Sailrite sewing machine from China?

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ifoxwell

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The late Nigel Mercier of this forum bought a cheap Chinese knock off of a Sailrite sewing machine. It was an electric death trap with a metal frame and no earthing. He regretted it.

I have a genuine Sailrite. With sewing machines like this maintenance is important. You need the backup of a dealer (Solent Sewing for Sailrites) to keep your machine in fine fettle. The Ebay one might be half the price of the genuine one, but it's still not cheap. It's a lot of money to waste.
 
Hi Stu,
I just had a look at the proper Sailrites, I'm sure I only paid around £750 a few years ago, prices now horrific for the zig zag.
A recent thread had various recommendations for cheaper older machines that will do the job. Regards to the Admiral, keep her working. G.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Hi Stu,
I just had a look at the proper Sailrites, I'm sure I only paid around £750 a few years ago, prices now horrific for the zig zag.
A recent thread had various recommendations for cheaper older machines that will do the job. Regards to the Admiral, keep her working. G.
Click to expand...

She has just cleaned the "greenhouse" windows, lying in the cockpit sun which is getting stronger by the day. My snotty pig of a cold is nearly gone, cambelt check and oil change tomoz.
Life is rather good, she says hello.
Stu
 
doug748 said:
I don't have any experience of the machine but this chap makes a convincing case:

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As you say he makes a good case... although it sounds to me as if the V1 Sailrite was a Chinese made machine but that there V2 has now taken a step forward.
 
I've got a Singer 20U43 which I've found is good - I did have to slow it down as it was very fast! straight and zigzag stitches, Fine for the majority but won't sew more than about 5 layers of sailcloth. Lots available online or privately. They usually have an industrial motor of 1/3 to 1/2 HP - much stronger than Sailrite or other similar machines with a built in motor. Some for sale have 3 phase motors - check.
 
I've not had time to view the video but from what I remember the history of the Sailrite is detailed in a similar way on the Sailrite web site... It covers the history of the original machine castings, how they were machined and how manufacturing was moved...
https://www.sailrite.com/ultrafeed-history

To be honest, I have one of the non Sailrite machines but one with a longer arm so more room for fabric.. it doesn't have the Sailrite name but all the internals are very similar. Sailrite spares fit... And is zig zag and walking foot.

As to the original poster... You don't say where you are but if you're in the Solent area you're welcome to try out the copy .

Full walking foot is rather useful when wanting to keep fabric nicely aligned.
 
I bet Sailrite machines are made in China/Far East - just like the majority of sewing machines made nowadays - including well known brands. My machine was made in the UK.
 
I'm of the opinion that zigzag is essential for a boat machine.
My friend has full embroidery capability as well which is handy for putting boat name on covers etc but not really essential.
skipper_stu said:
The Admirals Singer 201k, with a new Taiwanese electric motor, is an excellent piece of kit. The only issue is lack of zig zag
Stu
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If you're thinking of getting a new Sailrite from Solent Sewing, be prepared it can take many weeks - my experience last summer was about 7 weeks. When ordering they said 2-3 weeks, after t some chasing about 5-6 weeks later they were in contact to say it was being "shipped", but this actually meant being put on a ship at the docks etc so another week and a half before arriving.
 
Martin_J said:
I have one of the non Sailrite machines but one with a longer arm so more room for fabric..
Click to expand...

How much longer arm, do you have a link to these? My only complaint about the Sailrite is the cramped space when working on a sprayhood or other large item which has to be rolled up to pass through. No room on board for a large commercial machine.
 
The long arm (non-Sailrite) I have is shown here..
JSM 307-1

There is room on board to store it under the saloon seat...
Under seat walking foot machine

And room for a smaller machine in the table...
Small machine store in table for smaller fabric work

If you can see the rest of my photo album (from those links) you will see that the small machine has been used with Sunbrella and Top Gun fabrics... The JSM is similar to the Sailrite LSZ-1.... I use machines like the industrial Jack for thicker work (with an even longer arm) but those don't fit on the boat.
 
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