The bed project...

Sleeping on Serenity involves climbing into a v-berth. There are actually three places to sleep. The v-berth, the aft cabin sometimes called the quarter berth, as well as the settees in the main cabin. The port settee pulls out to make a double bunk when the table is up out of the way. We are using the quarter berth as a storage area at this point. This will eventually be our guest room, in the event that some family members or friends decide to join us at some point on our trip. The settee will be used by the person off watch while sailing at night. There is less motion in the middle of the boat, and the companion way is close to the settee making it possible to get to the deck quickly if necessary.The v-berth is the best place to sleep because it has two opening ports as well as a large hatch on the cabin roof. Of course climbing into the v-berth and then turning around to lie down involves some skill, and flexibility. For me the flexibility is not there, so getting into the v-berth is much more difficult than getting into a regular bed. As I have stated before, everything on a boat is a compromise. From the very first night I spent on Serenity back in June on the Black River, the cushions in the v-berth have been very uncomfortable…like sleeping on wood. The cushions are  new thanks to the previous owner, and he did tell me that he thinks he may have ordered foam that is too firm. I would agree with him. To make the v-berth more comfortable we purchased a 2.5 inch memory foam mattress topper at Costco. After measuring the v-berth we decided that the king size would fit the best. We laid the foam out flat on the dock and put the cushions on top of the foam and traced around them. The foam was then cut with a knife to size. We now need to adapt the zippered cloth cover to the new size of the cushions. We also added a 1 inch soft foam topper on top of the memory foam. The v-berth is now much more comfortable… as in more like a mattress, but still a little tricky to get into.

 Laying the cushions on top of the memory foam.

 Cushions traced with a Sharpie.

Memory foam then cut with a knife to size.