Sun pad cushions: measuring, shaping and fastening
The sun pad is the most-used part of a boat in summer, and the one that shows most when it is badly made: cushions that don’t follow the curve of the deck, that slide, that lift in the wind or take days to dry. Nearly all of that is settled before a stitch is sewn — how it is measured, what shape the cushion takes, what goes underneath and how it is held down.
By Royal Stitch · Published
Illustrative imageMeasured on the boat
No deck is as regular as its drawing. Sailrite, an American supplier of marine upholstery materials, explains in its guides that the pattern for a deck cushion is taken from the boat’s own seat: the real shape is copied, and the foam and cloth are cut from it.
A pattern picks up what a tape measure misses: the curve of the edge, the rounded corner, the angle that isn’t square, the notch for a cleat.
Shape: curves and boxing
A deck cushion is a box: a top, a bottom and a boxing strip joining them. On a curved seat, Sailrite patterns that strip on the curve itself as well, because the cushion wrinkles less than it would with a straight strip.
Underneath, mesh
Water will get into a deck cushion; what matters is that it gets out. On its cockpit cushions, Sailrite makes the bottom panel in vinyl mesh, which drains water and lets air circulate, over an open-cell foam that doesn’t hold it. And it warns that a cushion made entirely of mesh needs that kind of foam, because mesh doesn’t keep water out.
There are also perforated non-slip underlinings for the bottom, which let air and water through and stop the cushion sliding on the deck.
Pattern
Taken on the deck, curves and all.
Mesh base
Water that gets in drains out underneath.
Snaps
Hold it to the deck against the wind.
How it is held down
A sun pad lives in the open, and once the boat is moving the wind pulls at it. Sailrite fastens its bow cushions with snaps: flaps on the cushion carry one half, and the deck carries studs screwed into the fibreglass or timber. The cover’s zip goes on the underside, so it doesn’t show once the cushion is in place.
Snaps live between salt and sun, and a poor one corrodes. That is why the same supplier recommends stainless steel or plated brass for marine use.
What to decide before you order
With these answered, the sun pad fits first time:
- Measuring
- Is a pattern taken on the boat?
- Shape
- Are there curves? How is the boxing strip handled?
- Base
- Mesh or non-slip underlining? Over which foam?
- Fastening
- Snaps? Where, and who fits the studs on deck?
- Cover
- Does it come off? Is the zip on the underside?
The service
A sun pad that truly fits?
Interiors, deck cushions and helm seating in marine-grade materials. The service page explains how the work is done.
Sources
Patterning, shape, base and snaps come from the guides of a marine upholstery supplier. Each source was found by searching the publisher’s own site.