Skip & Group:

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot fishcatcher
(net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in message
...
Hi, Doug, and group,
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...
We thought we wanted something like a Sunbrella interior fabric, for
protective purposes. However, they're too thick, and don't give
enough.
We're going with the closest we can find to the Tempur-Pedic covers,
which
are a 75/25 cotton/poly blend (mostly for stretchy purposes) thin
terry.

We covered our v-berth cushions with ticking. The same sort of stuff
used on regular matresses and pillows. That has worked for years. We also
have a matress pad for some additional comfort.

Our upholstery guy advocated that, too - but if it's the same stuff, we
think it's beyond ugly (basically miniature awning stripe material). As
(at
least from him), it's about as expensive as the Sunbrella interior stuff,
that made it even more unattractive :{))

It does look like a mini awning stripe material. But you have to understand
how we use it. Our sleeping cushions are rarely exposed to the naked eye
just like your bed at home. They are made up with a fitted mattress pad
and fitted sheets and topped off with a top sheet (in summer) or a duvet
containing a down comforter (in cool weather). It is synthetic so it does
not mildew and is pretty soft. It costs less than a third per yard than
Sunbrella and is 63" wide so goes farther as well.


TP used to use a Gore-Tex cover, but got complaints that it didn't
transmit
heat well enough. That's another reason we're not going to use the SB
after
all - as lovely as it is, we don't think it would serve that foam well.
We
believe the standard upholstery fabrics would present the same
challenges.

Gore-Tex does seem a strange choice for an interior cushion. Not sure
what you mean about challenges with upolstery material. .

Challenges in that it would not adequately pass heat (visco-elastic foam
relies on body heat to deform to suit) and that it would be too stiff (not
adequately deform to allow full depression on pressure points).

Just checked with the Goddess Of Canvas and I was mistaken. The
memory foam matress we did was covered with a Jersey Knit material
It was a synthetic (acrylic she thinks) So it does not mildew.

As to Gore-Tex, it's not cushions, it's mattresses. What attracted us was
the thought that a splash (sorta inevitable from time to time in a sea
state) would not go through, but that body moisture and other natural
humidity would pass readily, keeping the foam fresh.

We have no direct expreience with this approach. The G-Of-C doesn't
think you would be happy with the result though.

For our interior seating, we'd expect to do standard upholstery material,
whether Sunbrella interior or other. The attractiveness to SB is the
stain
and water resistance (see above).

The upolstery material we use is stain and water resistant and available in
hundreds of styles. We've had ours for 5 years and have no stains yet. Only
blemish is when a guest broke a bottle of clear fingernail polish and it
spilled
on one of the cushions.

However, perhaps you can weigh in on whether there should be some
interior
(on the surface of the foam) scrim - and also whether a mesh bottom is
needed.

We generally make the bottoms out of Textilene mesh.

That's what we're anticipating, as well and ...

We're thinking in terms of having VentAir under the bedding - we

We have something similar under all our cushions in sleeping quarters.
Works very well.

... Combined with the firm mesh underlayment, we expect the foam to stay
fresh in nearly any conditions other than swamping with sea water.

That is our experience. If our 43' boat gets swamped then the cushions
are the least of our worries!

Gore-Tex does breathe. That is one of its strengths so it wouldn't make a
very
good vapor barrier.

Well, yes - but we're not looking for a vapor barrier, but rather, a
moisture (well, liquid) barrier. In any event, GT sells only to
manufacturers, so we're unlikely to make our covers from that, any way.

That was a comment from the G-Of-C. She was wondering where you
would get some. We are manufacturers but have never had any use for it.
Not sure if they would sell in the small quantities we might use anyway.
We use GoreTex thread on a regular basis but that's a different situation.

L8R

Skip and Lydia

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Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
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