Well, its winter and I started on a major canvas project. After two weekends work, I have made ONE panel. I am sure though that the rest will go much quicker as I made some mistakes, and it was a learning process as well.

Here is the old canvas curtain for the port side.



The reason for making the new canvas is twofold. First, the old vinyl is brittle and yellow. You can see the difference in color in the carpet under the vinyl above.

The new canvas has new vinyl, but also I modified it to fit better. The extra wedge in the new canvas is where the radar arch's front tube is. There is only about 2" of clearance where the tubes are, and it makes it very difficult to open and roll up the zipped window. The new window is completely in front of the radar arch.



Also, the front piece had some velcro on it - in the lower right hand of the photos. It had been damaged by UV, but also, it did not fit correctly, so the prevous solution was to make a little extender piece. Kind of sloppy looking. So, I extended the velcro piece.

The zippers and straps are in place. I will put the lower fastners in place when I fit the canvas on the boat - as is customary.




You can see here where the radar arch line is, as well as the part that pinches behind the arch.

I did worry a bit about visibility, but I don't think it will be too bad with the blanked out panel. If it ends up being a problem, I can always add a window to the canvas part.

But on the other hand, if the radar arch was solid, then there would be no visibility there anyway.

I'm looking forward to seeing it fitted to the boat.

Nice job Al.

Nice work. What type of sewing machine did you use?

Sailrite LSZ-1.

al - nice work. btw, what's covering the bimini poles in the picture above?

Not your garden variety sewing maching but if you keep using it like that it will certainly make itself worthwhile.

It's a typical "Al" project...well thought out, well designed, well constructed. Nice work my friend!

Keep practicing, Al. Looks good. I see a custom enclosure business in someone's offseason retirement.....

Bruce, its just that foam plumbing insulation you can buy at Lowes. This year I plan on making "jackets" for them so they look a bit nicer.

WM - I dunno, its an awful lot of work.

Nice! I'd love to be able to do stuff like that.

Dave;

I have absolutely no experience in sewing stuff - didn't take home-ec in high school or anything. Heck, my boys made aprons in high school, so they were more expert than I. My only experience was as a kid; watching my mom darning (I think that is the word) socks that had holes in them by placing them over a light bulb.

But I did have to sew on my stripes on my Air Force uniforms once - bad experience. After that first time - I paid to have it done. That was the only down-side of a promotion, I guess.

I just figured out all of the estimates of what we wanted to have done on the boat - $3,000 for a new enclosure, $1,00 for a new rear bimini, $2,000 for new upholstery on the bridge, and I don't know how much to redo the sofa and chair.

So I figured, $800 for a machine (actually closer to $1,000 after all of the extra gadgets and parts we bought). Its worth a try; if I can make a go of it - I'll save a bunch of money. If I can't, I can probably sell the machine on eBay for almost as much as I paid for it and be all the wiser for the experience.

I have almost no sewing experience either, but I do know from my kite making friend that you bought a great sewing machine. The walking foot is key.

I think the socks for the pipe insulation will be very classy. If you can figure a way to put something like microfiber cloth on the parts that can rub against the plastic windows, I bet it'll keep them from getting scratched. Have to be UV resistant though. I'd put on sunbrella too, so it's not part of the structure, more of a patch.

I finished the second side curtain - went a lot easier than the first - and looks better too. Oh well, the better curtain is on "my side" of the boat.

We are now starting on the rear pieces, and have to order some more Strataglas for the front.

One thing that I didn't go too well on is estimating the materials needed. I have had to order Sunbrella twice; silly me - I thought 4yds x 60" of Sunbrella would have been enough.

One issue, and I am not sure why I am doing this, other than to replicate what was there - is that the current curtains use two layers of Sunbrella. One on each side of the Strataglas - effectively making a Sunbrella/Strataglas sammich.

The Sunbrella color is Captain Navy, which is a very dark blue. It looks lighter though in the flash photos. Sunbrella is some strange stuff - its acrylic, and you can melt it if you iron it too agressively. The manufacturer does not recommend ironing because you can shrink it - but we had to make the facing with an iron - but we were very careful in applying heat.

This project is certainly turned out to be more expensive than I thought; so now I have a better idea why shops charge $3K for what I am doing - there is a lot of expense in material, and a lot of labor.

I did though, find a place that sells Strataglass "seconds" at deep discount. I can get a 54" x 111" standard sheet (kind of odd size) for $40 vs. $100 for a prime piece. I bought two sheets and they claim to be 90% useable - and in both sheets, there was a very very minor blemish; one that certainly will be masked by the normal wear and tear of the curtain. And I was able to cut one out.

I have learned several things whilst doing this project; things like cutting strips on the bias (45deg) so that you can put a slight bend in them to match the irregular size of the original.

We also went out and bought two 6ft by 30" utility tables and put them together so we have a 72" x 60" work surface. That is an abosulte necessity - you cannot do this kind of project on the kitchen table.

The most frustration has been the constant re-threading of the lower thread bobbin. I have solved the problem somewhat by purchasing a bunch of bobbins and having a stock of them handy as I sew the piece.



The thread I am using is V-92 weight UV Resistant Polyester thread with a 14lb tensile strength. I cannot break it with my hands.

One of the things that ends up making the pieces look great is the use of binding. Here you can see I am loading the binding tool with Sunbrella binding.



It can be a bit tricky using this gadget. I have two binders, a 1" and a 3/4" binder. The 1" binder works pretty good, but I am having some difficulty in using the 3/4" one.



One of the secret weapons is stuff called basting tape. I have used several rolls of it, and it sure maks things easier. You simply tape the pieces together before running them through the machine.



One of the best parts of the curtain is that the similey zippers are virtually waterproof. Here is one example. The sides of the Strataglas is banded with Stamoid vinyl, then a piece of Stamoid banding was used - which tends to overlap and creates an interference fit.

This is on the outside of the curtain, so it should be quite good at preventing water from coming in. I saw a "professional" job at the boat show last weekend (the same place that quoted me $3K), and they simply put a zipper on the inside of the smiley and left raw Strataglas edges. I think that'd leak. So when we are done, we'll have an enclosure much nicer than what $3K will buy.



While not really required, the straps that are used to hold the smiley open when you want to vent the bridge have green or red snaps. This I thought, would help in installing the curtains, since you would not arbitrarly grab the wrong one - unless you don't know your red from your green.



I'm gonna put in a few more goodies in the canvas, and when I am done, it is going to be a class A project. I'll post more photos as I progress.

The Sailrite machine has performed flawlessly. On one piece of the curtain, I had to sew through 14 layers of Sunbrella plus 30 gauge Strataglas, and I had to run it through manually (cranking the wheel), but it was just a small part - maybe 2" in length, but other than that the machine routinely runs through 6 or 8 thicknesses of Sunbrella without accord.



This is the part with the 14 layers of Sunbrella (which includes the banding). You can also see the nice seal the Stamoid makes for the smiley zipper in the photo.

I also found that I could sew completely through #10 marine zippers - but again, I have to do it manually by cranking the flywheel, as well as slowly. If you look closely, you can see where the thread goes right across the top of the smiley's zipper.



Another simple, but nice touch is these zipper pull extenders.

Again, I have never done this kind of thing before. But the folks at Sailrite have been very helpful, they have tutorials on-line for a very nominal price, and they will answer questions promptly. They do get a bit more $$ for their stuff, but they also offer outstanding customer service, and that to me is worth a few extra dollars.

The only thing I did not buy from Sailrite is the Strataglas seconds I found. I saved about $180 by doing so, but I have dumped a bunch of money at Sailrite, so they should not feel bad.

Time to order more material...

Looks GREAT Al!

Can't wait to see the final product - very impressive

We have finished 5 panels now, and have two more to go (but these are simple ones). Still ordering more stuff. Man, its really difficult to estimate how much stuff I needed, and the cost of the stuff.

I have probably over $100 just in zippers! I am not sure at this point whether or not I want to add up all of the cost, but I am sure I am still way below what someone would charge.

The front pieces were a real beach. They are curved, and I just figured out how to sew a straight line - now I gotta figure how to sew a parabolic...

The only real problem I have had so far with the sewing machine is the clutch-pin. The machine has a pith-pin that dis-engages the flywheel from the machine's clutch. This allows you to wind bobbins with thread without having to un-thread the machine. A pretty nice convenience.....

however, the pith pin doesn't always "catch" real well, and usually, after replacing it engage the clutch again, we'll be sewing and the silly pith-pin will pop out and land on the floor. Its kind of funny, and we usually laugh. But after reseating it, it usually stays (until I wind bobbins again).

We are also thinking of making a bimini top as well. I'd just as soon order one, but I need an odd size - 125" wide, and I have not seen any that were wider than 102".

I think I have found a place that might custom make the bimini tubes for me, and I'll have to sew together a Sunbrella top.

Al,

What an example of unbelievable patience and pride.

Wonderful work I am sure you will enjoy thoroughly. Great work, thanks for sharing!

As usual, you set the mark for "How to"!

My wife had the day off from work, so I played hookey and took the day off as well (with the boss'es permission).

We drove down to the Sailrite company - which is about 2 hours drive from us. We did this partly as for something to do on finally a nice day, and partly because I have been wanting to go down there anyway to ask a few questions and look at some of their upholstery and marine furniture fabrics for our next projects.

The folks there were awfully nice, and took us around and showed us the varous fabrics. After getting to feel the fabrics and upholstery, we did make some changes in our selections we will be making for the upcoming projects.

I also found that they can custom bend about any size bimini, and they should be able to handle the 12' wide bimini frame I need; with the caveat that I got to come down and pick it up, because its too costly to ship.

That was exactly what I was planning on anyway, and wanted to hear, so this is yet another project planned for next summer.

And I ended up spending $100 on materials to complete my current enclosure project. I got about another day's worth of work, and I'll post photos when done.

Here are the final photos (at least until I get the enclosure on the boat.


I made a bag out of marine vinyl for the enclosure.



All 7 enclosure pieces simply lay on the bag (with towels between the pieces of Strataglas.



Then simply roll the bag up.



Once rolled up, there are 4 buckles to snap the bag togegher (I could'a made the straps a bit longer).




The wife can pick up the bag - but it is a bit heavy for her.




We can store the bag almost anywhere.

Dang Al. Is there anything you cannot do?

Al the handy/everything man.

I can't stand on a stool and bite myself on the ear. Vincent VanGogh is the only one that I think could do that.

But serously, two months ago, I couldn't sew a stitch. I guess the only real trait I have is a degree of confidence to jump right into a project and do it.

Same thing when I installed the air conditioner in my last boat - the only knowledge I posessed about air conditioning is that when you turn the knob to the left, it gets colder.

But, its all in research, "market survey", and maybe a test job or two. If you do that kind of homework, its really not that hard.

Looks great Al!

Dam good lookin' work Al-- My wife has 4 sewing machines, but nothing that will do upholstery, I may have to look into finding one. We got all KINDS of work for it!

The machine we bought was a bit expensive, about $800 for a made in Taiwan machine (but what isn't these days).

However, Sailrite takes the basic machine, adds a larger flywheel and idler pully so that it lowers the speed and increases the torque. And they go through the machine and align everything.

They also provide a nice carry case that is intended to carry aboard - so you can store the machine on any surface of the case.

I have sewn through about 14 layers of Sunbrella, as well as right through #10 marine zippers. For the zippers, you need to slowly and manually turn the flywheel, but it does work pretty good.

And the machine is a walking-foot - which I think makes for straighter stitching.

It ain't cheap, but the estimate I got for the enclosure was $3K, and that was for a cut-rate job, not nearly as nice as I did. I paid about $1K for the materials for the enclosure, and maybe $200 on accessories, such as binding makers and jigs. So for the first job, the machine paid for itself.

We also plan on upholstering the flybridge $2K estimate, a bimini top for the rear deck $1.5K estimate, maybe enclose the rear bimini (didn't get an estimate on that), and re-upholstering the tub chair and sofa. We cannot get the sofa out of the boat (at least not easily), so we plan on re-upholstering it in place.

Other possible jobs are re-upholstering the front berth - it doesn't need it yet, but there are a couple of stains we'd like to get out. And we might do the cockpit carpeting ourselves, if I can find the proper carpet. I already have the banding attachment.

Small projects may include a custom helm cover, maybe flag cover too.

I am already working on two sea bags to hold the excess line from the block-and-tackle system on my new dinghy davits.

Some of these projects we'll likely do next year or beyond when we are retired, as I don't think I can get them all done this year. I'll be saving literally thousands of dollars by doing these projects myself.

Al,
You never cease to amaze me, everything you do looks better than what can be bought!

Props to you!!! Pardon the pun!