Question(s) of the Day #3 - Berths in Cabin - Paint peeling / Cushions

[Spartan]

I would imagine this is a common issue of the berths paint peeling? 
Did they come painted from the factory?  How have folks refinished? 

Sand to bare wood? Epoxy coat, prime paint? what kind of paint?

Good news is the cushions are in good shape?  Has anyone supplemented the cushions to make more comfortable?
Does anyone sleep with head by the bulkhead and feet into the shelf (with extra foam to raise up cushion?


Thanks
Tom

[skip1930]

My factory grey paint never peeled.
And since it was so well 'stuck' to the factory plywood.

I simply repainted all the grey again with Rustoleum Protective gloss enamel grey...with the exception of the bilge
where my bilge pump is.

I did not want to suck up any peeled paint into the pump as I stow my ice under
the potty to cool adult beverages in the bilge. So this area is under melted ice most of the time when crusing and wet a lot.

skip.

[rwdsr]

I just scraped and wiped down all the inside walls to remove all the scaling and flaking, and then painted the entire inside top to bottom with a good coat of Kilz.  I even crawled down inside the berths to the transom and scraped and painted down there.  DISCLAIMER!!!!! - That's a real tight fit, and I made sure I had someone standing by strong enough to drag me out if I got stuck.  I also almost found out the hard way about the fumes off the Kilz, I finally had to put a fan in there to blow air back into that area.  Be careful!!!  My boat came without cushions, and I had a 4" foam mattress that I cut with an electric knife.  Then I sewed covers out of some canvas that I had laying around.  If you plan to sleep with your legs down under the cockpit seats, 4 inches are about as much as you can go and still have any kind of room at all.  I was also able to take the sleeping cushions out on the seats in the cockpit and sleep out there under a boom tent on most hot nights.  Hope that helps.

BobD

[buckaroo]

Since mine only came with one cushion, I plan to remove it entirely and lay down indoor/outdoor carpet.  I think It'll look neater, and will leave more space.  Those cushions wouldn't provide much in the way of comfort while sleeping, anyway.

[Spartan]

Thanks all, sounds like some options from prime only to paint.