Changing canvas cover - DIY sewing over existing canvas?

This....this is going to be a silly question. I just want to get that out of the way.

Let's say you had canvas that was in pretty good shape, glass is also in good shape. Nowhere near end of life. All you wanted to do was change the color. Bimini's, aft curtain and the strips between the glass.

Would it be feasible to have a new layer of Sunbrella sewn directly over the existing layer without compromising the form/function? Will this look absolutely horrible for some reason?

The motivation here would be purely cost. Brand new canvas for $5,000 or potentially buying a sailrite machine ($700) and $1,000 +/- worth of Sunbrella. I would not be competent enough to DIY the whole canvas but I'm wondering if, with some practice first, I could sew black canvas over my existing and make it look good.

I'll take no offense to opinions of "just do it right" and "get a pro". I'm generally not a cheapo when it comes to maintaining the boat. But canvas is nearly as expensive as replacing an engine around here. I'm just wondering if I have realistic options. At $5k there are so many other things I'd want to do first. But at sub $2k this becomes a realistic project. THANKS in advance for your thoughts, CSR.

So you will end up with two layers of Sunbrella as your canvas? I would be concerned that you have doubled the weight of your canvas and introduced the possibility of mold growing between the layers.

I have a Sailrite sewing machine and will do small jobs on my boat....(side glass, back panels) but I use a pro to do the main canvas section. The main section requires a seam joint that joins two large pieces of Sunbrella together and six zippers. The pro has the sewing machines to do the seam and the binding for that section. The last time he did that panel for me it ran $1,000. The other small panels are relatively easy to make using the old panels as a template.

It’s not hard... check out sailrite.com, they have videos on how to do just about everything and the supplies to do it. Using the current canvas as a template will work.

Try a small panel first, see how it goes, if that goes well do the rest. Several people on this forum have completed this job DIY.

I would not add a second layer though...I think it would be impossible to get it reinstalled.

So a second exterior layer sounds less than desirable. I never considered the potential for mold.

I have watched some of the videos on sailrite's website. The "fab" part of the process seems a little over my head. I want the finished product to look good. I just don't know if I have the skill to start from scratch, even with existing templates.

I saw a thread once in this form where a guy dyed or painted his Canvas a different color and it came out pretty, you might want to look into that

joeyleggz said:

I saw a thread once in this form where a guy dyed or painted his Canvas a different color and it came out pretty, you might want to look into that

Click to expand...

I don't think sunbrella is dyable...the color is in the thread. You could try, but I doubt it will take the color, or hold it very long. It may end up dying your gelcoat.

I don't really like my color either, but I don't hate it $10K!!

I think live with it, redo it DIY or pay someone to redo it.

Personally I think it would be alot more work than would be worth while. The cheap route would leave you with something that looks less then perfect and will probably annoy you. There will also be many places were sewing may not be quite feasible - especially around zippers etc. You would also need to take into consideration binding the edges to give it a clean finished look.

The double layer would also probably make taking and of the panel up and down more difficult and rolling neatly almost impossible.

Now, I have one the Sailrite's an use it professionally in my side business and it works great through multiple layers of canvas and eisenglass but I would think there would be just too many points of contention when doing this that you might wind up in a situation were you could not complete it.

If really interested PM me with your detail or call me to discuss your options.

-Kevin

As usual CSR has come through with some outstanding advice and insight!

This is what I really needed to hear. Not worth the effort since I'd likely make the finished product look like a hack job. I wouldn't mind learning how to do this correctly but there is a reason canvas is so expensive.

Thanks again, folks. I'll keep that sailrite rig in my Amazon wishlist but she's not getting purchased this year