What generosity in sharing your expertise! Also really gives me an appreciation for all the work and skill that goes into creating a quality boat cover.
Excellent video. We have watched it a lot as we are sewing our winter boat cover for our Passage 420. Sincerely appreciate this video and all your efforts.
I really appreciate all your instructional videos, especially this one, it must take up quite a bit of time! I'm about to start on my boat cover to the rail and can't wait, wish me luck. Best wishes from Scotland.
@@SailriteDIY thanks for making them, it's because of your fantastic videos that I now do canvas work and some upholstery, on my Trusty LSZ-1 and and a couple of industrial sewing machines. I've re-upholstered the boat down below, made a new stack pack, my own design. New uv strip on the genoa, some cockpit seats and many others thanks to you guys. I'll certainly let you see the end result.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to make this. You used the scrim to make the pattern and then you had a large area in which to lay all of it out, which is great. I have a 33 ft sailboat so it isn't that much smaller than the Islander 37. The issue I have is that I don't have an area where I can layout that much pattern or fabric. I have enough room to sew panels together without any issues. (A long narrow room.) And have done sail modifications outside on tables, in the middle of the lawn, but that is far from ideal. I have measured my boat every 5 ft, so I know how long the panels need to be to create the "tent" to the lifelines. I was going to put a zipper at the mast as you did, so the cover is two pieces. That's a popular, practical design. What I was thinking of doing was to sew the "tent" panels together at my house staggered properly to follow the centerline for the fore and aft sections. Then take the assembled top tent panels to the boat (which is 2 hours away) and lay them across the supports and secure them with tape to the stanchions and mark the lifelines location. I would probably need to put some pleats into the tent so that it would lay properly across the supports. I could take a sewing machine to the boat and do that at the marina. I believe that I could cut the tent lifeline seam at the marina on a temporary table. So that makes the tent, without the penetration boots, zippers or details. I could mark and cut holes and slits for the zippers at the marina as well and hold the fabric together via tape temporarily. I was going to make the skirt out of a continuous length of 5ft wide fabric and attach it to the tent panels at the lifelines to save time instead of making smaller panels. I could attach the skirt to the tent panels at the marina as well, but I am thinking I might get myself in trouble since it will be much harder to sew in the penetration details on huge assembled panels. It seems like that would best be done before the skirt is sewed on to the tent. 1. Make the cover without patterns. 2. Deal with a distance issue between my house/shop and the boat. 3. Minimize the time needed to make the cover. 4. Do this in less than ideal spaces. (no loft available) 4. Effectively plan the work flow so I don't get myself in trouble! I have an industrial machine walking foot machine I can get to the boat (in a cargo trailer in the parking lot). Your Sailrite machines could be used the same way. AC power is not an issue since they have outlets in the boat storage area. I just need a long extension cord. If your customers could do a cover without the pattern, I think you would have a lot more customers making covers, but that means that a lot of things will need to be patterned right on the material, at the boat. Considering all of this, what do you think? BTW, the loft where you shot the video of the panels being laid out.. is that the old sail loft you had in Columbia City on the top floor? It looks familiar. I was up there many years ago. Probably early 90s. I have been to all of your locations over the years.
Thanks for your kind comments! Yes, you can actually sew up the fabric “Tent” portion of the cover and use that instead of pattern material. However, obstacles like shrouds, topping lift, backstay and more will be troublesome. Why? You will have to think and evaluate carefully before you cut slits in the actual fabric, because cutting it wrong will require a lot of extra labor in fixing it with a patch. If cutting pattern material “Dura-Skrim” you don’t have a worry in the world, as it can easily be taped back together with packing tape. I would take a lot of "pony clamps" if you use the fabric instead of pattern materail, as the double sided tape will not stick well to the canvas fabric for patterning. Yes, making a continuous skirt is acceptable rather than smaller sections of fabric sewn together, as we mentioned in the video, it will save labor time. Yes, I would make the skirt first at home and then take it to the marina to sew it onto the tent. Your “tent” will already have slits in it for obstacles so… sewing on the skirt with the slits already in the tent will be slightly more difficult but should be totally possible. Yes, we were on the top floor of our old Sailrite building in Columbia City, IN. Happy sewing!!!! Let me know if you have more questions.
@@SailriteDIY Lots of good points. I have had good luck using Gorilla tape to hold canvas in place temporarily. They now make a double sided tape, but I haven't used that yet. If you don't leave the tape in place for long, the adhesive won't transfer. If I stick tape on the underside and then twist the tape over the gunnel I think I can stick it to the vinyl rub rail, to hold the fabric in place without clamps. Or at least that's going to be my first attempt. Columbia City building: The second floor has been fixed up a lot since I was there long ago. It looks good! Way back then there were benches up against the wall and sails on the floor. It was a busy place. Thanks!
I am considering this project, with this method as I am only 20 min from marina. Right now I reuse my shrink wrap 2xs now, I cut a slit up the transom and aft of boat reinforced the slit with shrinkwrap tape, put a grommet every 6 inches on both sides of slit to reinstall next year, and lace it up like a shoelace then tape piece of scrap wrap over lacing. Works fantastic. Will be making this when shrinkwrap wears out, great video. I did make a dinghy mooring cover already.
Fantastic job as always. I could see myself making smaller panels from front to back with zippers from port to starboard to make it easier to handle. Would you recommend this approach given your experience? Are the zippers durable enough? Finally, what was the cost of materials for this boat?
When sewing top stitch on skirt you could do port and stbd side opposite as to which way the wind predominantly blows. If you store in same place every time.
I followed this video to a T and made a cover for our Westsail 32 last winter. Will need to use it again this year but would like to add a door to make entry/exit easier since the boat is on the hard. Do you have a video for how to create a door on a winter boat cover? Thank you!
I’m sure the list is long! I ended up making one essentially using the same directions as the straight zippers and flaps in video just made it a curve. Had to make some adjustments to flap going around a curve which was trickiest part.
I like the flap over the zippers. I notice that this approach to zippers only adds that flap and the boot to accommodate a shroud/topping lift/etc. Perhaps I missed it, but doesn’t there need to be some care taken with locating the stitching and top stitching of the zippers to ensure that they neither add nor deduct from the amount of material that they “replace” across the slit?
First off thank you for your videos. I’ve successfully made a sail pack a few years ago and am on borrowed time with my current winter cover. Why couldn’t you just run the tent over the sides to the waterline instead of sewing a separate skirt? Thanks again. -mike
Mike, Yes that can be done with the skirt. We ran the panels vertical so the seams would line up with the tent portion, well most of them did, some did not. It does save a little on cloth usage doing it that way, if the skirt is not as tall as the width of the fabric used, but it adds a lot of labor. Running the skirt vertical will cut down on the labor to sew them all-together, that is for sure.
How would o accomplish a separating zipper for a power boat cover to make it 2 manageable peices? From Port to stbd about 25 feet or would you recommend just making 1 huge tarp. 32 foot carver aft cabin, how much would you say the whole tarp weighs both halls combined.
Separating or Finished zippers from Sailrite can come up to 264 inches in length (22 feet). However, I would not install one zipper that spans 25 feet for a boat cover, but instead install two zippers at 150 inches, one on the port and the other on starboard side. You should find it easier to zip the cover on with two zippers along the same plan than just one. A cover that is for a 32 foot boat should be separated in half to cut down on the weight of the cover for installation, in our opinion. You cover will weight about 50 to 60 lbs total for a boat that size.
Great video/excellent tutorial! You did not see the need to add air vents? How will you handle the storage of the cover next spring ... cleaning and folding ?
Thanks!!! We used a breathable fabric called Top Notch 9, so we did not need to use vents. If you decide to use a vinyl fabric that does not allow air to pass through, like Stamoid, then vents would be required. We do not recommend cleaning the fabric with a cleaner and water. Instead just sweep off any dirt and dust and do spot cleaning if required. Why? Breathable fabrics, including Sunbrella Marine Grade and Top Notch 9, all have a special coatings that keeps them water resist and stain resistant. Cleaning with soap and water and scrubbing the fabric will remove some of that special coating, requiring you to retreat the fabric with 303 Fabric Guard. So... if your cover becomes very dirty you can clean it with soap and water, but you may have to retreat the fabric once it is dry again. Oh.... when removing your cover for the end of season be sure it is completely dry. We plan on folding it up as neatly as possible and storing it in a bag that we will sew up this winter. To keep the mice away I will place a few sheets of Bounce fabric softener dryer sheets in the bag. Mice don’t like the smell, but you’ll like it better than moth balls when you finally have to use the cover again next winter.
Hello, this is something that I have been wondering after watching many of your videos as am snowed in. What are the man hours associated with this project? As a diyer it a good idea to have a basic idea of the time commitment for any project. This would be useful for many of the project you have posted over the year.
For a boat cover of this size (boat 40 foot or less) I would estimate that it will take 36.5 hours of labor from patterning to completion. Let me know if you have more questions.
The fabric we used, Top Notch 9, is very water resistant but not waterproof. If it were waterproof it would need to be a vinyl fabric (we have many to pick from at Sailrite) it would not allow air to pass through the fabric, so vents would have to be installed or sewn in. The fabric we used, Top Notch 9, is breathable and very water resistant, so we do not need to install vents.
Good video. My only observation is the puckering in the seams. I would not be happy with that. I have 2 of the LSZ1 and would be happy with that puckering in the seams!
The puckering could be reduced by reducing some upper tension, but I still liked where it was set. I think the major thing you are seeing is this - When sewing the top stitch of the semi flat felled seam I did not concentrate on pulling the left and right panels apart as I sewed. This resulted in the seam not laying totally flat and shows up as puckering. Pulling the fabric both left and right as the top stitch is being sewn is not difficult, it just means you have to sew slower and that is not something I wanted to do since I had hundreds of feed of sewing to be done. Not a good excuse, I know, but at least you know now how to avoid it.
Except that its a cover, and it will sit over your boat in a desolate winter boat yard. I've looked at a lot of covers and a *lot* of compromises are made to cut labor and increase speed of assembly. Raw edges, low quality seams, etc. Most covers are not "show"quality. Compared to blue tarps and shrink wrap, any decent fabric cover will win in the looks category! To me strength and durability come first. Seam puckering is way, way down the list.
You are correct, we did mention in the video that you do not need to cut up the skirt and then sew it all together. Sometimes cutting it into sections and sewing it together can save on the amount of fabric used, but it does also add to the time it takes to sew the skirt panels together. Only one real advantage that needs to be mentioned in sewing sections of skirt together --- You can sew a loop of webbing at each seam which does provide more strength along the vertical seam than it would it were simply sewn to a double hem without a vertical seam. When the rope tension is applied on the webbing loop situated on the vertical seam, it will have a lot more strength along the skirt than a webbing loop not positioned on a seam. But both ways will work great!
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 พฤศจิกายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wPd7VFfWHIA/mqdefault.jpg)
What generosity in sharing your expertise!
Also really gives me an appreciation for all the work and skill that goes into creating a quality boat cover.
A 3.30 min video... I am in heaven!
Excellent video. We have watched it a lot as we are sewing our winter boat cover for our Passage 420. Sincerely appreciate this video and all your efforts.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad my video has been helpful to you in sewing your winter boat cover. Best of luck with your project!
I really appreciate all your instructional videos, especially this one, it must take up quite a bit of time!
I'm about to start on my boat cover to the rail and can't wait, wish me luck.
Best wishes from Scotland.
Hey! Thanks for watching my videos and good luck with your boat cover project. Can't wait to see the end result. Cheers from across the pond!
@@SailriteDIY thanks for making them, it's because of your fantastic videos that I now do canvas work and some upholstery, on my Trusty LSZ-1 and and a couple of industrial sewing machines. I've re-upholstered the boat down below, made a new stack pack, my own design. New uv strip on the genoa, some cockpit seats and many others thanks to you guys. I'll certainly let you see the end result.
Very informative video. thank you
Great video, my knees ache just watching you!
So glad that you liked it!
So nice to see your Dad the founder in a video. You should have an interview video :)
I am looking more and more like the old man that I am! But it is hard to resist a little supervision.
Thank you!!! Really excellent video.
Long video but well well worth it
True. Glad you like it!
Thank you for a great video! I am not all the way through it but I definitely am saving this to work on one for next winter! Thank you so much!
Glad to help. Hope the project goes well for next years winter cover. Let us know if you have questions along the way.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to make this.
You used the scrim to make the pattern and then you had a large area in which to lay all of it out, which is great.
I have a 33 ft sailboat so it isn't that much smaller than the Islander 37. The issue I have is that I don't have an area where I can layout that much pattern or fabric.
I have enough room to sew panels together without any issues. (A long narrow room.) And have done sail modifications outside on tables, in the middle of the lawn, but that is far from ideal.
I have measured my boat every 5 ft, so I know how long the panels need to be to create the "tent" to the lifelines.
I was going to put a zipper at the mast as you did, so the cover is two pieces. That's a popular, practical design.
What I was thinking of doing was to sew the "tent" panels together at my house staggered properly to follow the centerline for the fore and aft sections.
Then take the assembled top tent panels to the boat (which is 2 hours away) and lay them across the supports and secure them with tape to the stanchions and mark the lifelines location.
I would probably need to put some pleats into the tent so that it would lay properly across the supports. I could take a sewing machine to the boat and do that at the marina.
I believe that I could cut the tent lifeline seam at the marina on a temporary table. So that makes the tent, without the penetration boots, zippers or details. I could mark and cut holes and slits for the zippers at the marina as well and hold the fabric together via tape temporarily.
I was going to make the skirt out of a continuous length of 5ft wide fabric and attach it to the tent panels at the lifelines to save time instead of making smaller panels.
I could attach the skirt to the tent panels at the marina as well, but I am thinking I might get myself in trouble since it will be much harder to sew in the penetration details on huge assembled panels. It seems like that would best be done before the skirt is sewed on to the tent.
1. Make the cover without patterns.
2. Deal with a distance issue between my house/shop and the boat.
3. Minimize the time needed to make the cover.
4. Do this in less than ideal spaces. (no loft available)
4. Effectively plan the work flow so I don't get myself in trouble!
I have an industrial machine walking foot machine I can get to the boat (in a cargo trailer in the parking lot). Your Sailrite machines could be used the same way.
AC power is not an issue since they have outlets in the boat storage area. I just need a long extension cord.
If your customers could do a cover without the pattern, I think you would have a lot more customers making covers, but that means that a lot of things will need to be patterned right on the material, at the boat.
Considering all of this, what do you think?
BTW, the loft where you shot the video of the panels being laid out.. is that the old sail loft you had in Columbia City on the top floor? It looks familiar. I was up there many years ago. Probably early 90s. I have been to all of your locations over the years.
Thanks for your kind comments!
Yes, you can actually sew up the fabric “Tent” portion of the cover and use that instead of pattern material. However, obstacles like shrouds, topping lift, backstay and more will be troublesome. Why? You will have to think and evaluate carefully before you cut slits in the actual fabric, because cutting it wrong will require a lot of extra labor in fixing it with a patch. If cutting pattern material “Dura-Skrim” you don’t have a worry in the world, as it can easily be taped back together with packing tape. I would take a lot of "pony clamps" if you use the fabric instead of pattern materail, as the double sided tape will not stick well to the canvas fabric for patterning.
Yes, making a continuous skirt is acceptable rather than smaller sections of fabric sewn together, as we mentioned in the video, it will save labor time. Yes, I would make the skirt first at home and then take it to the marina to sew it onto the tent. Your “tent” will already have slits in it for obstacles so… sewing on the skirt with the slits already in the tent will be slightly more difficult but should be totally possible.
Yes, we were on the top floor of our old Sailrite building in Columbia City, IN. Happy sewing!!!! Let me know if you have more questions.
@@SailriteDIY
Lots of good points.
I have had good luck using Gorilla tape to hold canvas in place temporarily. They now make a double sided tape, but I haven't used that yet. If you don't leave the tape in place for long, the adhesive won't transfer. If I stick tape on the underside and then twist the tape over the gunnel I think I can stick it to the vinyl rub rail, to hold the fabric in place without clamps. Or at least that's going to be my first attempt.
Columbia City building:
The second floor has been fixed up a lot since I was there long ago. It looks good!
Way back then there were benches up against the wall and sails on the floor. It was a busy place.
Thanks!
I am considering this project, with this method as I am only 20 min from marina.
Right now I reuse my shrink wrap 2xs now, I cut a slit up the transom and aft of boat reinforced the slit with shrinkwrap tape, put a grommet every 6 inches on both sides of slit to reinstall next year, and lace it up like a shoelace then tape piece of scrap wrap over lacing. Works fantastic.
Will be making this when shrinkwrap wears out, great video.
I did make a dinghy mooring cover already.
@@TERMIN8TOR99 Sounds good! Thanks!!!
Awesome video! Thank you for sharing...
Your welcome!
Fantastic job as always. I could see myself making smaller panels from front to back with zippers from port to starboard to make it easier to handle. Would you recommend this approach given your experience? Are the zippers durable enough? Finally, what was the cost of materials for this boat?
I just seen a sailboat that has the small panels and all zipped together
Awesome video
i've got to try this
You can do it! Let us know if you have questions.
When sewing top stitch on skirt you could do port and stbd side opposite as to which way the wind predominantly blows. If you store in same place every time.
I followed this video to a T and made a cover for our Westsail 32 last winter. Will need to use it again this year but would like to add a door to make entry/exit easier since the boat is on the hard. Do you have a video for how to create a door on a winter boat cover? Thank you!
We do not, but I will add it to my long list of future videos. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’m sure the list is long! I ended up making one essentially using the same directions as the straight zippers and flaps in video just made it a curve. Had to make some adjustments to flap going around a curve which was trickiest part.
I like the flap over the zippers. I notice that this approach to zippers only adds that flap and the boot to accommodate a shroud/topping lift/etc. Perhaps I missed it, but doesn’t there need to be some care taken with locating the stitching and top stitching of the zippers to ensure that they neither add nor deduct from the amount of material that they “replace” across the slit?
First off thank you for your videos. I’ve successfully made a sail pack a few years ago and am on borrowed time with my current winter cover.
Why couldn’t you just run the tent over the sides to the waterline instead of sewing a separate skirt?
Thanks again.
-mike
Mike, Yes that can be done with the skirt. We ran the panels vertical so the seams would line up with the tent portion, well most of them did, some did not. It does save a little on cloth usage doing it that way, if the skirt is not as tall as the width of the fabric used, but it adds a lot of labor. Running the skirt vertical will cut down on the labor to sew them all-together, that is for sure.
How would o accomplish a separating zipper for a power boat cover to make it 2 manageable peices? From Port to stbd about 25 feet or would you recommend just making 1 huge tarp. 32 foot carver aft cabin, how much would you say the whole tarp weighs both halls combined.
Separating or Finished zippers from Sailrite can come up to 264 inches in length (22 feet). However, I would not install one zipper that spans 25 feet for a boat cover, but instead install two zippers at 150 inches, one on the port and the other on starboard side. You should find it easier to zip the cover on with two zippers along the same plan than just one. A cover that is for a 32 foot boat should be separated in half to cut down on the weight of the cover for installation, in our opinion. You cover will weight about 50 to 60 lbs total for a boat that size.
Hello Mr. Eric Grant how are you , I am wondering that you don't know about the proliner already ?
Great video/excellent tutorial!
You did not see the need to add air vents?
How will you handle the storage of the cover next spring ... cleaning and folding ?
Thanks!!! We used a breathable fabric called Top Notch 9, so we did not need to use vents. If you decide to use a vinyl fabric that does not allow air to pass through, like Stamoid, then vents would be required. We do not recommend cleaning the fabric with a cleaner and water. Instead just sweep off any dirt and dust and do spot cleaning if required. Why? Breathable fabrics, including Sunbrella Marine Grade and Top Notch 9, all have a special coatings that keeps them water resist and stain resistant. Cleaning with soap and water and scrubbing the fabric will remove some of that special coating, requiring you to retreat the fabric with 303 Fabric Guard. So... if your cover becomes very dirty you can clean it with soap and water, but you may have to retreat the fabric once it is dry again. Oh.... when removing your cover for the end of season be sure it is completely dry. We plan on folding it up as neatly as possible and storing it in a bag that we will sew up this winter. To keep the mice away I will place a few sheets of Bounce fabric softener dryer sheets in the bag. Mice don’t like the smell, but you’ll like it better than moth balls when you finally have to use the cover again next winter.
@@SailriteDIY Tks for the prompt reply
Hello, this is something that I have been wondering after watching many of your videos as am snowed in. What are the man hours associated with this project? As a diyer it a good idea to have a basic idea of the time commitment for any project. This would be useful for many of the project you have posted over the year.
For a boat cover of this size (boat 40 foot or less) I would estimate that it will take 36.5 hours of labor from patterning to completion. Let me know if you have more questions.
A realy big project! Is the fabric waterproof?
The fabric we used, Top Notch 9, is very water resistant but not waterproof. If it were waterproof it would need to be a vinyl fabric (we have many to pick from at Sailrite) it would not allow air to pass through the fabric, so vents would have to be installed or sewn in. The fabric we used, Top Notch 9, is breathable and very water resistant, so we do not need to install vents.
@@SailriteDIY Thanks, I also thought about the ventilation.
will this work with power T-top boats?
Please i need to make a winter car caver help will be nice
Good video. My only observation is the puckering in the seams. I would not be happy with that. I have 2 of the LSZ1 and would be happy with that puckering in the seams!
The puckering could be reduced by reducing some upper tension, but I still liked where it was set. I think the major thing you are seeing is this - When sewing the top stitch of the semi flat felled seam I did not concentrate on pulling the left and right panels apart as I sewed. This resulted in the seam not laying totally flat and shows up as puckering. Pulling the fabric both left and right as the top stitch is being sewn is not difficult, it just means you have to sew slower and that is not something I wanted to do since I had hundreds of feed of sewing to be done. Not a good excuse, I know, but at least you know now how to avoid it.
Except that its a cover, and it will sit over your boat in a desolate winter boat yard. I've looked at a lot of covers and a *lot* of compromises are made to cut labor and increase speed of assembly. Raw edges, low quality seams, etc. Most covers are not "show"quality. Compared to blue tarps and shrink wrap, any decent fabric cover will win in the looks category! To me strength and durability come first. Seam puckering is way, way down the list.
I really wanted to make a cover for my boat, until I watched this video😂 May be a bit more than I can handle.
Yeah, that is why a cover made by a canvas shop costs thousands of dollars for a boat this big. You can save money doing it yourself!
You just need to plan and take your time. It won't be done in an afternoon! But if you do it right, it will last for many years.
Had you seen this?
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله تعالى و بركاته يا إخواني الكرام
ممكن أتشرف بأن أكون تلميذكم و أن تكونوا أساتذتي إن شاء الله
I don’t understand why you need to cut up the skirt into panels. It’s all the same length. Couldn’t you just use the width of the material
You are correct, we did mention in the video that you do not need to cut up the skirt and then sew it all together. Sometimes cutting it into sections and sewing it together can save on the amount of fabric used, but it does also add to the time it takes to sew the skirt panels together. Only one real advantage that needs to be mentioned in sewing sections of skirt together --- You can sew a loop of webbing at each seam which does provide more strength along the vertical seam than it would it were simply sewn to a double hem without a vertical seam. When the rope tension is applied on the webbing loop situated on the vertical seam, it will have a lot more strength along the skirt than a webbing loop not positioned on a seam. But both ways will work great!
I notice you always start your seams by hand.
Yes, it seems to reduce the trailing threads from getting pulled under the fabric causing a rats nest.
slm
All of us viewers are going to chip in and buy you a set of knee pads .
Ya, I could use them. Thanks