Sofa/Dinette Upholstery

When we ditched the folding bed under the sofa and opened up all the storage areas, we went with two separate lockers behind and two under. This gave us a lot of  usable space but it wasn't easily accessible with the original six cushion (three back and three seat) arrangement. 

Here is the original six cushion arrangement on the sofa. Note how the back cushions sit low due to the removal of the folding bed.

To create improved locker access  behind and under the sofa, we built two doors in the back and two in the bottom. It was a huge improvement to the storage areas but, to open any one of the four new locker doors, we now had to remove at least two of the cushions. 

We wanted easier and simpler locker access so, as the original cushions were old and scruffy (and very BLUE!), we thought we could solve two problems with one upgrade. Get new upholstery and reduce the number of cushions to four. Here is the new sofa set-up. One cushion Velcro'd to each locker door. All four cushions are interchangeable to spread the wear.  Also, with two seat cushions left in place and two back cushions laid on the sole in front of the sofa, two full length berths are again available....without the weight and obstruction of the clunky folding bed. 

Once we saw a solution to the sofa issue we took the same idea to the dinette. The two bench cushions were worn and badly compressed in the corner where they met. Also, the three back cushions were removable inserts combined  with upholstered plywood supports, which restricted access to the storage areas behind. We tore it all out and redesigned both seat and back cushions.

Here is the new dinette arrangement. The two original LH and RH  bench cushions are replaced by two identical, interchangeable cushions, again to spread the wear. The corner seat has its own 'pie slice' shaped cushion. If corner compression becomes a problem in the future we only have one, small and relatively inexpensive piece to replace.     

The position of the mast casing meant that the back cushions could not be interchangeable but, because the backers were eliminated, and each cushion can be completely removed, access is greatly improved.