Sewing Your Own Awnings

[Chasing Summer]

gjordon ... I don't plan on carrying 110 on my boat either except for the little B&D 400 & 750 watt inverters. When they go out I'll just over the side with them. The 400 will run most things. I haven't tried the sewing machine yet. I have a mini machiine lathe and a few other shop machines that will be on the boat.

forsailbyowner ... I never said re-stitchinig would be easy but at the price I got the sail it was a no brainer. I'll take pictures when I get to that project. Right now I'm practicing on two of my older jibs. I took out the cable luff and am sewing in a bolt rope and setting in grommets for hanks.

[forsailbyowner]

Heres a machine similiar to the sailrite, sewline is a company that builds mostly industrial machines, this one is not industrial but neither is the sailrite.


Sewline New 146 7 Zig Zag Straight Stitch EXTRAS Package Sewing Machine | eBay


Heres a place to browse industrial canvas machines.

Canvas & Upholstery

[wingless]

This topic shows the construction of my enclosure using my Juki DNU-1541S. This machine has the power to punch through folded seams w/o effort.

The machine is large and heavy, requiring two people when putting it onto the table. The table was modified by me to add casters so I can move it around easily.

The table height was set to match my pool table so I could use that as additional work surface.

IMO, it would be difficult to do most canvas project w/o a large work area. For example. when I traced my pattern onto my canvas, I unrolled the fabric, then overlayed my pattern to get an accurate marking. Also, when cutting the fabric, I used my hot knife cutter and a door-sized mirror, to have a flat surface, impervious to heat.

[sabray]

I agree moving the fabric around is difficult if space is short. Laying it out is impossible without some flat space. 100 bucks will get you one of these which can see straight stitch through anything you wish. I would not bother stitching a dodger or Bimini without using Tenara thread. Sunbrella is pretty good stuff. Stamoid is excellent. Harder to work with. It won't leak but I found it has condensation on the underside like the sunbrella never had.


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[forsailbyowner]

A few points to consider. i discourage the use of white zippers, even on white fabric. The black zippers outlast the white 3 to 1.

Sunbrella plus and sunbrella supreme are more expensive and have half the warranty of sunbrella cover. I use topgun on my boat. I get it for about half the price and it doesnt leak like sunbrella.

With leak proof fabrics also comes lack of breathability. Mold and mildew are much more prevalent. When Im doing tops in plus or supreme I do the pockets in sunbrella cover to avoid the mold buildup inside the pockets. Covers and outside sailbags are better done with cover fabric.

Learning the ins and outs of your machine will take a bit. Start with small inconsequential projects before jumping into the big ones.

I enjoy sewing for myself but for others its just more work I guess theres always the feeling of balancing how much time you put into something , making money and having a customer thats happy and feels his money was well spent. Different story on my boat. Thats where i try new techniques and dont care about how long it takes.

[wingless]

The wife is very happy now, you affirmed her side of our discussions. We went back and forth for four months, with her position that I've never sewn and don't know how hard it is to do a good job and my position that I can visualize the process and the result.

My unilateral decision to buy the machine, tools and materials was not popular.

So, I am wrong on these points: white zippers; Sunbrella Supreme; Sunbrella Supreme on pockets and starting w/ the biggest most difficult section first.

But, my wife and I are happy w/ the results and she's now happy knowing that she was right.

[wingless]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

When Im doing tops in plus or supreme I do the pockets in sunbrella cover to avoid the mold buildup inside the pockets.

Sorry, but when I examined my Sunbrella Supreme enclosure, it would look terrible to have regular Sunbrella pockets. The interior of Sunbrella Supreme is a soft flocking, not the regular Sunbrella.

There has not been any issue w/ mold inside the pockets, despite an abundance of rain.

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

i discourage the use of white zippers, even on white fabric. The black zippers outlast the white 3 to 1.

The black zippers would look terrible w/ the linen interior.

Maybe my white zippers will have an acceptable life because they are concealed and covered from sun exposure when the boat is not in use.





On my boat, the Sunbrella Supreme was selected because I wanted a waterproof fabric and because I needed the soft interior flocking to prevent abrasion damage when the sunshade is resting against the Strataglass windows.

One of my objectives was a dry interior. That goal has been satisfied. The wife and I enjoyed operating the boat in a downpour in a dry cockpit w/o drips or leaks. Even the factory canvas when it was new required towels underneath all the leaks.

When I contructed this enclosure I used basting tape between each layer for thread that went from exterior to interior to seal the thread holes. There are not any water leaks through the thread holes.

[forsailbyowner]

Originally Posted by wingless

Sorry, but when I examined my Sunbrella Supreme enclosure, it would look terrible to have regular Sunbrella pockets. The interior of Sunbrella Supreme is a soft flocking, not the regular Sunbrella.

There has not been any issue w/ mold inside the pockets, despite an abundance of rain.

The black zippers would look terrible w/ the linen interior.

Maybe my white zippers will have an acceptable life because they are concealed and covered from sun exposure when the boat is not in use.





On my boat, the Sunbrella Supreme was selected because I wanted a waterproof fabric and because I needed the soft interior flocking to prevent abrasion damage when the sunshade is resting against the Strataglass windows.

One of my objectives was a dry interior. That goal has been satisfied. The wife and I enjoyed operating the boat in a downpour in a dry cockpit w/o drips or leaks. Even the factory canvas when it was new required towels underneath all the leaks.

When I contructed this enclosure I used basting tape between each layer for thread that went from exterior to interior to seal the thread holes. There are not any water leaks through the thread holes.

Im glad your happy and wish you the best. When using ptfe the zippers and velcro are the weak links in the construction and usually dont last the life of the sunbrella warranty. I try to give my clients canvas that wont need to be repaired till the sunbrella warranty runs out. Being that the sunbrella supreme warranty is 5 years (vs 10yr for sunbrella cover) Your zippers may last thru the warranty.

I didnt make up the using cover fabric for pockets, it recommends this in the sunbrella literature. I do my best to follow industry standards. Maybe using linen sunbrella cover wouldnt have been too noticeable.

Using seaming tape is standard procedure on overhead seams.

Dont think the black zips look too bad here.

[oldragbaggers]

Nice job, Wingless! Congrats on a successful project. Feels good, doesn't it?

[wingless]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

Dont think the black zips look too bad here.

Agreed.

It is difficult to be certain, but it looks like the hull is black and the Sunbrella Supreme canvas is black exterior and linen interior.

All that combined w/ the black and tan seats makes the black zippers the correct color for the zippers.

IMO, white is the correct color for zippers and Velcro on my Captain Navy / Linen canvas.

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

Nice job, Wingless! Congrats on a successful project. Feels good, doesn't it?

Thanks very much.

This was a difficult, but good first project. The wife and I are very happy.

The custom design elements worked well and the boat is much more usable now than it has ever been.

[JPA Cate]

Wingless, if you're still around, what made you choose the Juki DNU 1541S? I may be in the market for a replacement machine, and it needs to be portable, 'cause I live on my boat. I have used my mothers's old Pfaff 130 for all sorts of things since 1960, the last 25 yrs., it has almost all been canvas work (except for the odd wraparound skirt)....whatever, it now seems that it may be worn out! :-(

Any specific suggestions/recommendations, anyone? ....and Thanks.

Ann

[wingless]

The Juki DNU-1541S was selected to have enough power for the job and to be appropriate for the job.

The machine will punch through multiple folded seams w/o effort and w/o slowing down. This walking foot machine pulls normal or thick seams w/o problems.

One of the handy / essential tools is the swing-away binder. All of the edges and many of the seams have binding, so this tool was used to get this done correctly.

This machine is not portable. Moving the machine is a two-person job. This machine requires a table, w/ the machine on top and the motor below.

This machine seems unlikely to ever wear out. I keep it lubricated during usage and it seems happy.

[flagorio]

We have a sailrite LSZ1 which we used for our Bimini and other projects. We found it very difficult to use Tenara thread. We tried all sorts of adjustments and manipulation but it still skips stitches and was difficult to work with. If you're going to use tenara thread I would recommend getting a heavy duty industrial machine.
For all the other projects on our boat: covers, cushions, or Jordans Drogue, etc. the Sailrite worked well.

[wingless]

Originally Posted by flagorio

We have a sailrite LSZ1 which we used for our Bimini and other projects. We found it very difficult to use Tenara thread. We tried all sorts of adjustments and manipulation but it still skips stitches and was difficult to work with. If you're going to use tenara thread I would recommend getting a heavy duty industrial machine.

The Tenara worked fine, no issues, on my commercial machine.

For me, the Tenara was a requirement, after watching the thread disintegrate on my factory canvas.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by flagorio

We have a sailrite LSZ1 which we used for our Bimini and other projects. We found it very difficult to use Tenara thread. We tried all sorts of adjustments and manipulation but it still skips stitches and was difficult to work with. If you're going to use tenara thread I would recommend getting a heavy duty industrial machine.
For all the other projects on our boat: covers, cushions, or Jordans Drogue, etc. the Sailrite worked well.

I have a friend with a Sailrite whose experience with Tenara was at first like yours. However, she decided to re-play the Sailright CD or DVD that came with the machine, and did figure out a way to make it work correctly. Perhaps, you might give it another go sometime after you decide you're not going to let teflon thread get the better of you. I'm expecting a struggle when I make that change, but the ptfe thread just lasts great. I've got a 14 yr. old mainsail cover sewn with it by our sailmaker, and the thread is still perfect. To me, being able to use it may well be worth the effort. YMMV.