A little sewing, some clever woodwork, and voilà, a better quarter berth.
Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021
The new seat provides a comfortable backrest for the navigator.
Nurdle, my 1979 Bristol 35.5, has a quarter berth, a common feature on boats of this size and vintage. Also common is how the forward end of the quarter berth doubles as a seat for the adjacent nav station, and how the space provides accessible storage for gear that has no other home aboard—in my case, luggage, dinghy and oars, awning, life raft, spinnaker, and even storm sails.
It’s a clever and efficient design, but it has two drawbacks: no backrest for the navigator, and as a quasi-garage, a lot of wear and tear on the quarter berth cushion by all that gear—which, incidentally, often crowds the nav station seat.
I recently reupholstered all the interior cushions aboard, and as part of this effort, I rethought the quarter berth space. I sought a solution that would not only give me a backrest but would optimize the storage space and retain the ability to use the quarter berth for sleeping.
John installed this slot on the inboard side of the berth; coupled with a similar arrangement on the outboard side, the two slots allow the backrest panel to slide into place.
I started by removing the newly upholstered quarter berth bunk cushion and stowing it in the V-berth, where it now lives unless someone’s going to sleep in the quarter berth. Next, using leftover fabric and foam, a zipper, and other supplies from Sailrite, I made a new seat-sized cushion for the forward end of the quarter berth; this would be my nav station seat cushion. (Sailrite’s online instructional videos were very helpful.)
Now I had a portion of the quarter berth dedicated to storage, and a smaller portion dedicated to a seat. All I needed was a removable separator between the spaces, one that would also serve as a backrest.
Using mahogany lumber, I created slotted pieces that I attached (with screws) to the inboard and outboard sides of the quarter berth, above the aft end of my seat cushion. I cut the slots so that a ½-inch-thick panel of varnished mahogany plywood drops right in. I stiffened the plywood panel by adding a wood trim strip along the top.
Finally, it was time to make it comfortable. I cut thin plywood to match the size of a foam rectangle and then wrapped fabric over the foam and stapled it to the plywood. I secured this cushion to the back of the mahogany plywood panel using screws. The bottom of the panel is high enough to clear the full bunk cushion when used together.
I can now use the quarter berth area for storage more securely, I have made sitting at the chart table more comfortable, and I can easily reconfigure the quarter berth back to the ideal sea berth it has always been. The sole downside is storing the full-sized quarter berth cushion, although this has been only a minor inconvenience.
John Churchill grew up a boat-crazy kid in Indiana. He built a raft at age 6, sailed Snipes as a teenager, and worked his way toward saltwater and bigger boats. He has sailed a Cape Dory 26 singlehanded to Bermuda and back, and a Bristol Channel Cutter transatlantic with his father. Now in Florida, John sails Nurdle, a Bristol 35.5 (and former repo) that he’s rehabbing for extended post-retirement cruising.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
