Settee Lockers, Part 5: Fabrication of the New Backrest Cushions

One of the new backrest cushions

The original backrest cushions in my Ericson 25 were yellow and plaid - "Golden Rod" plaid to be exact, a color and design, I suppose, that were popular in 1975. The only thing I liked about them was that someone had sewn them in the roll-and-tuck style, a style that dated to an even earlier era of the twentieth century, the 1950s to be exact. I wanted to preserve that classic, roll-and-tuck style in the new cushions, and I wanted them to be navy in color, that classic, nautical color that looks especially striking when teamed with mahogany and white on the interior of a sailboat.

This was one of the few projects I tackled on this boat where I paid someone else to do at least some of the work. I knew how to use a sewing machine, but I was not willing to take the time to teach myself the roll-and-tuck technique.

Above and below we see the new settee cushions in navy. I'll discuss these in another posting. I temporarily put these new cushions into place during this project to get a sense of how thick I could make the new boards that would serve as the foundation of the backrest.

The original backrest boards were 1/4 inch thick. I wanted the new ones to be 3/8 inch. These new ones would be hinged and would need to be more sturdy than the permanently mounted originals.

The original boards were partially rotten from the water that used to leak through the portlights when the previous owner had the boat.

I ordered navy Sunbrella fabric from Sailrite in Indiana, and I ordered foam from the Foam Factory in Michigan. The prices at the Foam Factory were much better than they were at any mattress store or furniture upholstery shop in my local area.

I took all these items to a local, word-of-mouth shop that specialized in marine upholstery. It was much more affordable than the big name shops in the Charleston Lowcountry. These guys didn't care that I brought my own materials to them, and they did a fantastic job in a timely manner.

This ends this posting on the work I did - and the work I paid others to do - in my creation of new backrest cushions for Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.