Buy a Sailrite or pay for canvas work?

[CaptTom]

One point to consider if you're doing a cost/benefit analysis: Materials.

Buying good material and thread, like a canvas shop would, isn't cheap. It's still a lot cheaper to do it yourself, of course, but don't assume the machine is the biggest part of your total cost to DIY.

I have a Sailrite knock-off which, along with the Sailrite videos, has allowed me to do some half-decent work at a fraction of what I'd pay someone to do it.

[keepondancin]

My late wife did the sewing, if in the cabin, I would help fight the sail being repaired, would help get things, but never sewed anything. Needed cushions for an RV, so, dug out the machine, watched a SR video, figured how to thread the machine and wind a bobbin. Watched a video, figured out how to calculate materials, and made the purchase. Watched a video to see how to make a cushion. First attempt was ok, but I was hoping for better. By the time I got to number 8, not to bad. Decided to make cushions for outdoor furniture, watched another video for a different method, and by cushion number ten, they look pretty good. I would say go for the machine, I would get the LSZ1 like I have, mostly you can shift the needle side to side to stitch closer to something like a zipper. There are times zig-zag is needed. Walking foot is the way to go. If you have ever fabricated anything, and felt comfortable, fabricating, fabric items is just that, fabricating. You are just doing it with a different medium.

[JPA Cate]

The Pfaff 130 that Franziska mentioned above had been my mother's sewing machine, and she gave it to me when I was pregnant with my first child. I hated to see it go when I finally sold it. It did everything I had asked of it up to that time: weather cloths, cushion covers of diverse types, mainsail covers, and an on-shore repair of a friend's sunbrella UV strip on their genoa. Unlike modern machines, machines of that era (1949 or so), were made of metals, and they hold up way better than modern plastic ones.

I bought a 2nd hand LSZ-1 to replace it, but did lose my ability to do clothing. One thing I used to do was to make wrap-around skirts for locals for thank you's for their generosity, so it has been a loss, an arrow gone from my quiver. The LSZ-1 has done everything I've asked of it, too, but the throat is not much bigger than the Pfaff's, and a larger throat would be very welcome, though might lead to storage difficulties aboard, if you want to take it with you. The walking foot relieves you of the responsibility for helping the Pfaff get over a big layer of cloth; I like that. Jim and I did make a stack pack for our current boat, but I have never made a dodger from scratch. I did one repair with the Pfaff, when we were just starting out, and that was a real learning experience! You can really learn a lot from the SR videos! if only you have the sense to look at them before you start the project. We have also made two sets of dinghy chaps with the LSZ-1, and the old Pfaff could have done that too, but it was wearing out.

Now, Jim's route into sewing was different. He started out on sailboat cushions, made himself a storm jib, and then made a 3/4 oz. spinnaker and douser for the Yankee 30 during the time he was single-hand racing. It was like a secret weapon, at the time, as none were commercially available. And, he made it out of factory seconds.

Jim's sewing machine was a 2nd or x hand Singer he bought from a little old lady in China Town in Oakland, for $25. But, you see it was still of old enough manufacture to be of better quality than plastic.

I would say any machine, if it is not worn out, will do most sailboat jobs okay, and you can save lots! Our labor in the manufacture of our stack pack for the boom paid for the cost of the machine. Everything else from it has been gravy. However, our SR is sensitive to some small clearance issues, and you either have to avoid doing something stupid (that you didn't know about) or you can spend hours and hours trying to fix it. Some of its clearances really do have to be maintained.

To the OP, DIYing the sewing is pretty easy once you've taught yourself how to sew straight seams. You will also need a good seam ripper when you start out, and a hot knife for the acrylic material. You can candle it, but it is fastidious work to avoid a fiery melt; or you can zig-zag seams together.

If you like, and you get into it, I'd be pleased to offer help, should that backup be something you want. I had a mentor when I started, and she really helped me.

Ann

[Kd9truck]

I own a sailrite LZ with the heavy fly wheel. I looked at others similar to sailrite and went thru 2 residential machines. I bought the sailrite for the support I would not have with another brand.
The sailrite comes with a color instruction manual to adjust and troubleshooting, as well as in-depth detail about the different options and what they do.
I was a newbie and sailrite helped me gain confidence to do everything I will need on my vessel.

Cheers

[cal40john]

How much time are you willing to spend and how much need to save money? There are things that I'll pay for because it would take too much time or expertise, but I have done canvas work and sail repair.

If you don't like doing this kind of work, you'll not enjoy doing it.

[foggysail]

I purchased a Juki commercial (I would have to go check the model) but it has a walking foot. I NEVER SEWED BEFORE!!! I made all the canvas for my boat twice and made the canvas for a friend twice.

BEFORE YOU SPEND $$$$:

1) You absoutely need a walking foot........avoid anything but.

2) I recommend that you get one that is mounted on a movable platform.

3) A servo motor makes sewing eaiser. When you tell one of those commercail machines to sew.........they doe and at high speed. I bought a servo and it worked fine for about a year before going to sewing machine heaven. So I wired my original motor to operate at 240VAC BUT plugged it into 120VAC. That way I can control the speed better than before.

4)Right from the get-go, search for a quality (used is fine) pro machine with the deepest throat!!!

5) Use only polyester thread....nylon will rot in the sun

6) Adapters-- check Ebay

Just my thoughts...... good luck, it is not brain science!

[JPA Cate]

Work is work. If you don't "enjoy" doing it, you can still have pride that you did it. Most people in the world have work all the time, or want it.

Ann

[BlueH2Obound]

Originally Posted by cal40john

How much time are you willing to spend and how much need to save money? There are things that I'll pay for because it would take too much time or expertise, but I have done canvas work and sail repair.

If you don't like doing this kind of work, you'll not enjoy doing it.

Like many things, it's not just about saving money. It's about making exactly what you need, not figuring out how to make do with something that is CLOSE to correct.
Also, you can whip out what you need in a fraction of the time it may take to source and get a proper "made" item. Why wait when you can do it NOW!

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by Rockinar

My boat needs a bit of canvas and upholstery work. New sail deck bag, boom cover, binnacle cover. Needs new interior upholstery but not emergency right now.

Would you just pay someone to do these or should I just buy a Sailrite and do it myself?

I would buy a cheap second hand anything and my first project would be to sew up a few signal flags. Simple ones like Q, A, O etc; perhaps a several A's as gifts for friends. Decide through those little projects whether you enjoy sewing, and would find it a pleasant interest. And in so doing learn to cut and sew a straight edge, different seam techniques etc. Your local sewing shops will have lessons.

Sailrite make pretty average machines, very much a compromise to allow them to be in a suit case and sourced from China (so presumably a big tariff is coming). Many different units at much less cost available that will do a better job. You're essentially buying in to a system of consumables and project patterns (not necessarily a bad thing). Sailrite videos though are fantastic.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by grantmc

Many different units at much less cost available that will do a better job than Sailrite.

Links? I see many claims that other cheaper machines are "good enough" but haven't see one that was better than a Sailrite. I can tell you I worked with a 60-year old industrial machine a couple months ago - my Sailrite is less tempermental. My 10-year old LZ Sailrite is better than my 30-year old Thompson I bought from Sailrite in their early days.

Sailrite machines are expensive and they may not be worth the money for everyone. But to say there are better portable machines out there is tough to fathom.

For those who are curious, there are several Sailrite vs Knock-Off videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ni9HKGRe_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJtt-PPkpO0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOP1RdElCUE

General consensus is the Sailrite is better. It's expensive for a reason. Fewer skipped stitches, goes through many layers of fabric with ease, etc. That may not be valuable to everyone. But if it is, the Sailrite is a great machine at a premium price with extraordinary customer service. They still help me from time to time on a machine I purchased from them 30-years ago.

[rls8r]

I bought a Sailrite and did it myself - for two reasons: 1) having someone else do it was very expensive, and 2) I couldn't find anyone to do it within a reasonable time frame.

I'll echo the advice of others ... do it yourself only if you like arts and crafts, or tinkering with things. If you do it yourself you'll soon find yourself in a world of fabrics, threads, needles, accessories, snaps, grommets, zippers, types of seams, etc. It can be fun, but it also can be overwhelming.

I bought a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ and never regretted it. I do most of my sewing in the winter, when there is more 'repairing' than 'sailing'. I started off with winch covers and teak covers - then curtains - then salon cushions - then a set of NATO signal flags (of the proper size for my boat to dress ship) - then an awning - now moving towards new stack packs and cockpit cushions. I may soon try to make a colorful sail for my Dyer sailing dinghy. I've also made tool roll bags, canvas buckets, and various other things. I like having the ability to make things as I need them - instead of waiting 6 - 9 months to pay a lot of money for something that I could make cheaply in a day or two (or three).

If you go the Sailrite route I'll offer up two things ... first, I like the Ultrafeed with the WorkerB motor because I can make it go slooooow. I know that professional canvas sewers like faster machines, but as a novice I do better work at slow-to-medium speeds. I'm aware that I can just press softly on the foot pedal to make it go slow - but I'm not good at that. So, if you buy a second-hand Sailrite machine - make sure it has the WorkerB motor (or you may have to purchase the upgrade kit). Second - note that Sailrite machines have problems running from a 12v -> 240v inverter. That may not be a problem for you since you're in the U.S.

If you do decide to do-it-yourself, but don't get a Sailrite machine - still, the Sailrite folks are wonderful to work with, sell practically everything you'll need at reasonable prices, and their videos are a great help. Go watch a few if you want to see what you may be getting yourself into.

[Cpt Mark]

Probably over 30 years ago I bought a Thompson Walking foot at harbor freight. This machine was made in Japan. Sailrite bought the company. Simple straight stitch. Still works.
Bought a Reliable with a heavy flywheel to build a genoa for my 35 foot catamaran. It cannot do any lightweight fabrics. Had to take flywheel to a machine shop to have it cut down to fit properly. Hate that machine. After 3 weeks I bought a new Sailrite with Zig Zag stictch.


Zig Zag is needed for build, repairing sails. I bought the worker B motor with heavy flywheel. Building a large sail requires many layers of fabric. It was until the end where I had just the corners to do that it wouldn't punch through. By those time there are like 12 or 15 layers to go through. Bought the sail kit from Sailrite. Excellent product and customer support. I'll use a drill to punch through and sew the last bits. That worker B setup is amazing. If you buy a Sailrite I would get one.


So with my machine I have built a 120% genoa. Full canvas enclosure for my catamaran cockpit. Stack Pack. Interior cushions. Repairs on all kinds of stuff. Has it paid for itself? Oh yeah. Is there a learning curve? yep. Building the sail with so many layers was challenging. Went through a lot of needles, strike plates and had to have the machine serviced once. If I had a space large enough it would have been easy but I was working in a small space.


There a couple of books about building boat canvas for beginners. Start out with simple projects that build skills and progress from there. Might be a good way to learn.

[tomwadbrook]

I started sewing a year ago and love it! I started by buying a new heavy duty Singer that lasted for a few hours of heavy canvas work, then tried to buy a 1960s Pfaff 130 on eBay but alas it arrived with the cast iron body broken in 3 pieces. So I went for the Sailrite LSZ and I absolutely love it.

My local Quantum sail loft gifted me enough off cuts of matching color Sunbrella to make a cover for a 14’ dinghy, and the local canvas shop has also gifted me tons of off cuts of Sunbrella that have become winch covers, etc. I buy the rest of the materials I need from Sailrite.

I am very happy to support Sailrite as a business because they create literally hundreds of excellent how-to videos that have taught me everything when it comes to working with canvas and leather. Support is very good too. 100% worth the price of the machine and I’d much rather pay a little premium to shop materials and tools so they keep creating videos.

Tom

[FlyingScot]

We went down the rabbit hole of buying a Sailrite LSZ and all the extras needed to do the canvas work on our boat. I accidentally taught her that having the right tools makes all the difference. So now we have a lot of sewing equipment on the boat. Did it save us money? It is hard to say because we have spent approximately 15,000 USD on the Sailrite website. We mostly buy from Sailrite due to their high quality, good prices, and excellent service. We try to buy the best materials, and my wife relearned how to sew. Her last sewing project was in high school. She has spent dozens and dozens of hours watching YouTube videos, which Sailrite does an amazing job producing. Then she spent many more hours researching from other people and sources, followed by the actual designing, sewing, and installing.

The reason I say we may not have saved much money is that we did more projects, over twenty, and made everything as good as or better than any local canvas shop would do for a typical customer. And we are not done yet.

Would we have paid a shop to do so many projects? Probably not.

We find that most people just accept mediocre work and move on with their lives.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by foggysail

1) You absoutely need a walking foot........avoid anything but.

[...]


3) A servo motor makes sewing eaiser. When you tell one of those commercail machines to sew.........they doe and at high speed.

Much depends upon operator skill and other features of the machine. Extra feed dogs can achieve the same goal as a walking foot, and if you're good, the speed is feature, not a bug.