcome. I chose the off-white fabric for the cover online, hoping that when I got it in hand it would be suitable. It's perfect! They look good enough without any sheets/comforters on them to just leave them like that until I need to make up a room for guests.

I used a layup schedule of 4" high density foam, topped with 2½" eggcrate, and 3" memory foam on top. On the bottom bunk, since overhead height was a concern, I used 1" high density foam, topped with 2½" eggcrate, and 3" memory foam on top. Perfect. Both mattresses are extremely comfortable, even the thinner one - while making it, I laid down on it to test it for comfort. I fell asleep for a half an hour. So, it passed the test. And that was before I had put the 1" foam on the bottom.

So, with that confidence under my belt, I'm going to do the other four beds on the boat. I used a new product for the first time, "Cushion Wrap Silk Film", a thin, silent plastic sheeting that you leave on the mattresses after they are stuffed into the cover - it's silent, not "crunchy" like traditional plastic. I wrapped each the mattresses in the film, used a shop vac to suck the air out, and reduced the mattress in size such that I could just slip them in the covers with ease. They plumped up on their own inside the covers. I'm hooked on that film, now.

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[SEVEN]

These look better than store bought. How long did it take once you got all the materials? How did you cut all the foam pieces? Great job Ang.

[drburke]

Very nice work!

Do you have some pictures while doing the work in addition to the after shots? Great project.

DAN

[johnjen50]

Wow. You just continue to amaze me.those look fabulous. Great material for the cover. Did you sew it with your sailrite machine?

[Angela]

Thanks. I am utterly shocked at how nice they turned out. I keep going down there just to look at them! I cut the foam with an electric knife - like you'd use to carve a turkey. It took me a few hours to do the foam work (half day?). The foam work entailed making a pattern, tracing the pattern onto each layer of foam, making several measurements/adjustments to the pattern for the upper bunk because the outer edge of that one is beveled. I sewed both covers in one long day. Attaching the beveled edge of the upper cover took me a while to figure out and a little trial and error. It took me about 30 minutes to drag it all upstairs to the salon, lay it out on the silk films and get it all ready to shrink. Stuffing them into the covers once they were shrunken only took a minute or two. I can't wait to make the rest of the boat's mattresses. This was actually fun - probably because the finished product far exceeded my expectation.

If I had had a proper working environment, such as the large tables where they make sails and large canvas pieces, rather than the floor of my salon, I probably could have done it in less time.

[Angela]

I do have a number of photos I took along the way, along with a write up of how I did it, where I got the goods and what it cost. I'm going to finish editing that and up it up on Sanctuary's website.

Yes, I did sew all of this with my Sailrite machine. The foam for both mattresses was about $350. The fabric to make the covers was $77. Over the years, I have priced these same kind of mattresses at the boat shows...they want over $1,000 each for these small mattresses. That was all the encouragement I needed to tackle this project myself.

[Angela]

I put the full story, with progress photos, on how I made these here: http://www.sanctuarycharteryacht.com...ttress-making/

[oscarvan]

Very nice.

[jim rosenthal]

Ang, you rock. No other words for it. You are the compleat boat owner and captain.

[Avenger]

Super job! I know I'll never do this myself, but it sure is interesting to see how it's done. Thanks for sharing. BTW, I like the hold-downs for the pattern corners.

Shameless plug to follow:

Also, unless Angela is going into the business, for those like me who will never do this themselves Bob Bradley from this forum is involved in Nautopedic which is making reasonably priced custom mattresses for the marine market.