Sail covers and canvas

[MacGyver]

My wife and I are thinking about getting sail cover, jib bag, etc.....

But then she talked about making our own and buying a sailrite sewing machine, etc........

Anyone know anything about making your own and using a sailrite sewing machine? Do you really save money on doing your own stuff (since at some point you can make your own sails..... etc)

She has the idea that maybe we could make some other people stuff and repairs, etc then and get back some of the expense, maybe make a small local business out of it for extra money to spend on the boat.

Mac

PS I know about Lee sail covers, and have pondered just buying from them, but the cost get s up there with some of the options we will need (like the lazy jack slits now, etc....)

[Salty19]

Save your money on the machine.   Home-grade machines will do the job--but with the caveat that 6 or 7 layers is about the max and more than 4 will put some strain on it.  Use a #18 needle and UV resistant thread.

i've made a sail cover, rudder cover, winch covers, lifeline covers, interior hanging bags, storage sacks, cooler cover and more I've forgot about. Also made sail ties out of webbing. Making a forward and companionway hatch screen with sunbrella border now.

Totally doable without spending the big bucks on a sail rite machine.  There is a chinese equivalent for about $250.  Can't recall the name though!?

[MacGyver]

Salty, do you go through Sailrite for your stuff then?

What machine do you use? (I will compare it to what we have using internet search for specs...) Ours just says Singer Simple on it..... Walmart special....

I just didnt want to be burning up this unit just so save some money.

Will your home jobber do zippers too?

Thanks!

Mac

[MacGyver]

This is the machine we have
http://www.singerco.com/products/2236/3221-simple

Hope it isnt too basic......

[Salty19]

Give it a try.  If will either work or it won't or will struggle to punch through (or need your help with the wheel).   You'll probably know the first time you are sewing a thick seam or with zippers or nylon webbing.

Oh, and I made two awnings (fwd mast and aft mast) with nylon reinforcements     Both however,  came out terribly so the next project after the screens are new awnings with a better thought out design. Mine struggles with nylon and multiple seams, barely being able to finish (with mega-abusing the machine), so I'll need to really watch overlap and hope for the best.

If it's not up the job..and it might not be like mine isn't for tougher jobs, look for a Consew CP206R or  Feiyue fs288z   I think there is another sail rite clone out there. I've seen them for $300 or less..very inexpensive for a professional grade machine (pretty sure the sail rite parts will interexchange as well).

I'll get a clone when I kill this one.  It's kinda fun to make these projects and doing them yourself you save tons of money and get more custom than outsourcing it.

if you or the wife are good at sewing, and you have the inclination, that captive audience of Carlyle Lake sailors at the West Access Marina could be a gold mine. 

[Lafayette Bruce]

In preparation for doing some cabin cushions I brought my grandmother's old (~1960) Singer out of moth balls.  I took it to the local Singer repair shop and they gave it a $60 tune up.  They said it was up to the job, no problem, but they commented new machines on the market have all plastic gears and would not do the job.  I asked what grandma's old machine was worth and they said there are bunches of them that were made so the supply is good and it is only worth about $100.  I'd recommend getting an old work horse machine and even with the tune up you would still be ahead.
Lafayette Bruce

[MacGyver]

That is kind of what we are hoping. I am searching for clones right now, and few have good service with them if any, and most have bad reviews....
I used to run a graphics company before the lightning strike got me. I was all messed up so we sold it off.
My wife thinks we should do this as a business starting with our own stuff first, and the quality and care I had in the graphics business will surely net us customers who know what I am all about.

Id like to do sails too, specifically our own, which would serve to save 300 dollars plus. Definetly need a zig zag machine for that.

We will see what happens, I keep mulling over the internet, trying to figure it all out, my boss just talked to me on the phone about the lazy jacks, and said, "hey dude, you have only had the boat for a month! slow down!"

He might be right.     He has some fabric so we are going to run it through our machine here and see what happens. Will order thread from sailrite and Ginger (my wife) is going to get #18 needles as per your recommendation.

It would just be really nice to like you said, get custom with it, and I ran the graphics company for that reason, to get custom since I couldnt find someone to do it for me, I bought all the stuff and did it for myself and before long had a big customer base. At lightning I was in my 10th year.

Have you ever sewed in those plastic windows?
Wonder if I could design some port hole screens...........hmmm..........

@Lafayette Bruce
I have been searching the craigslist and stuff, not finding much that looks decent, but I dont know a whole lot about all of that anyway..... Maybe I will look for a sewing shop (closest chance for a place close to me is a hour away)  and maybe they will know.

[Salty19]

Sorry,  I didn't answer your questions...so here goes.

machine is a home grade Brother machine.  It does have steel gears, but the motor isn't heavy duty.  I've probably more or less beat the heck out of it trying to do what it's not designed, but so far it hasn't died yet    It does do zippers, but I've only tried with 2 layers + zipper.  It's nice to have the right foots on the machine, I did use the zipper foot. 

I've only bought a few things from sail rite (binding tape) because their prices are kinda high.  Sunbrella, velcro, double sided tape and webbing snaps  I buy from Defender.com.  I looked around and found deals on a hot knife, snap fasteners and the way-cool press 'n snap tool.  Needles and UV thread, JoAnn fabric. Just bought a few different meshes (Phifertex and no-see-um) from seattlefabrics.com.   Sailrite does have some things that are hard to find and I did buy a little from them just because of all of their free information/video's.

Take a look at the Toyota STF39 too. It's heavy duty and is fully loaded with every stitch you can imagine, including zig zag and triple zip zag (stronger than straight). It also has a walking foot which sure would be nice to have..often I need to pull the fabric through because it can't feed it when it gets thick.
I'm sure it's not the same thing as a Sailrite machine, (not in the same league) but those are more for folks who sew canvas for a living or must have the very best.

I hadn't read reviews but rather remember reading about them on a sailing forum somewhere and saved the model numbers to look at it again later.  if the reviews aren't good, that's a bad sign..who knows maybe I copied the wrong model numbers!!

[Lafayette Bruce]

Did a quick look up on ebay and saw this one just like grandma's.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-SINGER-301A-SHORT-BED-SEWING-MACHINE-Works-w-cradle-oil-pan-etc-/200774332003?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebf152e63
$55  Not bad.
If you are thinking about doing a fair amount of sewing, you may want to consider a deeper throat machine.
Lafayette Bruce

[brackish]

Years ago I bought a Euro pro EP 380 heavy duty machine.  It is a cheap import machine, about a hundred bucks as I recall, but has all metal gears.  I've used it to make a number of Sunbrella items and have plans for a few more.  When I did this I had never used a sewing machine before, so a short learning curve.  Have not tried it on heavier sailcloth, but have the material to make a anchor riding sail.  I bought Don Casey's book on sewing accessories and sail repair.  It is very basic but good for me since I was a complete novice.

I get my material from:

http://www.sailmakerssupply.com/aboutus

I haven't bought from them online, rather stopped in.  Jean was very helpful getting me started.

[cycle]

We bought a LSZ-1 from Sailrite so I could con my wife into making new sails.   Which she did!

She sews a lot and has made all kinds of things on her old machine, a circa 1982 Elna (swedish, all metal internals).  For me shes made stuff like a motorcycle seat for my old CR250, a tent for my El Camino etc.  She's been making tote bags out of old sails and while it worked, it wasn't pretty.  Tough getting thick material through, needles broke frequently, etc.  Not sure how much of it was due to the mileage on the Elna or the lack of a walking foot.  Anyway, now she uses the Sailrite for everything.

It goes through anything, has the walking foot, takes large spools of thread.  It is VERY heavy which is kind of annoying because its hard for her to move around.  Making the sails, it was sometime best to have the machine on the floor to manage all the material.

Jon


New sails!

[MacGyver]

Wow Cycle! 
She made that one? was it the kit from Sailrite?

My wife keeps looking at the sailrite stuff. We just need to get the money together to see what we will be doing, but I want to build my own sails as well, so we are thinking the LSZ 1 as well.

I havent found a good china type knockoff, and frankly if we are half way there in money and it broke and was unable to repair easily, then I am stuck half way and will pay 1.5 times for the sewing machine, makes us think we should get the sailrite and be done with it.

Still juggling all this, but The fact of doing our own stuff makes us more willing to get all the stuff and do it.

Mac

[cycle]

Yes - its a Sailrite kit.  She made the main and 135 jib described below.   It was windy the day we took that picture, so we couldn't easily unfurl the jib.  I agree on the service / repair issue and I don't see the $$ for the machine as being out of line with what we get from it.  We bought the old Elna new in 1982 before we were married and had it 30 years.  The Sailrite is likely the last sewing machine we'll buy.


Sailkit   1   EA   Com-Pac 19/1 Main Kit, 5.4oz SC Dacron, crosscut, one row of reef points, standard battens, leechline, boltrope on luff and foot, slugs on luff, outhaul slug at clew. P 18'9", E 8'.
Sailkit   1   EA   Com-Pac 19/1 135% Furling Genoa Kit, 4.4oz SC Dacron, crosscut, #6 luff tape, leechline, suncover on leech and foot, luff 20'9", foot 9'4", leech 19'6".
7001   1   EA   CDI Furler Flexible FF2

[Wiggs]

Just going through old posts and found this. What did you finally come up with? Did you buy the sailrite? If I had had the money, that is the way I would of gone. I bought a 30 year old singer and it works fine except no walking foot.

Wiggs

[MacGyver]

Wiggs,

I bought the Sailrite LSZ1 machine, just because between my wife and I we couldn't justify the risk of spending half for a china sewing machine clone.

The machine came in ready to sew...... I was flatout amazed by its performance on the stuff I tested on, 10 layers sunbrella, and some turns, etc.
It performed well.
I made the "Foredeck bag" kit from sailrite as my first project and I was really happy with how well it sewed that up.

If you buy the machine, or buy from Sailrite I recommend the V92 thread or the Tenara thread but I havent used the Tenara.

The V92 is thicker, really nice thread.

The LS1 machine they sell (red) is good for sewing most anything other than sails. This LSZ1 (blue) is with the zig zag stitch for sail work and I have used it on some spots of the foredeck bag..

I am in process of making a sail cover, winch covers, front hatch shade, and line bags......

I can attest to Sailrite's customer service.... my wife thought it a good idea to get the sewing table as well, and we had a place for it in the house, and with it setup all the time, we knew I would be more prone to just going in and working on stuff. The machine didnt sit right on the table....... so I told em, and Matt Grant emailed me back that he was on his way to the shop floor to solve it out.
Later the next day he shipped out rubber pads to fix the problem.

Really a class act.

I also asked a question and got answers quickly so I figure if I wanted to do a project for someone and had to ask stuff, I feel like I have the support I would need, all free of charge.

For that I would easily pay the slightly higher prices to get what I need, all from one place, and with support to boot.

Mac