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Quick drying cockpit cushions

There are many types of cockpit cushion yet few are ideal. For most of this can be big issue. Gone are the days when cruising sailors were resigned to spending hours at the helm, their own sterns parked on unyielding cockpit seats that became harder and harder with every minute that passed. And, even if the male of the species thought it heroic and manly, their stiff upper lips only matched by the advancing rigor in their limbs, in my experience this form of masochism was only rarely endorsed by partners and wives. And rightly so.

Times have changed. Most of us now rely on machinery of one sort or another to do the steering and, at least on our boat, comfortable cockpit cushions are definitely here to stay, notwithstanding the extra personal upholstery my body seems to have gained over the years.

So, what makes for good cockpit cushions? Well, I can think of only a few essential requirements:

• They should be comfortable.
• They should be non-slippery to stand on.
• They should dry out quickly and not remain waterlogged.
• They should be buoyant so they can be heaved overboard as an instant reaction in an MOB situation before the dedicated recovery gear is deployed.
  
  

Simple really. These seem easy aims to fulfil. Actually, it’s not until you review the various commonly employed materials that you realise that non satisfy all demands. Let’s look at the options.

• Polyurethane foam: Cheap, cheerful and readily available but will become waterlogged and will take an age – well, days anyway – to dry out. Also, it’s essentially non-buoyant in any load carrying capacity. To mitigate this problem you can, of course, cover them with ...

• Waterproof fabric: Such as reinforced PVC. But this is quite slippery to stand on and, anyway, the seams and zips will still leak. Also it’s heavy and not nice to sit on, particularly in hot climates.

• Closed cell foam: Doesn’t absorb water and floats as ably as a duck but it lacks springiness, hardly more resilient or comfortable than the original cockpit seats.

• Reticulated foam – such as EZ-Dri: Please don’t reach for the dictionary. ‘Reticulated’ means net-like, the practical outcome of this forms a structure of open galleries (as opposed to cells) which drains rapidly and can’t hold large quantities of water like a conventional sponge. Unfortunately, this facility means that it doesn’t float which rules it out for criterion number four.
  
  

Dwelling on this, it occurred to me that the best way forward was to combine the qualities of the closed cell foam with the EZ-Dri, covering the whole in acrylic canvas which is both agreeable to sit upon and has good non-slip properties.

Thus it was that Shindig’s perfect cockpit cushions were born.

Basically, the foam is like a layer cake (see right). The bottom layer is 1in (25mm) closed cell foam, white in colour, and is topped by 3in (75m) of EZ-Dri (brown) with the two being glued together with a spray-type latex adhesive. The closed cell foam has holes at about 2in centres punched through it to allow the water to drain through. Don’t try and drill them. It tears the foam apart. I used a 6mm punch – the type you hit with a hammer – to allow water to drain through.

The laminated core was then covered in an envelope of red acrylic canvas, made up at home on a domestic machine...

... with the last seam being hand stitched on board the boat once the foam had been inserted.

So far, the cushions have been in use for several years and are still in good condition. Left out in all but the worst conditions, they dry – at least enough to sit on – within minutes and are extremely comfortable.

Overall, the results could hardly have been better.

Also of interest ...?

More canvas work? Make a low profile wind scoop by following the link.