We put some patches on PHOENIX' Sunbrella cover, it had a few rips and tears from riding out hurricane flooding and storm surge. We had lines on the bow and stern of the boat run through the bow handle and straps of the cover, the Sunbrella did an incredible job of keeping the boat from floating away and took its own hits in stride. Here's a small tear, we put a small piece of scrap Sunbrella underneath and stitched over and around the tear with Skipper's Sailrite LSZ-1, set with a wide zig zag and medium length stitch. For getting a good stitch where the top and bottom thread knots are set in the fabric, not on top or below, the right needle, thread and walking foot thread tension are key. Sailrite recommends V-69 polyester thread (UV resistant) for outdoor use and a #18 or #20 round point needle. The walking foot tension is set by the round knob in the photo, we had it pretty high when working with multiple layers of a Dacron sail, so we backed it off one turn for the Sunbrella.
There were a lot small punctures in the Sunbrella along the starboard bow, where the storm surge repeatedly shoved PHOENIX into a 6x6 post. We left most of those nicks alone, figuring that thousands of needle holes in that 4 foot strip was a zero sum game compared to the small nicks. That area will not be as water resistant but we have a metal roof over the covered boats to keep copious amounts of rain away.
Here is what happened to PHOENIX under the cover. Luckily her bow handle, stern line and cover straps kept her from disappearing.
PHOENIX got repaired, now it's time for her cover to get repaired.
One strap was pulled loose by the storm surge, and I did a decent reinforced repair that I was pretty happy with, capturing the webbing in the seam. then realized that I forgot to put the nylon buckle back onto the webbing before I sewed it. Rather than undo the repair and have a lot of needle holes, I cut the webbing open, put on the buckle and straight stitched back over the webbing.
Skipper's 1980 Drascombe Lugger is due for a new cover, she made the old cover in 1996 and while it still works as a nice dust cover in the garage, it has over 5000 miles on it and is getting a little too worn for trailering. We will use it to pattern the new cover.
Among other campaigns, the cover went through Hurricane Nora in Yuma, Arizona of all places.
We had some Sunbrella slated for duty on our 13 foot catamaran, but it went into a PODS storage container for the Armada redeployment. So ONKAHYE pirated the fabric for her use. Skipper laid the Sunbrella out over ONKAHYE's old cover to do her seamstress math and determine if there was enough total fabric to craft a new Lugger cover. There was about 12 yards, 60 inches wide each, we cut the long panel in half, and seamed those 2 panels down the middle with one straight stitch and then one zig zag stitch. The bow piece will be cut from the outer edge scraps.
The aft end of the cover is draped over the transom far enough to account for seams and a drawstring pocket. A small section will be cut from the scraps and added to the bow.
Skipper adjusted the thread tension and presser foot tension on her Sailrite LSZ-1 from leather use to Sunbrella use, leather requires a lot more tension to draw the the spool and bobbin thread through evenly. The needle gets changed out also to a V18 or V20 needle, it has a different tip shape than a leather needle.
25 Apr 21:
Measuring for a drawstring pocket, we'll add 6 inches below the desired bottom edge to account for seams and the pocket.
The transom will get a couple of darts to gather the loose material.
We found the bottom of the top strake, marked that with chalk, and then marked 6 more inches past the first mark for seam and drawstring pocket allowance.
Folded the cover in half to mark the cut line.
I made little chalk marks at 6 inches and Skipper cut along behind me.
We used the scraps to make the cover long enough to cover the bow, placed the loose fit cover on the boat, marked the bow angle and stitched the bow.
ONKAHYE is due for a road trip and her 1996 duck cloth cover is going to be retired. Skipper did some seamstress differential-linear-quantum-calculus and found out we have enough Sunbrella to make a new cover, so we laid out the Sunbrella to confirm and Skipper made the first cut.
Skipper's plan is to put one long seam down the middle, then she'll lay it over the boat to trim the shape, plus allowance for seams. Sunbrella wears quickly on hard points when trailered at highway speeds, the bow piece will be cut from scraps and padded/reinforced. The transom and oarlocks are reinforced as well.
There are some great sales going on at Sailrite right now, $65 USD off on one of their great machines and free shipping on order over $149. We bought an LSZ-1 sewing machine (Straight stitch plus zig zag, and all important walking foot for thick fabric folds) based on Scott's recommendation a few years back and have truly enjoyed using it. Skipper is a talented seamstress with decades of experience and she loves her machine. We have quickly recouped the cost by sewing a sail, several boat covers, repairing other items and making a rain fly for CYANE. Sailrite has great videos on their youtube channel and website to tutor folks through any project, there is even one specific to Sunfish covers with a Mast Up zipper added. FMI: https://www.sailrite.com/ and feel please ask us or the Sailrite Tech Team any questions that you might have. Cheers, Clark and Skipper
We had 5 yards of Sunbrella and one scrap in Skipper's fabric stash, so we crafted a cockpit cover for our O'Day Day Sailer II CYANE. It works as both a mooring cover and a mast down cover, it drapes over the boom when the mast is up. We had used an 8x10 plastic tarp for many years, it kept the big chunks of pine needles, tree bark, bird poop and leftovers from osprey meals out of the cockpit. Those tarps would last maybe a year, we expect to get many years out of this cover.
5 yards of Sunbrella plus some scraps, cut up to make a cover measuring approximately 8 foot wide x 10 foot long. It would have been better with about 6 yards in one piece.
We had 2 5 foot wide panels that were just under 8 feet, so we sewed them together to make an athwatships seam, then used the scraps to make port and starboard doubled strips for grommets. Skipper sewed a single straight 1/4 inch seam, then flipped the fabric over, folded the seam under and sewed that down with a zig zag on her Sailrite LSZ-1.
These little clips work great to keep the fabric edges together.
Lining up the seams.
1 1/2 seam on the bow and stern edges, because we might add grommets there. The iron presses a nice seam to use as a guide when stitching the fabric.
Bow and stern edges.
We used a #2 cutter to cut the holes for the #4 grommets, eased out the hole with a few tiny scissor cuts. With that 3 pound mallet it only takes 2-3 hits to cut 2 layers of fabric. The self healing pad is an essential part of the grommet installation system. All parts sold by Sailrite.
#2 grommet hole cutter.
For marine applications we buy spur grommets, they have teeth that grip the fabric better.
4 faces of the #4 spur grommet, note the teeth on the outer ring. Spur grommets feature metal spurs inside the rim to grip the fabric so they won't easily pull out. A spur die set is necessary for setting spur grommets, different from regular grommets.
Male part of grommet goes onto the anvil.
Be careful to not to cut the hole too big, the fabric should fit tight.
Outer ring placed.
Insert the mandrel and give it two whacks with the Barry King 48 oz mallet. The nylon head, leather handle and rubber mat absorb most of the impact vibration so it is easy to set a lot of grommets.
Inside face of grommet, the Not As Pretty Side.
Outer side of grommet, the Pretty Side.
Spoiled.
Will probably switch over to soft lines for tiedowns, run side to side.
1971 O'Day Day Sailer II CYANE. She's been in the family since 2000, Capn Jack and Miss Adrienne snagged her over in Alabama. She came into our fleet in 2011.
Suzuki 2 1/2 outboard pad on the starboard transom. Capn Jack designed the trailering mast crutch.
