Replacing Furniture on Live Aboard Yacht

[saltwaters wife]

It has been awhile since I have been on the forum. But my husband and I have been busy finding the yacht of our dreams to live on. This last week it finally happened and we are in negotiations with the owner on pricing. The boat is a 1985 model and the furniture comes with the boat. We would like to replace the sofas with either a sectional and/or add recliners.
My question is can we purchase regular furniture or do we have to order through a marine dealer/manufacturer? They are very expensive. We have a aft cabin enclosed salon in the Gulfstar. The rear doors slide open so I believe we can bring in regular furniture. I just didn't know if we had to have the actual furniture to be able to anchor it down, etc..
Any thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated.

[Stumble]

It depends on the use of the boat. If you are headed to the North Atlantic and expecting 20' seas you have a different issue than if you are going to be on an inland lake.

[svBeBe]

I was in home furniture manufacturing for 25 years and also in Super Yacht Furniture Manufacturing for 2 years. When speaking about furniture "not built into a boat," the industry refers to it as "loose furnishings."

The main difference is price. The other difference is that furniture used in homes is not restricted much by the size of the area where placed, while size is important for furniture used in boats

If the "loose furnishings" are going to be in a moving, tossing, and turning environment, they need to be secured, whether they were made for boats, or not.

Hope this helps.

[delmarrey]

One of things you'll need to be concerned about is humidity. Some furnishings will not take high humidity. So if you're in a wet environment avoid any exposed steel. And even the steel springs inside will start to rust. So buy what you can afford to dispose of in relation to the environment. Fold out beds are the worse for rust. They would need a heavy layer of paint to last.

[saltwaters wife]

Thank you all for your input. Never thought of those bed springs rusting!

[AprilMcMahon]

I think you can buy the low rise recliners from some furniture store as you are saying that it can be easily fitted. So there is no need to buy especially yachts furniture they all are same and will just eventually charge you more.

[ozskipper]

With what ever you buy it has to fit through the companion way and it needs to be able to handle rough seas. So plan to fasten it down with double of whatever you have already planed.