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I’ve really been on a kick lately since I brought home all of our boat cushions. After great success adding 1 inch of the magical green foam to our Salon cushions, I couldn’t wait to try it under our V-berth cushion foam.

I debated a while on what to do with these cushions because they are older and in worse shape than the ones in the salon. Maybe we should just replace the foam all together? The foam is no longer level with the left side being squished and much flatter than the right side which is up against the hull. I’m assuming this area of the cushion has seen the most weight over time. The squished side is so flat you can actually feel the wood divider between the triangle insert and the main piece when rolling over in bed. Not fun.

So how to fix this?

Well, what the hell, let’s give that green foam another shot and pick up some Poly Batting for good measure. This time I used 1 1/2 of the ILD 140 green foam in a sheet 24 x 72 for $60 plus 3 yards of super lofty batting for $20. Only $80 total, my kind of cost!

First I laid on all the cushions to determine where the slant was and then took about 20 minutes measuring and trying to make the best use of the green foam. One sheet wasn’t enough to fill all of the sections so I had to be strategic. Besides if I put the foam everywhere then I’ve still got the slant, only 1 1/2 inches higher.

Here is how the Vberth is laid out if you are looking aft. To the right is Port, the top is Aft, and the bottom is Fore. It is the right Port side that is thicker then where the large cushion meets the triangle piece.
V-berth Cushion Foam 1

I decided to cut the foam about in half but at an angle in order to taper the support off where the foam is thicker. An electric knife would have been best but we don’t have one so this serrated knife worked just as well.
V-berth Cushion Foam 3

I choose to put most of the foam where our shoulders and bodies would apply the most weight and where the foam was squished the most. I figured the top part would be full of pillows and so didn’t really need the foam.  I also opted to run the foam horizontal to minimize discomfort in the event the foam separates and leaves a gap.
V-berth Cushion Foam 4

You can kind of see how the right side is thicker.
V-berth Cushion Foam 5

I pretty much had to get inside the covers with the foam and Poly barring to arrange them.  This is something I’d prefer to not have to do often, lol. We’ll definitely be using sheets.
V-berth Cushion Foam 6

I had just enough left over foam for the triangle insert. I opted to do that instead of the bottom piece since it will take most of the body weight. Besides our feet don’t need to be raised and often the front of V-berth is higher with waves and at anchor.
V-berth Cushion Foam 7

Now to deal with the unlevel cushion foam I doubled up on the Poly fill just about 12 inches toward the middle. The rest of the cushion got a single layer.
V-berth Cushion Foam 8

I managed somehow to get it all in the cover. Even though these pieces don’t fill the cover fully, the cushion is unbelievably level and soft. Things are looking good.
V-berth Cushion Foam 9

One single layer for the triangle insert,
V-berth Cushion Foam 10

And two layers for the bottom piece since it didn’t get any green foam. I would have put 3 or 4 layers of Poly fill but this was the last of it. It’s fine for now, we can always add more later.
V-berth Cushion Foam 11

Amazingly the triangle insert and main piece are quite level! A huge difference.
V-berth Cushion Foam 12

Finito!
V-berth Cushion Foam 13

Tate and I have both laid on these and seriously the difference is awesome! I almost fell asleep trying them out. I am so excited to have a comfortable sleeping mattress finally and for only $80 with 2 hours of work.  It doesn’t look perfect, but you can’t tell the difference when laying.  It’s hard to give a percent but I’d say a solid 75% improvement.  

Good enough :)

We were going to try a latex layer instead of the Poly fill on top, but was afraid it was be squished too much and ineffective since we went with the 1 1/2 green foam.  We have other big plans for the scrap of latex.

Anywho, hopefully my late night meanderings will be helpful to a few. Next on my list are exterior canvas and slip covers. (Thanks SO much for everyone’s input and color advice. I have picked a color and will unveil it when the covers are finished. Can’t wait to see how they turn out.)

Until next time, stay classy.