Time for a boat cover

[Dave Gray]

Due to my move, I no longer have a garage for my boat (nor my tools but that is a different story being worked out with the missus). Time for a boat cover. I have examined Mr. McMiullins's great thread on the subject and am ready to go. Only, I need a sewing machine. Do y'all think a Pfaff 130 suitable to the task? I am not sure I want to invest in a Sailrite machine just yet. The boat in question is a Poo Duck, all of 13' long and 4.8' wide. I imagine Sunbrella would be the fabric of choice.

[Richard Smith]

I have used a 130 for similar projects. HOWEVER, it has been modified: Put on a power stand w corresponding HD production motor, and w a heavy pressure foot and thread tension springs. Previous to modification, it would have been pretty frustrating to use it for much beyond spinnaker work, albeit "possible." (I did so.) I have also used the Sailrite machine as sold, as well as the Pfaff 230. (The 230 will handle most sail work.) The Sailrite will do the job you have described. I paid ~$400 for the power stand setup & modifications for my Pfaff 130. I don't know what they want for a Sailrite these days. Bottom line: I'm suggesting you pimp-out your 130 or go for the Sailrite. Once you get into using either for fabrication you will think of them simply as any other "tool."

Yes, Sunbrella is the way to go. Use only Dacron thread - the heaviest your machine will take. I think the Pfaff 130 maxes out at V-76 thread.

[JimConlin]

Why not one of these nifty canopies from Home Depot and other fine stores. About $100, the cost of six yards of sunbrella.

[Wacoflyr]

I have a Pooduck (almost finished) that needs a cover, too! I'm really looking forward to this thread! I have a sailrite, and plan on using sunbrella, but the design is what interests me. I want this cover to work on a trailer, so straps under the boat, or at least attached to the gunnels are a necessity. Also, to support the cover I plan to make at least two and possibly three flexible battens that slot into the gunnels, or possibly oarlock pads. I haven't started drawing yet(finish work and making one last hollow spar are priorities) but I am tossing ideas around between my two working brain cells. I can't wait to see what you ideas you come up with, so that I can steal them.

Hargrave

[Dave Gray]

I haven't thought too much beyond the sewinng machine. Being somewhat miserly in nature I want the best while paying the least. I have my doubts this will work to my advantage and I will have to pry my throttling hands off of my bank account.

As to the boat cover, I am thinking of using the mast step to set up a beam length wise that would slope from front to back, kind of like an old expedition tent, and perhaps use battens or something or other along the length. The idea being to not have water puddling anywhere. The design concept is in its evolutionary stages...

[peter osberg]

If your wife's sewing machine can do denim, you can do sunbrella as well. I made several covers with dodger-type fabrics, if you use fabric glue as well that is more likely to generate some domestic oversight..... WHAT DID TOU DO TO MY MACHINE!!!!!!! etc.

[Dave Gray]

My wife, alas, is untrained in the domestic arts. Consequently we have no sewing machine. She wouldn't be a good catch by standards set forth in old English novels.

[Dick Wynne]

FWIW, I just sold a Pfaff ClassicStyle 1525 which I used for boat cover work, the mechanism is same as used in some deep-throated sailmaking machines, it chomped through 4 layer seams of Top Gun like it was tissue paper. But I just bit the bullet and committed a small fortune for a professionally made winter cover for Charm, as I just don't have the time, nor probably the skill. Nor all the cash either for that matter, luckily the maker is taking his time.

[Roy Morford]

Check out this link for step by step instructions to make a custom cover

http://www.sailrite.com/Boat-Cover-I...s-Downloadable

[James McMullen]

My Sunbrella cover is holding up great so far, and it's been through rain storms and snowfall and more than one ride down the highway at 60mph. I used Weathermax for my boom tent most recently, and I think it could make an acceptable lighter weight substitute if you wanted.

[kenjamin]

My wife, alas, is untrained in the domestic arts. Consequently we have no sewing machine. She wouldn't be a good catch by standards set forth in old English novels.

My mainsail for my Caledonia Yawl was sewn on a domestic machine, a Bernina Sport, and it did just fine but I have since bought a Sailrite zig-zag and love the darn thing. Their customer support at Sailrite is excellent! However I like keeping my boat under one of those tent-like structures (my neighbor gave me mine) because you don't have to take anything off the boat to go sailing – just hook up the trailer and go.

[James McMullen]

Hook up and go sounds very nice. Alas, my garage has far too many bicycles and kayaks in it to fit Rowan inside as well.
(Note: this is in no way the same thing as simply having too many kayaks and bicycles. As I regularly try to reassure my wife, that is just not possible.)

Cars? In a garage? What are you, mad? What a waste of precious real estate!

[Dave Gray]

I think I will go with either a Pfaff 332 or 360. There sure are a lot of 130s out on Ebay. As I know diddly squat about sewing machines I am reading, with a somewhat jaundiced eye, reviews about them to get a sense of their capabilities.

[woodpile]

You don't need a fancy commercial machine for casual sewing. Since taking ownership of her Singer Fashion Mate it's sown 3 small boat covers, a T-top enclosure, several seat cushions and many small cover type projects. Had it at a good repair shop once and they "tuned" it to handle the heavier materials. No doubt it wouldn't compete with a commercial machine but it handles Sunbrella with no problems, cushion material, edge bead and isenglass with a little coaxing. I'd look for a good repair shop, tell them how you want to use it and see what they have for good used or reconditioned machines.

[James McMullen]

You must have zig-zag to do sails properly. Walking foot is awfully nice to have too. I have a Pfaff 1222 at home in addition to the big commercial one upstairs at EMC.

[Wacoflyr]

Hmm... I have a zig zag, and it does do sails well. (Sailrite) but if you do some reading you will find that the point behind the zig zag is to spread stress across the cloth. Stitches join cloth at points, and the thread that you see on the outside of the cloth, while certainly helpful, does not take the same stress as the comparitively short amount of thread that goes through the cloth. I believe that you can make a serviceable sail with a straight stitch machine, provided that you make at least two passes at each seam, and are careful to stagger the stitches. It will look weird, compared to normal zig zag stitching, but I believe it will accomplish the same purpose. I could be wrong, of course. (often am.) Any sailmakers here? All respect to James, of course, from whom I have learned so much in this forum.

[James McMullen]

Oh thanks, but no need to offer me too much respect with regards to sewing. I'm definitely not an expert here. I'm just too cheap to purchase already made sails, so I just keep grinding them out despite my lack of talent as a seamstress.

[Andy Mcconkey]

I have a Pfaff 130 that I've sewn up a Sunbrella cover with. It was just like butter.

[Todd Bradshaw]

You can straight-stitch sails, but on Dacron (polyester) they don't tend to be as strong. The reason you want to spread the needle holes out on Dacron as much as possible has to do with its tearing properties. Due to the lack of stretch in the yarns as well as the fact that many weaves may be loaded more in one direction than the other (even to the point of some yarns being straight and the ones crossing them doing all the up and down at intersections) Dacron is prone to "explosive tearing". In a rather crude nutshell, when stress is applied to a spot, the first yarn present tries to take almost all of it and its neighbors behind it don't help out a lot, because none of them are very stretchy. If the first yarn can't hold it, it breaks. At that point, the stress is passed on to the next yarn, which will also probably break and pass the stress to the next one, etc. etc. etc. This happens so fast that even a big sail can rip all the way across in a couple of seconds. Remember those bright green A-Cup polyester spinnakers from a few years back? A small tear would start at one edge and then suddenly expand all the way across to the opposite luff tape. Nylon and some other fibers are much less prone to this sort of tearing because the yarns have more stretch. They help their neighbors take the stress and spread it out over a larger area. Unfortunately, for most sails that same stretch means that a nylon sail wouldn't hold its designed shape well - which is why you don't make nylon mainsails or jibs.

So anyway, the zig-zag stitch (or the three-step zig-zag on production sails) is just a means of avoiding making a perforated straight line across your sail and avoiding the "tear here" effect that a line of straight stitching makes.

To the contrary, a zig-zag on Sunbrella isn't usually very useful (too easy to snag) and you ideally want a long (4-5mm) straight stitch. Strong, but the length helps to minimize needle-puckering (the needle pulling yarns as it goes through, which can actually make a pretty drastic length difference in a long seam or edge if the stitches are too short).