Sleeping on 22 new design

[morbidfollower]

Still trying to figure out the best sleeping solution for myself 6'1 (190lbs) my wife 5'4 (110lbs) and my 4 year old son. Has anyone made the super dinette bed on a new design? I know that was common on the pre 85 boats. We tried the v berth and moved the portable toilet into the walkway but getting in and out and also with the reduced headroom of adding memory foam on top of the v berth cushions made it rough. The dinette works for the wife and son and I've tried the starboard berth but it would be nice if I could build a removable setup to combine the two and sleep port to starboard allowing the v berth to be storage and access to toilet. Best solution so far is sleeping alone on the boat

 

[Project_Mayhem]

A number of people have made what you describe for O'Day 25's. There's a few listed in O'Day 25 Owner Mods

 

[LakeShark]

Our family of 5 sleeps with 1 teen on the quarter berth (stove side) 2 other teens in the Vberth and my wife and I on the dinette. I did add a memory foam mattress topper (trimmed to fit) for comfort. The dinette is roughly the size of a queen. If you want to make the "super bed" then you'll need to use 2 coolers across the walk way. It works but in my opinion is not worth the hassle. In fact if the weather is nice one of the boys often chooses to sleep in the cockpit.

If I remember correctly the companion way cooler can be used as one and you'll need a 2nd. Otherwise you'll have to remove the trim from the quarter berth hatch and run a board across there to build up with cushions and things.

 

[Any Sea]

Check out this post on Stingy Sailors' Blog. His is an older design. You get the idea.

How to Sew Cabin Cushion Covers

One of the many things that Catalina Yachts did right in their boats was the upholstery: tough fabrics and bomber construction. You have to forgive the colors and patterns. Fashion is, well, fashio…

stingysailor.com

 

[Gene Neill]

Best solution so far is sleeping alone on the boat

Yup. My wife sleeps on the port side, I sleep on the starboard. (Either we're bigger than LakeShark and his wife, or we don't love each other as much as they do. Or both.)

No kids, so the V berth cushions were removed and put in storage long ago.

 

[LakeShark]

(Either we're bigger than LakeShark and his wife, or we don't love each other as much as they do. Or both.)

No kids, so the V berth cushions were removed and put in storage long ago.

woah not touching that one. I will say when it’s the two of us we don’t use the berth as well. It become storage along with the black hole that is the starboard berth.

For perspective though the two of us can also sleep comfortably on a double bed as well so there’s that.

 

[Sailm8]

We slepted in the cockpit. I had a large piece of netting madw that went over the bimini and reached nearly to the water to keep out bugs. We had a roll of bed slats that were 2 meters long and filled the space between the cockpit seats. The wood slats were sewen into the roll of material, Then we took the interior cushions and arrange them to fill in the cockpit. Very comfortable.only in fair weather.

 

[...3TacksontheWater]

Still trying to figure out the best sleeping solution for myself 6'1 (190lbs) my wife 5'4 (110lbs) and my 4 year old son. Has anyone made the super dinette bed on a new design? I know that was common on the pre 85 boats. We tried the v berth and moved the portable toilet into the walkway but getting in and out and also with the reduced headroom of adding memory foam on top of the v berth cushions made it rough. The dinette works for the wife and son and I've tried the starboard berth but it would be nice if I could build a removable setup to combine the two and sleep port to starboard allowing the v berth to be storage and access to toilet. Best solution so far is sleeping alone on the boat

morbidgollower:

Pre "New Design" boats generally had a "Sliding Galley". On my first Catalina 22, that galley was never, ever, slid back under the starboard cockpit seat. It was a fixed part of the boat and I routinely cooked complex meals both while single handed in heavy weather and, for guests while under way. It helped that I had pedestal steering with a brake as back then, "tiller" sailors to my knowledge, did not have the great options of tiller control that we have today. The "New Design" and "Mark II" both miss the mark of having the galley (especially the stove, not the sink) easily accessible from the cockpit. But, that shortcoming gives us the benefit of having an extra berth that early Catalina 22 owners were reluctant to use. I think you have a lot of flexibility to pick and choose exactly who, will sleep where. I don't think it's a good idea to move the porta potti to the middle of the cabin. That's simply part of the life on a sailboat. If someone needs to answer the call of nature, the person or persons, in the V need to accommodate. Sailing, especially on a trailer-able boat, has always been and should continue to be, an adventure. I carry some fantastic memories of sailing from my teenage years and on. But, the best memories I have are sailing with my young family, working out the details of who, sleeps where and then, waking (or, being woken up) in the middle of the night to make a new plan. Thank you morbidgollower, for bringing back so many great memories....

George

 

[morbidfollower]

Well, I sprung for a Froli system (no pun intended ) to put on the V Berth. Going to remove the cushions and put them in storage. Cut a piece of plywood for the filler cushion location ( on my boat the wood platform is inside the filler cushion piece). Got a 6" memory foam king size bed off amazon im gonna cut down with my electric carving knife. Hopefully this keeps the wife happy as well as make my solo overnighters more comfortable.... fingers crossed.

 

[shemandr]

We had the Froli system on our Hunter and thought it added comfort to the cushions on which my hip bottomed out when sleeping on my side. On other boats we made plywood inserts that fit athwartship in the main cabin with cut open cell foam for cushions. Worked pretty well as a queen size bed. I think vee berths are a form of torture. And on our Ranger difficult to get in and out of.

 

[morbidfollower]

ya I haven't been a fan of the v berth as of yet. The froli system I got (v-berth large) seems modular enough that I could use it on the dinette bed area as well if the v berth doesn't work out. I hope anyways. It looks like it has enough pieces that's why I picked the large vs the regular.

 

[Any Sea]

Please post your thoughts after you've used your v berth set-up. I'm interested to know how you like the sleeping room in the v berth with the mattress on top of the froli system.

 

[morbidfollower]

Please post your thoughts after you've used your v berth set-up. I'm interested to know how you like the sleeping room in the v berth with the mattress on top of the froli system.

Absolutely. The froli system is supposed to be back in stock on the 7th. ( I preordered, but found a coupon code that saved me almost $50) So ill post some results after I get it and spend a night or 2 or it.

 

[morbidfollower]

Well, the v berth was super comfortable but did not help the admiral with the toilet situation and climbing in and out was tough with the 3 of us. Once in bed tho it worked out for sleeping. I took the froli setup and moved it to the quarter berth to try it but I had to do the whole length as the quarter berth cushion is only a little over 5' long or so. This works well for just me, I think im gonna sacrifice my table and try the dinette bed this weekend and see if I can live with that compromise. The downside is you lose the modular aspect when you use an actual mattress and the froli springs because those have to be in place full time. I did buy a nice folding teak TV tray off amazon which works as a table down below and in the cockpit.