36 MkI aft cabin - sleeping sideways

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rchambers
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36 MkI aft cabin - sleeping sideways

I want to modify the aft cabin of a MkI to orient the bed athwartships.

It looks to me like the settee backrest cushion is the same size as the aisle and there are support runners for a board to span it.
What seems necessary to overcome is the inch or so height difference between the settee and the bunk.

Anyone tackled this?

Rich Chambers
Last Call!
'83 C36 #83

caprice 1050
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Rich
There is about an inch difference in the cushion height, but we hardly notice it because the bulk of our bodies, down to our hips, are on the higher cushions. Only our knees and feet are on the lower cushions. For boards I cut up some 3/8 plywood into 12 inch slats this way when not in use they store easily. The boards don't have to butt against each other.

__/)__/)__/)__Capt Mike__/)__/)__/)__
Punta Gorda Florida
1990 Std WK M35 Hull #1050

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Nimue
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I have a separate insert piece. For some reason it is much thicker than the surrounding cushions, but it works. Make one yourself by stapling the fabric and foam onto a piece of plywood, better than using the backrest cushion.

Jason V
Vancouver, BC, Canada

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GaryB
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Just to clarify the aft cabin arrangement;
On my boat and I believe all Cat 36 MKl the aft cabin was arranged for the occupants to sleep atwhartship. You are correct in that the runners along the passageway are to support an insert. The backrest cushion remains in place as the headboard....so to speak.
I believe you may be missing the cushion that goes to fill the passageway. It basically is a cushion (same as all interior)with a plywood base just the width and fits snug. Its height is the same and perhaps a bit higher (very little).
All said and done this makes up almost to over sized queen bed and passengers I have had that use it find it very comfortable.

Gary Bain
S/V "Gone With The Wind"
Catalina 36', Hull #: 1056, Year: 1990, Engine: M-35
Standard Rig
Moored: Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Home: Auburn, Maine

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mutualfun
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I agree with Gary. Ours has the same filler that we leave in place all the time. When we gave company that is where we sleep as it sleeps well. Sounds like everyone else is missing theirs.

Randy Sherwood
Mutualfun 1990 # 1057
T/R W/K M35a
Home. Charlotte, Mi.
Boat. St Augustine,Fl.

rchambers
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Thank you all for the info.
I see that my task is not modification but, rather, restoration.
Looks like I'm missing something originally supplied.

My boat has, shall we say, a rich history of previous owners.
Probably one of them put the aft cabin piece in his garage and forgot to pass it on to the next owner.

I'm happy to know that Catalina didn't intend us to sleep with eight inches of headroom!

Rich Chambers
Last Call!
'83 Std. #83
San Diego, CA

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GaryB
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When I first read your inquiry I also could not believe you would try to sleep that way, but was always confused why they put the adjustable lamp down by your feet and assumed someone must?

Gary Bain
S/V "Gone With The Wind"
Catalina 36', Hull #: 1056, Year: 1990, Engine: M-35
Standard Rig
Moored: Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Home: Auburn, Maine

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Ciscocat
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Rich
I have hull #226 and I have the line drawings and what you described IS the way it was originally designed. That doesn't mean that it make much sense or that folks with that arrangement didn't modify it over the years. And in fact I have modified it. Maybe Douglas was trying to get people ready for living in space and that was one way he could do it. But you are right you would not want to try sleeping that way if you were claustrophobic.!

I always have thought about making the settee a seabearth by widening it and removing the bottom portion of the closet. And using the area under the cockpit for storage
Mike

Mike Hogan
s/v Ciscocat #226
Mark I XP25, std rig

rchambers
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So... just completed the modification last weekend and, wow, what a difference.
No more banging my head or having to roll out into the aisle onto my knees in the morning.
It actually makes a comfortable double-bed, suitable for two.

I cut some 3/4 plywood to span the aisle. I measured from the back-end of the aisle up to the front of the bunk mattress. That leaves about 18 inches of aisle and settee so that you can step into the cabin to crawl into bed.
Also does retains easy access to the thru-hull hatch.
Had a new cushion made to match the rest ($200) and bought a 3" Serta memory-foam mattress topper ($100).
The topper is dressed with the mattress pad and sheets and the whole thing sits atop the boat cushions. Much easier to make the bed that way.

The, now covered, aisle makes a nice place to stow the weekend duffle of clothes by sliding it "under the bed".

Tip: If one wanted to save the cost of a new cushion, the cabin's settee backrest could be used if you cut the plywood to cover the aisle all the way to the door. It's the correct width but was too long for my taste.

Another tip: I used 3/4" ply because I had it lying around but it was too think to fit between the rail and trim on the settee side of the aisle. I had to shave it down on that long edge. Had I used 1/2" that would not have been necessary.

Thanks to all who gave their input when I first contemplated this project. It gave me valuable insight and perspective.

Rich Chambers
Last Call !
'83 Mk I #83.

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KevinLenard
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Posts: 226

The original aft cabin berth set-up was bizarre for anyone but kids.  Before buying our '91 I decided to make it into a permanent double mattress-sized 'guest cabin' as close to the MKII as possible.  See photos attached.  I did try a single-depth air mattress first both by putting it on top of the existing cushions (WAY too shallow in space on top to move around) and after removing all the existing cushions (STILL too shallow).  This experiment led me to the following solution to be able to permanently install bedding AND gain some extra storage height on the aft side of the mattress:

Key to comfort and getting the size and heights right was removing and tossing out (I kept some 'just in case') the upholstery and cutting the underlying cushions down to fit a double-sized, quilted/padded mattress cover (I used a single-thickness queen-size cover and it fit ideally -- the newer deep mattress covers would have left too much bulk underneath). 

  1. I took the factory-made filler cushion (the plywood backed insert many second-hand owners are missing -- easy to replace with 1/2" or 3/4" plywood and some foam from Walmart or a craft store per Rich's post above) and removed the upholstery (a bit of a mess as it is stapled and glued).  This sides/top of this insert will never be seen again as it will be coved with the mattress cover and sheets for time eternal as the original set-up was largely useless and the new double mattress will be even larger if little kids need to sleep back there with their heads facing the bow.
  2. I removed ALL the upholstery from all the other horizontal cushions (don't alter the long, narrow, starboard-side zippered triangular cover in any way) and measured and cut with a serrated kitchen knife the largest cushion from the starboard side to the port side to remove the aft-most rectangular portion.  The finished cut piece was as wide as the distance from the mirrored wet-locker door to the edge of the shelf behind the companionway stairs -- about the width of a double mattress. 
  3. The space aft of the new mattress athwartship now is free of cushion from the fiberglass undershelf up to the sole of the cockpit above and is used to store the lifejacket bags and bike helmets/baskets.  These can be removed when larger guests are using the cabin or guests need some space back their to put their bags.
  4. The remaining small rectangular cushion that was used to fill the space beside the wet-locker I cut to fit the small square space aft of the insert, matching the width of the double mattress.
  5. I cut the thin triangular cushion on the starboard side to the same width as the new double mattress width and replace the smaller rectangular piece back into the zippered bag and zipped it in, then put the mostly empty bag back in place at the forward end of the space, tucking the upholstered piece under the seat-back cushion and smoothing the empty portion of the bag down, then placed the cut piece back in place on top of it.
  6. I threw away the pieces that used to fill the aft-most portion of the space along with most of the old upholstery.
  7. Fit the double (or queen) sized quilted, elastic-sided mattress cover over the exposed and fitted-together raw cushion pieces, add your fitted sheets and top sheets/blankets and you now have a semi-Mark II permanent aft guest cabin that your guests can sit up in bed and read in, plus have a small space to pull on their pants in behind the folding doors with storage space for their bags under the insert and/or to the aft of the mattress. 
  8. Note that, while the insert remains a bit of a poor fit (as you put weight on the aft side, the forward side lifts and creaks a bit), adding a thin piece of wood on the starboard edge under the plywood on top of the wooden strip and gluing it in place brought up that side to the correct level, and using a table saw to make it thinner at the aft end more or less fixed the poor fit.

Makes a big difference for having people stay over on a Mk I as the bed is always ready to use.  I cover the blankets with a 3' x 4' rubber trunk-liner to keep it clean when I use the space for temporary storage (project materials and tools) between entertaining guests.  :-)

Kevin Lenard
"Firefly"
'91 C-36 Mk. "1.5" Tall Rig, Fin Keel, Hull #1120, Universal M-35 original (not "A" or "B")
CBYC, Scarborough, Lake Ontario, Canada

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