Wider sleeping area.

[Conan2324]

I have a 2019 C dory 22 ft cruiser. Great boat but i can't sleep up front.
I sleep on the port side converter to a flat sleeping area but its only 28 inches wide.
Any suggestions on making the bed wider, would prefer 36 inches wide.
A board 6ft by 3 ft would work but where to store board when traveling.
Great trip last weekend Clinton, Iowa to Dubuque.
Thanks for any help

 

[C-Wolfe]

Assuming the 2019 is similar enough to the 2006 I had, you might be able to slide the bench seat and table 6 inches away from the port hull. It should “feel" much bigger and you have no extra part to store, except maybe an extra leg for supporting the table edge so it won’t flip if you sit on the very edge. I never tried it on the 22 but it does work on my TomCat.

 

[Tom Hruby]

I had the same problem with my 22' cruiser. My solution was two-fold. First, I purchased bunk board slats that were encased in a nonwoven fabric and cut them down to 36." By putting them all the way in, against the side, I ended up with a 30" platform (my comfort zone for width), since there is a 6" gap between the hull and the edge of the windows. The slats fold up for easy storage. To keep the slats from popping up when I sit on the edge, I cut pieces of wood to jam between the inside of the deck and the slats. Additional details for our comfort: I gradually tapered the boards down to 30" at my feet to increase the cabin space. I also added a bed rail at my head to keep me from rolling out, and to grab while getting in and out. The bed rail was held down with a screw and wing nut through the box under the seat. The cushions were placed on top of all this to make a 30" bunk that was 6' long.

 

[Tom Hruby]

OOPS. I posted the wrong picture for the bed rail. I got one that folds so it can be more easily stored.

I should also mention that I made my own cushions using different densities of 1" foam mattresses. The bench cushions are 3" thick for sitting and 30" wide. I also cut two additional layers of 1" foam that extend the full size of the bunk (30" at the head tapered to 24" at the foot). This allows me to sleep on 5" of foam; a lot more comfortable. The two top layers are covered with fabric, rolled during the day, and stored in the forward part. A 1" thick, twin size, piece of foam ranges from about $16 - $35 depending on density at https://www.foambymail.com/product/lux-r-foam-mattress.html . At this price we were able to buy several different densities of foam and experimented with different combinations of layers to find the best for each of us. My wife has a different combination of densities for her starboard berth than I do for the port side. The second picture shows the starboard side berth with one of the additional 1" mattress rolls.

 

[thataway]

The way I would handle this, is what I did in a Van Conversion which we did. I would make the dinette into a bench seat, with a fold out back to support the extra width of the bunk. 20" wide seat, and 20" wide back, folded down gives. you 40" and still enough to slide by when walking fore and aft. Issue is that you have to do something else for the table.

I am a fairly big guy at 6'2" and 185#. (those days, I shrank). My son is 6'4"+ and in the 235 to 250 range--and his (1995 25' CDory cruise ship) has the dinette which is 4' wide, with a narrower galley than the 22 or the later C Dory 25. I am not comfortable sleeping on the narrow dinette as it converts--but I have to make it do in some situations. What made the V bunk more comfortable for me, was that the port side bulkhead between the pilot house and the V berth was removed, so the port sleeping side of the V berth had cushions built to be flush with the V bunk, and became the part of the bunk where I put my head at night, so we could accommodate not only my wife Marie, and any number of the dogs we had during our ownership of C Dorys. (If we had more than one dog--the others had to sleep under the dinette table. Our poodle is not allowed on the bed while we are sleeping, but did sleep on top of the covers in the V Berth between us.

 

[ssobol]

My concern with sleeping on the converted dinette is the possibility of ending up on the floor if the boat gets waked during the night. With the V-berth, you cannot fall out of it. I would be more comfortable sleeping on the cabin floor, rather than the converted dinette.

 

[Tom Hruby]

Sleeping on the floor works great if you are alone. Since there are two of us, and both of us often have to get up in the middle of the night, the floor is not an option. I find the bed rail works very well at keeping me on the bunk when the boat starts rocking. As mentioned the 25' has more options than the 22'. My wife and I tried lying in the V-berth but we found it would be impossible to get up in the middle of the night without waking the other person, and we kept bumping our heads when we tried to lie down or get up. With my spinal stenosis, getting in and out of the V berth also caused some pain.

I will try to get some pictures of my set up, and post them here.