cod
Active Member
So this project started out with the wife in mind. She has enjoyed sewing most of her life but mostly dresses, jeans etc... I approached her about getting a commercial sewing machine and making new canvases for the bridge. She gave me that "Are you #$%&*!@ crazy" look... but she warmed up to the idea after I told her no pressure, if it becomes to difficult, we abort the mission..... We'll, I found a used machine and set it up in my 3 car heated garage. I also have a ping pong table that ended up being the same height as the machine table so I had a nice size working surface. I then set up a TV in the garage. I had a source through one of my subcontractors(he also though I was crazy after I showed him the boat) for all the marine material(Canvas, Strataglass, Thread, Zippers, Facing, Velcro, etc.). We'll she was nervous she was going to screw up, so I got behind the machine and practicing with scraps, got the feel of the machine. We'll I ended up doing most of the sewing myself. I did it mostly on the weekends with the football games on. There were a couple of days she helped me where I would need to make the custom facing material. I would measure and cut the material, make the markings and she would sew the pieces. The process went a lot faster.
It was definately an ambitious project but once you get the feel of the machine, and get a comfort level, it really wasn't to bad. Fortunately, the boat came with all the templates for the Strataglass and I used the old canvases to align to. The hardest part was doing the smiley zippers that open. Screwed up the first one I made but then was able to get them done with a different approach..
Well, put them on last Saturday finishing some snaps and one zipper and all turned out well.....they are so clear when new.... and before you ask, no! I'm not interested in doing any canvas work or repairs....lol
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It was definately an ambitious project but once you get the feel of the machine, and get a comfort level, it really wasn't to bad. Fortunately, the boat came with all the templates for the Strataglass and I used the old canvases to align to. The hardest part was doing the smiley zippers that open. Screwed up the first one I made but then was able to get them done with a different approach..
Well, put them on last Saturday finishing some snaps and one zipper and all turned out well.....they are so clear when new.... and before you ask, no! I'm not interested in doing any canvas work or repairs....lol
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