Memory foam on settee berths

DoubleEnder

DoubleEnder

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I am going to get 2 new settee berth cushions and covers. The berths are used for seating and for sleeping. The current hardish foam and vinyl covers is ok for sitting but not great for sleeping. Would it work to have say 3" of high density foam with 1" of memory foam on top? Or is the memory foam in some way unsuitable for sitting on? Lots of people here recommend memory foam for bunks, but I'm not sure how good it would be in use as seating.

I'm also looking at using a 'fake suede' material to cover the cushions. Is Alcantara worth the extra price? There are a lots of similar fabrics available at about 30% of the price....any views welcome.

Thank you
 
We use 2" memory foam mattresses on top of the original cushions to sleep in the forepeak. These are far more comfortable than the harder cushions, although this may well be simply because they are softer rather than any 'memory' properties. Both are in sheet bags that can be removed for washing
 
We had 3" of memory foam on our aft cabin bed, it was better for sleepng but you do get hot because it shapes to your body shape, that didn't put us off getting memory foam mattress on our large double bed at home.
 
gdallas said:
I'm also looking at using a 'fake suede' material to cover the cushions. Is Alcantara worth the extra price? There are a lots of similar fabrics available at about 30% of the price....any views welcome.
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I don't know much about the stuff, but was suitably impressed when the owner of an Oyster 55 told me that the nice blue saloon cushions were still covered in the original Alcantara from 1985. This is on a boat that was used extensively, including club cruising. He was looking to replace some of the covered buttons on it as they had worn through the fabric after that time.

So if you're looking for durability under high stress, it may be worth it over a very long time frame.

As for foam, I'd tell you to get the foam Bavaria used in 2000 on my boat, because it is still good after all this time and I sleep very well on it, but I have no idea what it is. It definitely has no memory, which may be for the best on a used boat.
 
The saloon cushions on my Beneteau 31 (2015) are all memory foam and they are fine. No matter how long you sit on them they always return to the original shape and I assume Beneteau must think there is an advantage for the customer or else they wouldn't stump up the extra cost of memory foam.
 
SWMBO has a bad back and found our cushions too hard to sleep on. We got a 2" memeory foam topper from
http://www.foamforcomfort.co.uk/ (no connection)
Then we cut is to the shape of the existing cushions and SWMBO made a cover from an old sheet. This works great and she finds it very confortable. Much cheaper than new cushions.
On our previous boat we had two new cushions made at the above place. There is a range of materials and hardness and we had cushions made up as a sandwhich of conventional and memory foam. This worked well but you can only get so much comfort in a 3" profile - hence our preferance for a topper this time.
Because of SWMBOs back we have slept on memory foam for 25 years and it is very comfortable BUT very warm - not always good in summer if you are a warm blooded Yorkshireman like me.
 
jakeroyd said:
I improved my settee seats by using some Froli sleep system leftover units.
http://www.motorcaravanning.co.uk/shopuk/froli_bed.htm
They were a little thin and get uncomfortable after a while.

Worked very well for me.
For sitting on you have to have the Froli at it's stiffest pitch.
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I would imagine that they are not a lot of good if you have storage bins under the seats & have to raise them to lift panels to get stuff out at regular intervals because you have to keep moving them. But having never used them I can only make an uninformed observation
 
For my bunks I found comfort has been greatly improved in my old age by the addition of some 100mm Thick self inflating mattresses. I also have a 50mm but the 100mm is worth the extra cost. They are warm & the bunk cushions underneath no longer suffer from condensation beneath them. When not required they roll up quite small. If one wants them a little firmer then one can blow a bit more air in them or alternatively release a bit for a softer feel.
 
oldvarnish said:
don't know anything about foam but I've put some of my Alcantara through hell and it has always come up smiling.
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+1 re alcantara.

We had it on a hard sailed boat for 10 years and it had already done 6 when inherited and it looked good andwas easy to keep clean. Even accidental biro ink marks came off Most important foam question might be fire resistance. WE had memory foam on the boat we just sold, on an owner's cabin double not use for seating, not impressed bit too hot for me even with aircon running.
 
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We just got rid of the memory foam topper we got in June, it seemed like a good idea but we hated it in the end and both had back ache. We now have an ikea mattress topper and love it.

For the op,'s question though.... our last boat had 3" of firm foam, with 1" of softer foam glued on top. The was very comfortable for seating and sleeping.
 
Guise said:
We just got rid of the memory foam topper we got in June, it seemed like a good idea but we hated it in the end and both had back ache. We now have an ikea mattress topper and love it.

For the op,'s question though.... our last boat had 3" of firm foam, with 1" of softer foam glued on top. The was very comfortable for seating and sleeping.
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Thank you. Yes that's my plan.
 
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