E27 1978 Need help turning Seats into a bed

[Bob P]

I just purchased an E27. First sail boat ever. Sleeping on the settees is a little narrow. Has anyone created a bed between the settees? My brother in law gave me a great idea but I wonder what else has been done. Any advice would be great and pictures even better.

 

[ChrisS]

Check this out. Scroll down to "boat preparation." I think it's an easy project to connect two opposite settees.

http://inetd.com/Boat/SanDiego05/

 

[Bob P]

Thank you for info

Chris,

Thank you for the info. That's pretty clever what he did. It won't work on my E27 because the back cushsions have to sit flush on the piece that holds back the seat cushion for the bed to be smooth.

I'm going to cut two 3/4" plywood pieces to fit the width and then put in a 3/4" plywood lip on the seat stop so the back cushsions sits flush with the seat bottoms.

Home depot has them already cut 2' x 4' and sanded. I'm going to varnish them and they will should look great.

Thank you for your help.

Bob

 

[Loren Beach]

Chris,

(snip)
I'm going to cut two 3/4" plywood pieces to fit the width and then put in a 3/4" plywood lip on the seat stop so the back cushsions sits flush with the seat bottoms.
Home depot has them already cut 2' x 4' and sanded. I'm going to varnish them and they will should look great.
Thank you for your help.
Bob

One caveat -- 3/4" ply is Really Heavy. The thickness is appropriate for the span, but remember that all those heavy layers of wood and glue between the sides could be a LOT lighter with zero change in flex strength. I would want to produce panels with less weight to reduce handling and storage issues for these parts. If you're reasonably handy and like an easy "winter project" why not make those panels from balsa or foam core?

Plan "B" might involve ply: 1/4" for the top, some 3/8" internal separators/ribs, and 1/8" door skin for the bottom -- bond all together with West System epoxy...

Have fun customizing!

Loren

 

[Bob P]

That's a great idea

Loren,

What a great idea. Except I'm not really that handy. My brother in law came up with the idea because he did it for bunks in his house.

I will ponder it.

Thank you,

bob

 

[Bill Sanborn]

I use a lee cloth on my E29. It makes a very snug bunk for 1 person. You can stay in place even when heeled over. The bottom of the lee cloth has a full length horizontal batten which is thru-bolted onto the bench just under the inside edge on the cushion. The top has 2 grommets with 3/8 line spliced into the holes.

When stored it folds flat under the cushion. For use it is pulled out from under the cushion and the the lines are tied to the overhead hand rail.

I also have a lee cloth for the small port side bench that I use for storage when under way. I got rid of the port side cushion long ago since it only made a berth large enough for a small child but it makes a lot of storage available with the lee cloth in place.