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Ever wanted to take a real bed to your C36?
How to make your own v-berth mattress
Aaaaa,
sleep!. We spend a third of our life doing it, and it's
wonderful.
I would NOT call this job hard to do, in fact it's really kind of simple
in a boring way. The mattress springs look very intimidating when you first get inside the mattress but upon closer examination, it's really very simple construction. The spring removal and position adjustment was pretty simple. I had to remove springs that were originally on or over a diagonal line to create a mattress that looks like a potato wedge. I am using 2 twin mattresses side by side, both have one side cut on a diagonal to form the "V" of our forward berth. This means some springs get moved a little "on top" of their neighbor spring while other springs move "farther away" from their neighbor springs. This movement of the springs is so the edge steel rod (almost) always has a spring attached to it to support it. I did a pretty good job moving the springs and when you remember you don't usually sleep on the edge, there is no effect on comfort that My wife or I can detect.The only "difficult" part has been the hand and machine sewing. I just don't have much experience sewing so I feel a bit "out of my element". But my confidence has grown and I am looking forward to starting the second mattress, confident that I will do better.
These first two pictures are of the twin mattress. I purchased them at Sam's Club for $98.00 each.
Remove the edge seam binding tape, don't cut it off just remove it from the quilted top and the bottom and let it hang. I used a box cutter blade and slowly worked my way down one side. Don’t destroy the seam edge tape, you will need to re-sew it back on later.
Next remove the metal rings that hold the top and the bottom of the mattress padding to the metal spring base. They are soft metal rings and easy to unbend. The upper and lower material that these steal rings clamp on to the metal frame, seem to be a “Tyvek” type material. So that’s what I used to sew back on the mattress topper. I used plastic wire ties to reattach it to the metal frame. That will be shown later.
These are the springs I removed. I tied a string to mark the outline of the finished angle of the mattress. I used some wire cutters to cut his excess group of springs away. The little pig tail springs you can see, hold each support spring in place,. They are not as tough as you might expect. My needle nose pliers cut through them easily and you can bend this spring shaped steel. It is not tempered like a “spring” but rather it’s more like strong wire shaped like a spring. I made sure that each “cut end” was bent to point away from the top or bottom fabric. I didn’t want any if this metal poking through so I was very careful.
I have removed a large section of the springs that roughly conforms to the new mattress shape. Notice the stair step nature of the cut? It is this stair step edge that must be smoothed to generally reflect the straight-line diagonal of the wedge shape mattress. We have to unwind these edge springs from their "pig tail" wire holders, move them to their new position, rewind the "pig tail" wire to hold them in place.
Notice also the upper and lower steel rods remaining in the original rectangle shape. These rods will have to be cut, reconnected together, bent to the new wedge shape and reconnected before we can then reattach the springs.
These tools served me pretty well. The surprise tool is a pair of pliers used for attaching “F” connectors on the end of coax cable. This pair of pliers was just the right size to reattach the clips that hold the springs to the steel edge rods. Needle nose pliers, side wire cutters, 2 lineman pliers were all the pliers I used. Bolt cutters to cut the extra steel edge rod, the removed (extra) section is also shown.
Pipe wrenches used side-by-side make effective rod benders. I was able to bend the rods exactly as I needed with out stressing any other part of the mattress.
This photo shows the top half of the springs attached to the newly formed steel rod edging. Notice the springs in positions 1-8
Spring 1 is on top of its neighbor in the 12:00 o'clock position.
Spring 2 is right next to the spring at the 12:00 o'clock position.
Spring 3 has what looks like 1 inch to 1 ˝ of space from it’s12:00 o'clock neighbor.
Spring 4 looks like 2” away from it’s 12:00 neighbor.
Springs 5,6,7,8 repeat the positions of springs 1234.
This readjustment of the edge springs, smoothes out the stair step edge we got from the cutting away of extra springs.
The springs were reattached to the steel rod edging with the original metal clips using the “F” connector pliers.
Do the same thing to the upper steel rod edging.
I didn't say anything about those tough wire "pig tails" They are no real problem, you just unwind them and rewind them onto the springs you want to move. Now "unwind" is not "untwist" the pig tail springs. To wind them you just place your mattress spring top ring between the pig tail coils and wind the pig tail spring around the mattress spring. It's easy BUT the "pig tail" can't be too long so trim them to just the length you need before you begin to wind. Wind 3 times around every mattress spring. CAUTION when you cut the pig tails you will create a sharp edge. These edges will cut your hands so be careful.
This photograph shows how easy it is to attach 2 springs together. Just wind a piece of pig tail wire at the junction of two springs. You cut a piece of wire and just like turning a bolt onto a screw, screw the wire over the spot where you want to join the springs. Bend down the sharp edge and you're done!
Cutting the steel edge rod requires you to join it together again. I considered several options including welding but each had it’s own disadvantages. My solution was to get a piece of 1/4 “ O.D. refrigeration grade, copper tubing. I found this at Home Depot. The interior dimension of the tubing fit the steel edge rod perfectly.
So I cut a small piece, mixed up some epoxy, slipped it over the cut rod and let the epoxy do the rest. It’s easy, clean and works great.
This photo shows the "F" connector pliers and the small clips that hold the springs to the edge rod.
Here is a photograph of me using the F connector pliers to compress the metal clip that holds the spring onto the steel edge rod.
I used 2 pipe wrenches to bend the steel edge rod. I was easy to do, and placed no stress on the rest of the mattress.
This photo shows us trimming away the excess mattress material.
This shows the simple shuttle that I made from the lower half of a child's shopping cart toy. Any simple platform with wheels will work, the idea is to get the sewing machine up on an angle so that you can reach the area you need to sew. The sewing machine was placed on this shuttle and I was able to move the sewing machine along, sewing the 3 seams that I needed before I hand stitched the top and sides together.
Notice the mattress is also on an angle and supported by plastic clamps. This made moving the sewing machine along easier. Sandi sewed the fabric into the machine while I moved it along the seam. It was a
a quick job once we get everything set up.Three things to remember:
1. Sew down the length of the open seam top (sleeping side) of the mattress to bind the edge against unraveling. Mark your edge first, have extra material so that your sewing machine foot has plenty of room, then trim your top to the finished seam edge.
2 Sew down the length of the open seam top about 1" from the bound edge. This seam attaches the "Tyvec" like material to the top, this material is then attached to the steal edge rod with plastic wire ties.
3 Sew together the side panel of the mattress, the bottom and include the white bindery edge tape to finish the bottom. I was able to sew all but just a few inches of the bottom seam, I completed the bottom sewing by hand.
Using a hand sewing Awl and some heavy thread, just stitch the seam back together. It's easy to do while also watching or listening to the television.
The 2 finished mattresses are almost ready to go to the boat, Gee I hope they fit! If not, I'll just cut them open and adjust them until they do fit. I am not quitting now!
Having my boat so five driving hours away is such a disadvantage. I have already decided to make custom mattress pads and sheets so I have more sewing to do. I am getting more confident with this sewing stuff so I am looking forward to working on some flat material.
I have also decided to attach a strap to both halves of my mattress, head and foot. The straps will be hand sewn on and will hold the two half's snugly together. Maybe Velcro, maybe ties, maybe a nylon belt. All of them would work pretty well. I'll see what I have around the house. Perhaps a couple old elastic dress pant belts from the '80s would be glad to give their life to my project.
I spent $220.00 (not including tax) on my new V berth mattress, The first mattress took about 16 hours to build, the second mattress took about 9 hours to build. Assuming they will fit, May 8, 2006 will be my first nights sleep on board.
I am really looking forward to this upgrade! I can't say this was my favorite project, but it has been much easier than installing the radar/chart plotter and the davits that I did last year.
I don't mind paying for expensive stuff like a radar/chart plotter unit or the davits, those items require special tools and special skills to bend, weld, engineer, design and fabricate. But a mattress is pretty low tech stuff. Paying $1550.00 not including shipping, just made me mad enough to try something crazy. If you feel the same way, perhaps these pictures will be of some help.
If the mattress is as comfortable on the boat as it is on my floor at home, I'll sleep with a smile on my face.
5/16/2006 - the Good News & the Bad News
The good news is I slept on the new mattress for 5 nights last week and it was the best I have ever slept on board. The new mattress is very
comfortable! On Saturday morning I woke up to rain at about 7a.m. I got up, used the head, ate a yogurt and decided to go back to bed. I slept till 8:30 and was well rested. That would never have happened on the old foam mattress.The bad news is that my measurements were not right and the mattresses
are too big. They fit great at the head but the foot is too large by about 3 inches on both mattresses. A lesson to everyone else who is thinking about this project, use your old foam mattress as a template so that the new mattress fits properly.So, I brought both the new mattress and the old foam mattress home, I reopened one mattress, removed the extra springs and reformed the mattress to the correct shape. Now I have to trim and stitch it back together. But this time, it will be done right and will fit. With the mattress built to the correct size, I'll make my mattress pad and trim the bed sheets. In two weeks, I'll go back and the project should really be done.
6/7/06 - After an adjustment, the mattress fits perfectly
As I last mentioned I had to rebuild my mattresses because I had originally made them too large (at the foot). So with the help of the
original foam mattresses as a pattern, I got it right this time!
I took the new mattress up to the boat last Friday and now they fit!
As long as I was at it, I also made a king size mattress pad to fit and cut a fitted bottom sheet. I admit that it's not my preferred line of work, but making the mattress pad & sheet was no problem, and this seemed like the time to do it:
The bottom line, the project was work but also was very rewarding. That special feeling you get when you know you have accomplished something worthwhile, and you know you did your best. It's not always the money, more of "if I can do this"?
The mattresses look good, sleep great, and I am very proud of them - especially because I made them myself. By now everyone I ever knew is aware I was building these mattress replacements and they are all asking how they fit and how did they feel. And it's nice to have a happy ending to my story.
And the mattress project is history. Now it's time to move on to other ideas.
Total Cost of project: $220 US
Total Time: 16 hours for first mattress
9 hours for second mattress
If you wish to contact the author, Bill Matley, with questions/comments, click here.