Seat cushions and upholstery

[Sonex1517]

Who in the community has made their own seat?

I am interested in hearing about others experiences with seat cushions and upholstery. Specifically what densities they used and if they did any contouring.

Thanks!


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

[mike.smith]

Robbie:

In both the seat and the back I used Confor Foam: 1" CF45/Medium/Blue, then 1" CF42/Soft/Pink on top. It's essentially the TempurPedic foam. It feels awesome. But if I had it to do over I would consider only using 1" of the Soft/Pink for the back. There isn't nearly as much weight being put on the back cusion, so the Medium/Blue isn't really necessary, and it only adds thickness that my long legs didn't need. I got the best deal on the foam from:
https://www.scs-interiors.com/aerospace ... -foam.html

I did not do any contouring. You can see photos on my Kitlog site:
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/category. ... egory=9497

[fastj22]

I used 2 inch blue space foam for the back half of the lower seat (under the butts) 2 inch standard craft store foam for the front half and the entire seat back. The space foam is heavy and is hard as a rock under 50 degrees. But very comfy once things warm up.

[Msing48]

Robbie,

Over the past 10 years I have tried quite a few different seat foams including the factory cushions, boat cushions and various combinations, I even spent the money and time at Airventure several years ago to buy and try every combination of Confor foam. I did this by testing them for an hour each while sitting with them on the wooden chairs at Theater in the Woods. I found what I thought was the perfect combination (pink over blue). When I got home, I had new seat bottoms made using this combination. Fortunately, I had them made with zippers. I found that they were only marginally better than the factory seats. I found some "high density" foam at a large craft store here in Houstion, replaced the Confor foam and found this to be much better. This foam was not anywhere near as high density as the Confor foam but was 2 or 3 times as dense as the typical craft foam.

Mike Singleton
N148MS

[Msing48]

I should have mentioned that I only did the seat bottoms and did no contouring.

Mike Singleton

[avee8r]

Hi Robbie

Ever see the commercial on TV for the Sheepskin covered, contour foam cushions? I found they're the perfect size, comfort etc... for my Sonex. I put some Velcro on them so they don't slide around and the setup works just fine.

Happy Landings
John
N50NX

[tonyr]

Hi Robbie

I sewed my own upholstery and used the confor foam pink over blue for the seat pan and blue for the backs. I used 1000D Cordura for the coverings which doesn't "give" much.
I tapered the foam towards the front under the legs.. its just the blue at the front. I even glued the under leg end foam on at an angle so they sit better on the pan. I made 4 individual cushions, 2 seat pans and 2 backs, all attached with Velcro.
Lots of work to sew though and a bit of head scratching to work out the how! I also fitted zippers.
After 40 hours of use I find them comfy on the seat bottom but not so much on the back. I was thinking of adding some conventional foam to increase the thickness on them, but might have to remake the back covers.
The other thing with them is they are pretty weighty due to the confor foam..
I have a couple of pics here:
( I remade the stick boots in a thinner vinyl and they sit a lot better than these..)



PS.. I cut the foam with a cheap electric meat carver. To get the taper I used a wooden jig to keep the blades at the correct cutting angle. Worked good!

Cheers
Tony

[mkellems]

This is what we did with my new interior at a friends hot rod shop.
used hd foam/confor foam and pleather - seat was cut short to keep it away from under the knees and made a curtain for the baggage area.
Thanks,Mike

[984dm]

Hi Robbie,

Hi Tech Foams (www.seatfoam.com) from NE is a supplier I'm considering for getting foam for my seats. I met them at OSH last summer, and they seem to have good prices. What I like is they offer a wide variety of pre-cut pieces to choose from.

I'm shopping around to see what it would cost to have the seat covers sewn up, then will decide whether or not to go with the factory seats. The factory seats do have a nice fit to them.

Good luck with finishing up your plane,
Dave Misner
Sonex N984DM (in progress)

[Sonex1517]

Thanks for the replies and email everyone