DIY Canopy

[colinwcolclough]

Hi there all budding DIY fans, upholsterers and tightwads! I am considering making my own canopy to replace the rather ageing sack covering the cockpit of my 20ft cruiser. I'm pretty handy DIY wise and have had a crack with the old sewing machine before to retrim an interior so I feel confident enough to have a go!
Has anyone done this themselves? What problems did you face? Where did you source material and zips et.c. How did the finished product compare with a proffessional product? What should I look out for?
Thanks for all your help and tips!
Colin.

 

[DepSol]

I wouldn't even go there. I dont think a normal sewing machine can handle the material / stitch required for starters. I am an agent for 'NV Equipment' who are a manufacturer of boat covers for alot of European boats. I visited the factory in France earlier ths year and have seen the equipment required to make a good cover. I know it is easier for them as all there stuff is loaded from a computer to a cutting machine for 100% accuracy and there machinists are not allowed to do a customers cover until they have performed a few months practising on off cuts and are deemed very competant, and these are experienced machinists.

They also have there own patented ALU R system which does away with joining two covers by zips instead they are linked through the frame saving time putting them up and taking them down. Alot of work goes into these covers and yet they are still 25-30% cheaper than the same ones ordered from the agents.

If you do try it get hold of some sunbrella plus...fantastic material. Some cost cutting can end up costing you more in the end, time is money and wasted time is lost money plus you want to ensure your boat looks great. Sometimes if you can find someone to do it at the right price then you could use that saved energy to better things like spanking the wifes back side as she leans over whilst scrubbing your decks with a G&T in one hand and.....well you know....up to you but personally I would not try it.

 

[Guest]

Re: agreed, not DIY

Not your average DITY task, all weird 3D shapes allowing for stretch and the like, and it if isn't machine sewn twill look naff. Whose that compnay on the s coast who do these, littlehampton area?

 

[jfm]

I've done this several times years ago . Getting zips and cringles is easy enuf. The hard bit is that you need a mega sewing machine. The domestic ones, even heavy older cast iron types, simply cannot handle the thick thread that you need, as you increase the thread gauge the domestic type sewing machines run out of clout to put tension in each stitch. So IMHO vinyl upholstery is ok, so is loose covers and dinghy covers, but motorboat tonneau covers need industrial strength kit

 

[Guest]

What does IMHO stand for?

 

[Guest]

Re: imho

It stands for "In My Humble Opinion" . The idea is that after pile of advice, instruction or other such verbiage, the text is "softened" by the addition of this acronym. ASame sort of thing is achieved by adding an "emoticon" (like winking smiling faces sideways on, made from punctuations marks) hopefully ensures that a nasty-looking jibe is actually re-read as a friendly joke. E.G. What a goofball not knowing what IMHO means!! ;-)

 

[Guest]

Rubbish Advice from the Others

Cor what a bunch of wimps this lot are. If they haven't paid top price from a professional then it must be rubbish, too difficult or not worth trying. Balderdash (that's polite isn't it)

Total rubbish advice they're giving you.

We made a tonneau cover in the summer for our No2 boat, a 16ft speedboat that our kids use. We bought the material, a grey textured vinyl with a fabric backing, proper boaty stuff, and machined it ourselves on an old fashioned forty year old Singer sewing machine. Admittedly my wife's modern machine wouldn't go through the four thicknesses or so that you end up with on corners, but the old machine worked fine. Used a thick upholstery thread and it all worked OK. shaped it with little inserts to go over the steering wheel and over the high back seats and it looks first class, even though I do say so myself. Don't choose too thick a fabric though. It's a bit fiddly getting the curves, but we found that using masking tape to hold it together before sewing worked well, rather than the pins that you'd use on material (you don't want holes in it do you). Oh and try to keep the cutting to a minimum, just keep adjusting the foit using stitches then cut off afterwards. All the fittings that you need, eyelets, hooks, lift the dot fasteners etc are available at most good chandlers, though I think at Soton Boat Show I saw Toomer and Hayter had a good range of materials and fittings

If ever need a new canopy for my No1 boat, I'd try it again. It's a lot cheaper than a "professional" job. And quicker.

The fabric stuff we used came from "one of the major motorboat manufacturers production lines", but I can't say who, 'cos I paid cash and didn't get a receipt. Know what I mean?

Get hold of an offcut of the type of fabric you fancy and try it. T&H would send you samples and you can try them out first. Overall a fiddly job, but not rocket science. And what else have you got to do all winter.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by colin_maslen on Tue Oct 30 20:01:54 2001 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Re: Utter codswallop, possibly

Ah but colin only made a tonneau cover. And by his own admission it sounds a bit thin gear, not all nice and canvassy heavy sunbrella. A tonneau cover need stitching around the edges, I bet. But a canopy will need stiching of zip etc right across the middle, and for that you need a suitable pro sewing machine, with massive arm to allow for all the stuff you don't want to stitch to stay out of the way. So, a home machine will be no flipping good. What a fule that colin is. After all that, his effort was for the kids boat, so he obv wdn't be seen dead in it, and he's putting all the saved cash towards his new boat. On the other hand, a homemade cover will be a good security deterrent, for obv reasons.

 

[Guest]

Re: Utter codswallop, possibly

Well yes Ok, not too many zips, but loads of seams and fiddly bits. Don't see why a zip should be that difficult. 'S only a bit of material stitched to a doubled over bit of the fabric. Don't know how thick this umbrella stuff is, but the point I was trying to get across was, get some samples and have a go. Worst case is you can't do it and\or it's not worth buying a s\hand pro machine. And yes it is the kiddies boat but they're 20 and 22 and everything has to look real cool or they won't be seen dead in it. Witness my daughter (20) spenmt ages doing her hair before she went to the gym and for a sauna last night. Course there could have been some smooth guys there too, (Byron's son?) but I'm only her Dad so what do I know. Fred Drifting a bit here sorry, back on track.

Oh and had to put a seam tright down the middle so metre and a half wide of material had to go through the arm and was OK. This is getting to sound like "stitch with muvver". Be on knit one pearl one next. About time we got some girly input. Where's pauline when we need her? Probably where she belongs. Making MrB's dinner or doing the ironing or shopping?

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: Utter codswallop, possibly

If I pick up some nice suit material can you and Mrs M knock me one up cheap? I can provide all the relevant measurements!

 

[Guest]

Re: Utter codswallop, possibly

Who do you think we are? Marquees r Us?

 

[paulineb]

Re: Utter codswallop, possibly

Only had a go at the sewing lark once. Utter disaster. I was attempting to make some curtains but got so pissed off with it. I lost my temper, ripped them out of the machine and threw them out the window. Mr B had to rescue them from the front garden and take them to a neighbour to finish.

BTW, when I arrived home from work last night Mr B had my dinner ready and waiting for me and the washing was drying. I should add that he doesn't work so has plenty of time on his hands to pamper me (and the boat !!)

Pauline B

 

[jfm]

Re: not Rubbish Advice

Blimmin eck colin!! If this is a diy sewing comp then right here goes I have a 50 year old Singer and a 30 year old lekky Jones and I have made (not repaired) spinnakers, trapeze harnesses, upholstery including red/navy on white "martini" on 6 powerboats, 2 Renaults, loads of covers. And a 3-piece suite when newly married and skint (having still not recovered from bad back, wife is now suing me). But the Singer will not punch through several layers of the "canvas" that proper tonneaus are made of, and it doesn't have "feeders" that will neatly line up edging tape, and worse still (as matts said) you run out of room under the arm of the machine to stuff the bit you're not sewing. Basically diy only works for lightweight fabrics (which is what you used) not for the navy tonneau covers that m/yachts have. Anyway I wonder if we should move to the PBO forum and get all diy-y and compare Homebase BnQ prices for shelves!!

 

[Guest]

So MDF it is

Looks like I'm outvoted on this one then and it's not worth a try? Hmm OK.

Better call in Alan Titchmarsh and his team and se if he can build a nice water feature in the garden, put boat in that and then a Gazebo over the top. Cure all the problems in one go and won't have to worry about weather forecasts either.