Cruisers Using Bean Bag Chairs

[Ocean Girl]

Sorry to revive old thread, was wondering if anyone found a source for bean bag chair patterns.

What I'm looking for is the perfect bean bag that my parents had. It was pear shaped similar to tear shape, had handle at top, and a big D ring on the bottom to clip to outside rear stanchion to get completely out of the way. It had zipper with Velcro sub protector. Made from sunbrella.

Does anyone want to share their pattern?

Thanks
Erika

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

My Parets used two bean bag chairs made from sunbrella on their 37ft boat during their circumnavigation. The chairs were pear shaped and only half full. They were perfect! You could stuff them anywhere to get em out of the way and were great to conform to the surface you wanted to sit on (good for a heeling sailboat). I have plans to made two for Rain Dog. The ready made bean bags are way too big and way too full . Anyways mom would replace the beans about every year or two.
Cheers,
Erika

Only half full is the key.

My wife made pear shaped matching sunbrella covers for ours.
It makes them very durable and styrofoam leakproof as well.

Re: the two use rule, it makes a great seat for a cat the instant you get out of it.
When I would come back to sit down, the cat would look at me as if to say,

"WHAT?"

[Ocean Girl]

Does your wife still have the pattern? And is she willing to share?
Thanks
Erika

[senormechanico]

Erika,
She says yes.
I'll post a photo or two when she finds it.
Steve

[Ocean Girl]

Thanks! You and your wife rock! I've got the heavy duty sewing machine, sunbrella, and basic sewing skills..well very basic
Thanks again

[senormechanico]

Erika,

We filled the bag 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Offshore cruisers might recognize the paper ! lol

Steve

Here's what my wife Janet said:

The beanbag chair we used on our boat was a child's size. It uses 6 panels along with a 8 1/2" circle at the top and a two piece circle with a 16" or 18" jacket type of zipper on the bottom. These numbers include a 1/2" seam allowance except the center line of the bottom circle. With the zipper installed the circle has a diameter of 20". I like to use a 1" seam allowance on the center line so the zipper has plenty of fabric under it.

I measured the center line of one panel. It is 31" long. Starting at the top it is 4 1/4" wide. There is a curve at the top which you can draw after the sides are drawn. At 4" down the center line from the first line the width is 71/2" At 8" down the center line the width is 10". at 12" the width is 12 1/4"; at 16" the width is 14 1/4". At 20" the width is 14 3/4". At 24" the width is 13 1/2". At 28" the width is 12 3/4" and at 31 which is the bottom the width is 11". When you mark out these points and connect them on the outside you will see the curve. Continue the line past the top and bottom lines. Measure from the 4 1/4" line up 5/8" till it intersects the side line. That is the top point. Do the same on the bottom line at 31". Measure 1 1/8" from the 11" wide line to the outside curve. That is the ending point for the bottom curve.

Make a muslin or basic cotton version of this pattern to hold the "beans". Sometimes the cheapest way to get the beans is to buy a children's chair. We did for our current boat. The cover is made in 4 pieces instead of 6. It doesn't conform as well as the 6 piece chair so I will have to make some covers myself.

Put the bag of beans in the sunbrella cover and zip it up. Sometimes the beans have to be eased through the zipper opening, especially if you use a 16" zipper. Good idea to sew perpendicular to the zipper opening on either end so it will handle the stress of pushing the beans through the opening.

[sera4242]

Very interesting to use bag chairs for kids. They can be used in any field. The bean bag chaircan use it while using your watching TV, laptop, playing games,or just relaxing after a very busy day.

[GoingWalkabout]

Its worth googling bean bags.

I found this model that I'm thinking could be recovered in a sumbrella material. Thinking of using upstairs on the catamaran.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B015G..._1473873233466

[GoingWalkabout]

Another model



https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019P..._1473873604050

[TheOffice]

We have 2 from West. Large and a pia to stow, but very comfortable heavy vinyl. We put a towel over them.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by GoingWalkabout

Another model



https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019P..._1473873604050

The chair or the girl????

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

The chair or the girl????

If you have a big enough yacht you get the girl for free.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by GoingWalkabout

If you have a big enough yacht you get the girl for free.

I would probably rather have the chair.......... she doesn't look like she could handle life at sea.

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I would probably rather have the chair.......... she doesn't look like she could handle life at sea.

Very true. Not fit for the galley I would think.

[mikereed100]

We've been using bean bags that we bought in a department store in Thailand for years. They can be used inside, in the cockpit, on deck or on the cabin top. The beans squash down fairly quickly but you can just add more. The downside to doing this is that they get pretty heavy pretty quickly. We have found that using a mixture of beans and shredded foam works best. The foam helps keep the weight down and does not degrade like the beans.