sail cover material

some good advice here

Jill has agreed to make a copy of the old one

but perhaps you are right

maybe we should patch up the old one

I shall have another look at it and see if repairing would be better than replacing

Dylan

Just a thought - but you do a lot of winter sailing, so why not do both & save the new one for summer use & leave the repaired one on all winter. I have at times left a set of "winter sails" on the boat so I could snatch the odd quickie (sail that is) without having to leave good sails to get damaged or keep taking them on & off.
 
Another for acrylic canvas - lasts forever. If you are going to re-stitch it then get good quality uv-resistant thread, and re-stitch ALL of it, not just the bits that appear dodgy, or you'll have those 'sound' bits to do in six months time...

If you are going to repair the old one then also consider taking the opportunity to re-proof the material. Opinions vary as to whether you want the material to breathe or not, but it helps to keep the green mould away...
 
Just a thought - but you do a lot of winter sailing, so why not do both & save the new one for summer use & leave the repaired one on all winter. I have at times left a set of "winter sails" on the boat so I could snatch the odd quickie (sail that is) without having to leave good sails to get damaged or keep taking them on & off.

in the winter the boom and gaff come off and go down below

it is a pain

but the sails are in pretty good nick at the moment

D
 
Sunbrella is the longest lasting acrylic fabric, available at www.sailrite.com, buy that even if you don't make it. Apparently there are couple of private sellers in the UK but I wouldn't trust them and nobody else sells it in the UK. To DIY you need a metal machine with a walking foot and Dabond UV resistent thread . However, if you haven't made any canvas work before then I would sugggest getting it made, you could waste a lot of canvas as you take up to a couple of days to learn how to use the machine with multiple layers of canvas on the seams.
 
To DIY you need a metal machine with a walking foot and Dabond UV resistent thread . However, if you haven't made any canvas work before then I would sugggest getting it made.

I made mine with a non-metal fixed foot domestic sewing machine. No problems were encountered. The maximum number of layers to sew through was 4 and the machine handled that without problem. If there is an old one to dismantle and use as a pattern for parts it really is not a difficult job to do.

Here's the one I made using acrylic canvas from Point North...

SDC11219.jpg
 
Take the old one to bits and use it as a pattern for a new one if you do need a new one. The stitching is the first to go and if a stackaway system, the zip is a close second !

some good advice here

Jill has agreed to make a copy of the old one

but perhaps you are right

maybe we should patch up the old one

I shall have another look at it and see if repairing would be better than replacing

Dylan
 
>I made mine with a non-metal fixed foot domestic sewing machine. No problems were encountered. The maximum number of layers to sew through was 4 and the machine handled that without problem.

I wouldn't disagree that it is possible to make the cover on that type of machine but it is very difficult to get the stitches the same size if you hand feed the cloth through the machine. Hence the walking foot.
 
I made mine with a non-metal fixed foot domestic sewing machine. No problems were encountered. The maximum number of layers to sew through was 4 and the machine handled that without problem. If there is an old one to dismantle and use as a pattern for parts it really is not a difficult job to do.

Here's the one I made using acrylic canvas from Point North...

This is your "missing thread" http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?281460-DIY-sail-cover&highlight=
 
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