Making the berth wide enough to sleep on.
All, I recall a project on my former boat, an E25+ wherein I added width to the starboard settee sufficient to allow comfortable sleeping. It involved adding a piece of 3/4" plywood over the existing structure straight on the inboard side and curved to match the hull on the outboard side. It could be easily pulled out (toward the center line of the boat) in seconds and locked in place to make up the berth. The rear cushion was used to fill the gap and the two cushions made for a very nice and comfortable berth. I made up the difference of the two elevations of the plywood by use of some 1/2" closed cell foam that stowed under the seat cushion when not in use. After making a paper template of how the wood would be cut, it all came together pretty easily. Details: I match drilled the sliding piece in the stowed position and used 1/4" pins to hold it in place. Those same holes kept it in the slid out position as well. The original teak fiddle was removed and attached to the edge of the plywood and slid out with it. When stowed, it still functioned to keep the cushion in place. I added a 1" X 1" teak cleat to the bulkhead for the plywood to slide on and act as a support at that end. I bought a short table leg at Home Depot that threaded into a T-nut installed from the top, down at the aft corner of the sliding piece when deployed. The berth proved to be very comfortable especially after adding a large piece of 1/4" closed cell foam to the vertical on the starboard side which solved the problem of ones shoulder and side getting cold from contact. All in all it was a pretty straightforward modification that greatly added to sleeping comfort and was totally hidden from view behind and beneath the cushions when stowed for the day. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA
