Replacing cushions for bed and dinette

[marinewildcat]

Sent: 7/16/2003

I'm working on a '73 Brave.  What do I need to do or where do I need to go to find replacement matresses and cushioning for the beds and  seats for the dinette and rear?

[jbrt1989]

Sent: 7/16/2003

marinewildcat,

You're probably going to be hard pressed to find any thing "off the shelf" for your older Winnie like that.   

The cushions in these things are basically foam pads with a fabric cover.  I think it would be easier, and most definitely cheaper, to make some replacements yourself.  The fabric covers wouldn't be terribly hard to make, even if you had to find someone you know who has a sewing machine to do it for you. I would think even if you had to pay a seamstress or dress maker to do make them, it would still be less expensive.   They are pretty basic covers.  No fancy seams or anything.  Any fabric shop would have a great selection of fabrics, even Wal-Mart has a lot to choose from.  It's not too complicated to take off the covers and measure each piece of material used to make the old ones. Just make sure you spend the extra money for heavier fabric. 

The foam pads inside are probably ok to keep and reuse for most of them.  Upholstery places might be of some help finding replacements if needed.    Actually, with a little creative thougth, one might actually be able to come up with a far more comfortable stuffing idea for the bed cushions anyway.

I replaced the cushions in my old 67 Skamper Pop-up camper a few years ago and just sent the old covers with enough fabric to my mother and she sewed them for me.  Total cost was under $200 for fabric and shipping, not including the Outback Steakhouse gift certificate I sent so her and dad could enjoy a dinner on me..  I reused my old foam pads.  I  was replacing cushions for a dinnette, a couch and two full sized bunks.  I think it took mom about 2 to 3 hours to cut and machine sew all the covers and she's slower than she used to be these days. I didn't have zippers put in though.  I just stuffed the pads inside the new covers, and took a  hooked needle and heavy thread and hand sewed them up. That took me awile to do.  My stitching isn't pretty, but, no one sees it. In fact the wife thought it rather comical to wach me with needle and thread sitting on the living room floor spouting the occasional cuss word every few mins when I stabbed my finger with that needle.   Zippers would be more complicated and take longer to sew in even with a machine,  I didn't want to trouble mom that much.

Let us know what you find out and do. Hope this helps some.

Jeff

[mightybooboo]

From: mightybooboo
Sent: 7/16/2003

Re: pad replacements.Ours is a 79,the material was pretty good,but after 2 years living in it they disintegrated,material shredded and padding just died period,flaked into nothingness..We havent replaced em yet as Mrs B keeps changing her mind so nothing happens.HOWEVER,we will EVENTUALLY buy a firm foam and then put 1 inch memory foam on top,then into the new covers,the beds will get a 2 inch memory foam topper,turning them into basically Tempurpedic(tm) mattresses.Lots of places on WWW to order foam and they will cut to size,plus they will make cover sacks for the bedding.Sorta pricey but still only 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of ready made bed.Now thats an improvement that will truly be appreciated.
BooBoo

[beach]

Sent: 7/16/2003

If you are handy, you can go to any fabric store and get the foam for the cushions. I covered ours last year. The pads were fine. As far as the mattress goes, our bed was the couch.  We replace the cushions with thick foam on top. I leave the bed made up all the time as it is in the rear and we have a dinnette that we eat at in front.