Want To Buy: Sewing machine, walking foot (and zig zag preferred)

[Randyonr3]

Just a note,
and not knocking the sailrite or the Pfaff machines but if you could do quality workmanship with a cheep machine I would be the first in line to buy one..
I have thousands invested in high end machines and it all comes down to "you get what you pay for"..
And personally, I would'nt look for anything with a walking foot and zig-zag for less than 3k.. other than that, sailrite has about the best all round machine.. the down side is that it is NOT a rotary bobbin, and one little nick in the cross bar and it starts skipping stitches..
And befor you purchase a machine, you might want to roll up half your sail and try stuffing it through the machine.. if you cant, it wont do you any good for repairs..

[SVNeko]

Do you really plan to do sail repairs with it? That seems to take it into a whole new realm of size and weight. You're probably better off getting the sail looked over and reinforced by a loft. Do any emergency repairs by hand. Then get a smaller machine for canvas and sunbrella projects. Either of those Pfaff machines look way to heavy to bring on a boat. Unless you plan to repair sails for money, getting a machine for onboard use for that seems like overkill.

[chienbizarre]

I cannot invest thousands in a machine at this point. The girlfriend and I are beginners but require a capable machine, not a perfect one.
Yes, I plan to do sail repairs with it. I hand-sewed 50 or 60 ft of leech and foot in the Bahamas and don't want to do that again. Repairs toward the center of the sail will have to be by hand, but common repairs are leech, foot and UV cover sail repairs.
We mostly plan to do canvas though.
The boat is home. When I'm 1000 miles from a sailmaker I want something that will work, and not be too hard to use.
Does anyone know what biggest size needle and thread the Pfaff 130 will take?
Are common or wear parts like needles, bobbins, feed dogs, etc. easy to get and/or interchangeable with other machines?

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by islandplanet

You can buy a new Morse that does what you want it to do for $450. Maybe 300 if you can find a used one.

What model Morse do you recommend? I found a bunch of them used.

[kleenescapes]

I have 2 for sail 1 is lsz-1 used twice for $750.00 obo and the other is ls-1 slightly used bought both in feb 2011