Which Sewing Machine For The Poor Sailor?

CodStewart

CodStewart

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I can currently take advantage of a free shipping offer from Amazon and doesn't my bank balance know it.
Right. Cut to the chase.
Which 'normal' sewing machine - not the hundreds of dollars Sailrite or other commercial monsters that command a bag of gold - would you have onboard for canvas and sail jobs?
I have heard that as long as the parts are metal and you use strong needles, that lowlier machines can do the job.
So which one would you recommend?
 
We use a fairly simple old electric machine. It does various stitches, but not embroidery, and it is perfectly adequate for several layers of cloth. Dodgers/covers/sail repairs are all possible. If the sewing gets too tough we just switch to needle and palm, but that's usually only for small areas. In essence I'd go for a relatively simple machine.
 
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I have repaired our sprayhood and tonneau using an antique hand-cranked Singer.

Using the right kind of needles made a big difference. Someone advised me to use "Jeans needles" which you can get from a sewing machine shop, and these had no trouble piercing through a few layers of acrylic canvas without bending or breaking.

http://www.worldofsewing.com/shop/needles-jeans-90-5-pkt.html
 
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Sewing machine

Few years ago I bought the cheapest and simplest electric sewing machine in Dept Store in Newcastle. £109, made by Brother and actually was amongst the most powerful domestic machine in the shop. It does straight and zig zag that is all. Have made very long heavy sail cover, dodgers, bags etc. It will stitch 6 layers of acrylic canvas if careful. Use Denim needles, do not use leather needles.
No less important is a quality pair of scissors. Keep for use on fabric only, dress making type is best it really is a valued investment, mine were about £20, worth their weight in gold.
Do not know how either will survive if kept on board a boat for long periods.
Next project may be a full reupholster interior.
 
Love my Singer - 1938 vintage as it was a 21st birthday present to my mother. Hand-cranked but has the benefit that you can use it very slowly through the thick areas. Pretty powerful.

Disadvantages are that it doesn't have other stitches eg zigzag (well I have some strange feet which apparently do that but haven't investigated yet as haven't needed to) and if you are doing large areas it means you need 3 hands - 2 to manage the material and one to turn the handle. Must admit I bought a cheap 2nd hand electric machine (£40) when it came to making duvet covers. But if I were living aboard I'd just make HWMO turn the handle when required !
 
CodStewart said:
I have heard that as long as the parts are metal and you use strong needles, that lowlier machines can do the job.
So which one would you recommend?
Click to expand...

You will not need zig zag for canvas work so any old, cast iron, hand crank machine will do a good job (as parsifal has said). For sail work a straight stitch is strong enough but will not tie down the edge of the sailcloth.
I suspect you are thinking of a new, electric machine. If so Phaff, Husqvarna and Bernina are all good bets, the latter do a tough, mechanical machine (1008, I think) but it is very expensive (£400 maybe 6/700 US). It might be better to look for one of these secondhand but they tend to be rare, people hold onto them.
If you don't mind the weight (they can be very heavy) an electric machine from the 60/70s will be very tough and they can often be picked up for a few quid. I have 40 year old Brother which came from a charity shop and works very well with heavy Dacron and big needles.
I would be a little wary of inexpensive, lightweight machines though I have no doubt that the better ones are capable of the work, perhaps at the expense of a long life.
 
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I have an oldish Japanese made for an American Co. called "New Home" Goes through 8/9 layers of 5oz with 'denim point' needles. Made the sails for my current boat and will for the next. Zig-zag of varying width and reverse plus a few fancy stitches. Dates from the 70s, I swopped it for a gas fridge.
A
 
I started of with an old foot pedal Singer, brilliant piece of engineering, probably the last decent bit of kit to come from Great Britain. Lubricated with modern silicon it will handle heavy jobs.

Now I use a Singer 20U, made in Japan, some are Chinese made and not quite as good. Bought off EBay. Threads I buy from a US Ebay site. Needles, I checked what Sailrite recommended and bought locally. The correct needles will transform your work and cost no more, jeans needles will work but for sail cloth the correct needles are much better and wont break the thread etc.

Caution, its very addictive.
 
I cruised for five or six years without ever finding a use for a sewing machine. Needle and palm, yes, sewing machine, no. Of course, if you plan to make things to sell, or operate a repair business for other cruisers, that's a whole different thing.
 
Mines a new budget Janome. I've used ancient singers et al over the years but this new jobby is the biz. Very easy to use. So far I've made a bimini top, spray dodgers and various covers all from acrylic canvas. Upto 4x thickness too.
The machine's light weight (and can slip around on the table a bit as a result but is easily sorted with some of that non-slip matting) and only uses 85w.

My Mum raved about it so much I had to buy her one for Christmas when we left.........

My 2p
 
When I had an old s/h Japanese 110v electric (all metal) thing it did most stuff well but not the corners of sails, etc- These I resolved by drawing a zigzag with a pencil then patiently tapping through with hammer and sharp point, then hand sew with stout needle and 4fold thread along the zigzag perforations..Actually fairly quick and painless and STRONG, though not orthodox. Simple innit !

Contact adhesive is pretty usefull stuff too for slapping a patch on..

I expect that if you really get into it you may want a Sailrite, electric cloth cutter and all the gear someways down the line...
 
I bought a Chinese copy at Auchan and it is very good value for the €79 it cost.
Only drawback is the strength of the foot spring is not really enough to grip all materials, even when fully screwed down.Very quiet and smooth on most materials.
My local sailmaker used to load extra springs on his industrial machine to get a better grip.
Might have a look someday to see if this is a runner.
The "Handy Stitcher" from West Marine is a valuable tool as others have said.We find that a second pair of hands works well with this gadget to pass the lower locking thread through the loops when the work is bulky.Great inexpensive piece of kit.
Good sailing and boating and laying up to all!
 
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