UV resistant thread for sprayhood

Definitely if you're in an area of high UV such as the Med - I've found normal stitching starts giving way after 5 years and has to be replaced after 7. In UK stitching lasts a good 10 years.
Taking off a sprayhood and resewing costs about £50-60 and considerable trouble - on the other hand the clear plastic will only do about 6 years.
 
They mean Tenara or equivalent, which is PTFE based rather than polyester. The regular polyester thread comes in various UV resistance levels with the worst ones failing after only 1-2 years of constant exposure. Good ones can last much longer, but Tenara is generally considered the best and should last as long as the fabric. Given the price of a new sprayhood and the annoyance and cost of later repairs it's well worth paying that extra bit now.
 
parsifal said:
£40 for using a different type of thread seems a hell of a lot. Why is it so expensive?
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The thread itself is expensive but it is a lot more difficult to use, adding time to the job.

I have quite a history of hood buying, due to the fact that many types of canvas shrink so much after 5-8 years of use that hoods made from them will no longer fit the boat. Also, in the Mediterranean, we have spent hours restitching thread that has degraded so much in the sunlight that the panels fall apart. Discussing this with my sailmaker (Simon Northrop in Ramsgate) he has made me a new hood, bimini and the strip that zips between them in the best materials that he can. The cloth is Weathermax 80 and the thread Tenara. He believes that this will give the longest possible life in current materials.
 
vyv_cox said:
The thread itself is expensive but it is a lot more difficult to use, adding time to the job.

I have quite a history of hood buying, due to the fact that many types of canvas shrink so much after 5-8 years of use that hoods made from them will no longer fit the boat. Also, in the Mediterranean, we have spent hours restitching thread that has degraded so much in the sunlight that the panels fall apart. Discussing this with my sailmaker (Simon Northrop in Ramsgate) he has made me a new hood, bimini and the strip that zips between them in the best materials that he can. The cloth is Weathermax 80 and the thread Tenara. He believes that this will give the longest possible life in current materials.
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Thanks for explaining that.

Ramsgate is a long way from your stated cruising area. Do you do the measuring for your sailmaker or does he use the old covers as patterns (with allowance for shrinkage)?
 
Tenara is only available in small denier sizes ,it would cut through the leather holes .So for your leather wheel cover ,if you used a good sized polyester hand sewing twine,say 1mm plus it will last as long as Tenara .
 
parsifal said:
Thanks for explaining that.

Ramsgate is a long way from your stated cruising area. Do you do the measuring for your sailmaker or does he use the old covers as patterns (with allowance for shrinkage)?
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You are right, Ramsgate is a considerable distance from us, but quite close to where my daughter lives. However, we originally used Northrop Sails when we sailed to Ramsgate from The Netherlands and were impressed by the quality of Simon's work and his flexibility, but most of all by the fact that he did what we asked(!) We have used him several times since.

We are very fortunate in having a pattern for our hood and cockpit cover, made by a Dutch sailmaker when we lived there. Simon works from that for the hood, although he has modified the windows on our instruction to make life in a hot climate more comfortable. This time we also had a new bimini, which was heavily worn but had not shrunk, so he used that as a pattern.
 
Minchsailor said:
Worth it?
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Tenara is wonderful stuff. Basically unlimited thread life, but it is expensive and a bugger to use. Normally butter would not melt in my wife's mouth, but she has been heard to occasionally swear like navvie under her breath when sewing with Tenara :).

£40 is quite reasonable and will pay for itself in longer life.
 
cliveshelton said:
Is this a service that is available from sail lofts/canvass makers? If so, I might save myself some winter sewing practice.
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Most sail lofts will do a wash reproof and resew .Specify Tenara for Restitching ,if you have you have a fairly recent hood .
.It may not be worth it ,on one where replacement will be needed in a couple of seasons .
 
wilkinsonsails said:
Most sail lofts will do a wash reproof and resew .Specify Tenara for Restitching ,if you have you have a fairly recent hood .
.It may not be worth it ,on one where replacement will be needed in a couple of seasons .
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Is £40 on top of the usual charge for restitching a sprayhood with Tenara thread a reasonable charge? In your opinion.
 
Just had a new hood made in chichester and specified Tenara. It does only come in white i think. The thread is expensive, over £100 a reel, although nothing close to 1/3 of a reel would go into a hood. My hood came with a 15 year thread guarantee. I see in australia equivalent thread retails at half the price.

£40 to resew in tenara seems remarkable value as i can imagine for most hood more than an hours labour.
 
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Tenara thread cost differs as its sold by length ,compared to weight with say V92. You usually get a lot more polyester for your money .
A good brand V92 in the UK should last 8 yrs ,less in strong UV conditions say 5 yrs .Tenara the lifetime of the
product made .
Tenara thread is thinner too,and has less seam sealing ability to bed in through the sewing holes .(Think light weight nylon fishing line ). Sewing machines often need a bit of tweaking to be pursueded to sew nicely with it .��
This can easily be addressed by a seam style that has a hidden stitch row ..
The cost of the actual thread per mile is about 80% more ,but per hood and dealing with tickling a sewing machine ,probably would add £25 max on to the resew cost on a medium sized hood .
 
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wilkinsonsails said:
Tenara thread cost differs as its sold by length ,compared to weight with say V92. You usually get a lot more polyester for your money .
A good brand V92 in the UK should last 8 yrs ,less in strong UV conditions say 5 yrs .Tenara the lifetime of the
product made .
Tenara thread is thinner too,and has less seam sealing ability to bed in through the sewing holes .(Think light weight nylon fishing line ). Sewing machines often need a bit of tweaking to be pursueded to sew nicely with it .��
This can easily be addressed by a seam style that has a hidden stitch row ..
The cost of the actual thread per mile is about 80% more ,but per hood and dealing with tickling a sewing machine ,probably would add £25 max on to the resew cost on a medium sized hood .
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A very clear explanation. Thanks.
 
Co skipper been using V. 92 for all her work on our boat and other people we in an high UV area in the MED the summer Bimini and sun shades made for our last boat which now is sold where 7 years old and the stitching where as good as the day she made it although it was only used for 9 month a year , the other three month we use a full cockpit enclose , also made from the same thread ,
Work start on our new summer Bimini on this boat in a few week , the one that came with the boat was just two years old , made by a well known company in the UK , not only is it falling a part , but.we got sun burn under it .
That's not to say the company did a bad job , maybe the PO didn't want to pay for good thread and good canvas.
If your having one made its well worth paying extra for good thread and good canvas with good UV protection .
 
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I used best V92 when I made my cockpit enclosure (I didnt know about Tenara and looking forward to giving it a try when I can get around to spending £100+ on a reel). It was dark blue but has gone whitishing in UK sunlight. Someone said it was poor thread, which I dont think it was (beign V92), and it shows no sign whatsoever of weakness. Is bleaching normal I wonder?
 
ip485 said:
I used best V92 when I made my cockpit enclosure (I didnt know about Tenara and looking forward to giving it a try when I can get around to spending £100+ on a reel). It was dark blue but has gone whitishing in UK sunlight. Someone said it was poor thread, which I dont think it was (beign V92), and it shows no sign whatsoever of weakness. Is bleaching normal I wonder?
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Regrettably, colour bleaching is a common thing with UV exposure. When we were chatting to sailmakers before making our first bimini they advised only using white UV resistant thread as the die in the coloured thread would tend to accelerate UV damage.
 
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