We bring Kim from Masterpieces in Canvas back to finish up a few more sewing projects. We ran out of time and could not finish these two big projects last season. Kim met us in the Norsand Boatyard where she worked with Matt to determine exactly what he wants before making a pattern.
She brings a huge roll of pattern material and custom designs each window covering. Some windows get 2 patterns. We are making sauleda covers for storage (they will be solid gray fabric that are not see through). We are also making black phifertex window covers that will be our “everyday” window shades. They will let in a little light, allow us to see outside, but will block 80% of the sun.
We also asked Kim to make us (2) side phifertex canvas sun shades for our cockpit enclousure. These will zip on to the outside of our existing side panels and can be rolled up for storage when not in use. So we can alternate between using the sun shade (phifertex) or the rain shade (sauleda/Isinglass) without having to change them out.
In the bottom photo, Kim is marking the snaps on the sauleda canvas window covers. We will use these when we put the boat up for storage or when we are feeling particularly shy. The yellow tape around the foward window is from a paint job that Matt was working on and will be removed.
And the final phifertex window covers. We decided to go with two different grades. The two side windows on both port and starboard are 90% opacity and the three forward windows are 80% opacity. This will allow us to better see out the windows while the shades are on.
Sewing Projects By Us
In 2018, Matt and I made blue fender covers for our big round A4s and pencil type F4s. See blog post dressing up our Fenders.
Over the years the blue faded and frayed so it was time to replace them again. Last season, March 2023 I replaced the A4 fender covers with black covers. But that left the F4 (pencil) fenders ugly and blue.
So, it was time to replace them with beautiful black polar felt. They should match better to our new gray color scheme and be soft on the boat.
New Line
We also purchased new line for the boat. We bought 34m of a beautiful gray (with black/white flecks) in double braid heavy duty line for our main sheets, and 100m green mottled line with a dynema core for our spin halyard and reefing line. While we were at it we replaced our red “oh $hit” line that we use to hold on while under way and bought 100m of 5mm dynema line for future projects. Everything came from Nautilus Braids which provides the best customer service, quality lines, at reasonable pricess. They custom made our lines for us!
By the way, there are no ropes on board a boat. You will find lines, sheets, halyards, vangs, tricing lines, warps, whips, and jackstays, but not ropes.
We will have Kim come back in early March to help us finish some really small projects:
- Stern seat cushions over the line holders
- (2) Line bags for our main sheets
- (2) Recycling bags
- (1) Remote wench holder
- (2) Sets of 3 pockets for cockpit
- (1) Table cover
Don’t worry, there still are a dozen other sewing projects for us to tackle with our Sailrite machine.
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occured in mid-November. We attack some beastly boat projects while on the hard at Norsand Boatyard.