410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread**

David, I replaced my pump and even with the accumulator I get a pulse at low volume. Fwiw.
 
Yes, I burned it up by leaving on a faucet and running it dry for a couple days. Pain in the ass to get to in the back of that damn ER especially when it was about 95 degrees outside... I put in a west marine/jabsco unit that has a slightly higher gph and this time got an extended warranty.
 
I spent a few hours on my boat today. She's stuck in a building due to lockdown but they did allow us access to work on them. It was pure therapy after 3 weeks of remote work (and 3 more to go).

I managed to find the same synthetic material that snapincarpets used for my cockpit carpet. I used it to make step covers and a rug. I'm going to be making another rug and some mats for the bathrooms. My last picture is a pretty poor job on recreating my windlass cover. Terribly fit, but it's not tan anymore! 2.0 will come along soon enough :)

EDIT: It drives my wife crazy that the grain isn't going all in the same direction the steps. I hope you all notice that too!
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I know the grain is a little off, but nice job repurposing what would otherwise find its way to a landfill. It look good and will serve well.

I like your windless cover! I bought some black Sunbrella from sailrite to try my hand at sewing a replacement windlass cover. mine too was tan...

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dtfeld said:
I know the grain is a little off, but nice job repurposing what would otherwise find its way to a landfill. It look good and will serve well.

I like your windless cover! I bought some black Sunbrella from sailrite to try my hand at sewing a replacement windlass cover. mine too was tan...

View attachment 82114
Click to expand...

The sewing was a fun winter project. It keeps me occupied for not a lot of money (materials). I'll keep getting better at it, I hope :)

On my next windlass cover I'll cut the existing cover into individual pieces (at the seams) to template. I left my existing cover intact on this pass and the new cover is a little small..and the "brim" isn't super flat. I blame the templating process...
 
I’m jealous. I enjoy operating almost any kind of machine, but I think sewing machines sense my fear of them and lash out, determine to make me waste fabric, thread and time.

Care to make a dash cover? The estimate I received from my preferred canvas shop was a little steep for something that an old bedsheet can do...
 
Stee6043 said:
The sewing was a fun winter project. It keeps me occupied for not a lot of money (materials). I'll keep getting better at it, I hope :)

On my next windlass cover I'll cut the existing cover into individual pieces (at the seams) to template. I left my existing cover intact on this pass and the new cover is a little small..and the "brim" isn't super flat. I blame the templating process...
Click to expand...

I'm going to cut mine apart to template...I'll post up some pics of the project.
 
dtfeld said:
I'm going to cut mine apart to template...I'll post up some pics of the project.
Click to expand...

I bought an old Kenmore sewing machine to tackle the cushions from my son’s bowrider some time soon
Picked it up on Craigslist for $40.00
I have no clue how to use it, but it works.
If my son’s cushions work out, the first sewing project on my boat will be trying to make a backrest cushion for the curved step area on the starboard side. We usually keep the cockpit table up so that step is kind of useless to me most of the season and when someone sits in that spot it would be nice if they could lean back.
 
On home sewing machines you can usually sew 2 plus of vinyl, but when you add piping (welting) to seam, 2 plys becomes 4 ply, then if you have to cross or sew over another piped seam all of a sudden you are sewing over 8 plus of vinyl and 2 thicknesses of cording. Home machines just don't have the feed power to sew over that multiple thicknesses because their only feeding capability is on the bottom, under the fabric being sewn. Another issue is that their lift is too low......lift is the height of the needle and presser foot at the top of the throw or stitch......and multiple plies of vinyl is just too thick toiler under the presser foot/needle.

I hope you found and old high lift Kenmore, but now, you at least know what to look for and can try it out before cutting up $2-300 worth of vinyl.
 
fwebster said:
On home sewing machines you can usually sew 2 plus of vinyl, but when you add piping (welting) to seam, 2 plys becomes 4 ply, then if you have to cross or sew over another piped seam all of a sudden you are sewing over 8 plus of vinyl and 2 thicknesses of cording. Home machines just don't have the feed power to sew over that multiple thicknesses because their only feeding capability is on the bottom, under the fabric being sewn. Another issue is that their lift is too low......lift is the height of the needle and presser foot at the top of the throw or stitch......and multiple plies of vinyl is just too thick toiler under the presser foot/needle.

I hope you found and old high lift Kenmore, but now, you at least know what to look for and can try it out before cutting up $2-300 worth of vinyl.
Click to expand...
Exactly. You need a walking foot sewing machine to do it properly.
 
Luckily my wife has a pretty good sewing machine. It’s a walking foot machine that’s meant for leather, denim, so pretty beefy. She used it to make drapes. I was curious if it would do Sunbrella, so I bought a bunch of samples. This machine went through 4 layers like a hot knife.

I think this machine could do 8-10 layers. The next test is banding attachment I bought for it to see if it works.

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My goals are pretty basic. I want to be able to do minor repairs/small projects. I’ll leave the big stuff to someone that has the right tools.
 
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fwebster said:
On home sewing machines you can usually sew 2 plus of vinyl, but when you add piping (welting) to seam, 2 plys becomes 4 ply, then if you have to cross or sew over another piped seam all of a sudden you are sewing over 8 plus of vinyl and 2 thicknesses of cording. Home machines just don't have the feed power to sew over that multiple thicknesses because their only feeding capability is on the bottom, under the fabric being sewn. Another issue is that their lift is too low......lift is the height of the needle and presser foot at the top of the throw or stitch......and multiple plies of vinyl is just too thick toiler under the presser foot/needle.

I hope you found and old high lift Kenmore, but now, you at least know what to look for and can try it out before cutting up $2-300 worth of vinyl.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips Frank.
The project is for the kids 2005 18’ Maxum I/O Bowrider.
Boat is in nice shape and it runs great, but the seating is really shot.
Paying to have someone do it will likely cost more than the value of the boat justifies. They’re probably going to sell it soon anyway, and look for a 21’ or so center console, so I really don’t want to sink a lot of money in to it.
After doing some research on the Internet about machines that would be good for hobbyists looking to do vinyl work, I found an early 70’s Kenmore walking foot machine with all steel gears inside that is supposed to be capable of doing the job.
Saw the same brand and vintage machine all over Ebay advertised for vinyl and leather work for two to three hundred bucks, and was ready to buy one, but found one locally on Craigslist instead for $40.00.
I’ve got some scrap vinyl pieces left over from another project a few years back and once I learn how to thread and use the machine I’ll practice on them.
The seating that I’m looking to replace has piping on it that turned out to be a wear point so I’m going to eliminate the piping when I make up the new covers.
As soon as this lockdown is over I’m going to measure and buy the Vinyl from member KevinC of Cove Marine then hope for the best.
I’m thinking the regular cushions should be pretty manageable once I learn how to sew, But the helm seat and the back to back seats might be more of a challenge so I’ll save them for last.
 
The thing I found out besides what everyone has already said is the capability to manage the heavier threads including Tenara thread which I pretty much exclusively use. Being able to feed, tension, and manage the heaver threads that seating and canvas use is important.
 
ttmott said:
The thing I found out besides what everyone has already said is the capability to manage the heavier threads including Tenara thread which I pretty much exclusively use. Being able to feed, tension, and manage the heaver threads that seating and canvas use is important.
Click to expand...

I went with the sailrite V92. $15 vs the $135 for the thread was a little too much for this project. If it works, I’ll probably have enough material to make another one. I can but 25 yards at a time on eBay, so may try that.

this is just a project to expand my knowledge envelope, so we’ll see what the results are. This isn’t mission critical thank goodness!
 
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