Blair, I'll guess that probably 40% of Mk IIs use their aft cabin as a humongous closet. There must be some sound absorption by the mattress, but I suspect it's minimal, at best.

We haven't had a mattress back there for a couple of years, although we're thinking about having a guest couple aboard for a week or so this coming summer. If we did that, we'd probably let them have the V-berth and we'd take the aft cabin, as they are somewhat 'size limited' and they would feel claustrophobic in the aft cabin. The MK II's aft cabin is larger than a king-size bed, but as you know it is limited in height.

Sleeping in the aft cabin has a couple of advantages: 1) when there's a lot of waveage (my German wife's term), you'll get a better night's sleep in the aft cabin than you will in the rocking rolling V-berth; and 2) it's easy to step up through the aft cabin hatch to do your twice a night anchor check when on the hook.

We got rid of our cushions in the aft cabin shortly after taking possession of the boat in 2004 and use laundry type baskets to stow gear and things. Getting to something is like playing a Rubik's cube sometimes, but it works fine.

I do have to keep reminding my admiral that I need to be able to get to the filters and transmission area within a few moments, so we try not to pile gear there.

As much as I like the C36, I never liked the aft cabin for sleeping, so it works out fine as we now use it.