DIY Canvas - Show Off Your Projects

I am pleasantly surprised at the amount of interest in DIY canvas work expressed by members and thought I'd also start a thread to show off your projects.

I'd suggest we keep the DIY Tools, Tips, Tricks for How to type info and use this to show off projects.

I'll add a few that I have done - please feel free to add your handi-work photos & comments.

Hint: Go Advanced and include a title that describes your project... this will make it easy for others to find things by using -
- Display Modes at the top of the message and
selecting Hybrid Mode this then allows you to view the titles in outline form and select anyone you like vs having to scroll thru them all to find something.
Try it you'll like it!

You may notice the ironic thing is I now have a boat with NO - ZIP - NADA Canvas... and love it!

Bacchus II - New Top

This was the first project I tackled after getting my used SailRite LS-1 machine.

This was approx 10 yrs ago but I was able to prove to myself I could do a credible job at it and the journey began.

.

Bacchus - Fishing boat - New Enclosure & Mooring Cover

Here is project #2 - I have a fishing boat that had only a bimini top and decided to redo the Top, and add side curtains & slope back for a full enclosure.

After that was complete I added a mooring / trailering cover.

Tiara Drop Curtain

Here is a recent project I completed for a good friend & fellow boater.

His new Tiara came with a slope back cover that had no windows.. after some brainstorming & considering options he decided on what is shown - a drop curtain w/ large windows & door.

The top zips for the drop were added inside the existing slope back zips so the slope back can be installed over the drop - used primarily when they leave the boat for a week or more.

.

Nice work Don! You even lined up all the window opening so they are even and straight. Not an easy task to due, beginners often overlook this step. And I really like your workshop. Would love to be able to have a shop set up like that, it's just a long trip back and forth to the boat for me, 2,200 miles round trip.

John

Ouch - I can't imagine living 220 miles form my boat no less 2200!!!

I'm guessing you can avoid many of my problems by planning on and getting set up to do mobile work... good tool boxes w/ everything you need would be a big help.
Work tables #2 priority,
I've seen several commercial mobile rigs (trailers)that were very impressive.

I don't have a decent work place at / near the boat so I go back & forth.

Pattern (poly sheeting) helps this alot. I've done some big projects for others that I could do mostly at home from patterns and only do final fit and always add snaps, etc on the boat.

Many repair / replacement jobs I do I encourage them to give them to me in the fall and I'll give them their replacements in the spring... if they do they get "special handling & pricing" I tend to say NO to RUSH jobs especially around Memorial Day!

TT Autumn Dream - Dingy Cover

Post in our blog: https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/664303/895253517

One of my winter projects was to make a dingy cover out of sunbrella. Kevin is tired of pumping gallons of water out of the dingy after our typical summer rainstorms.
Here are the project details, with photos following.
I used sunbrella that I bought from Marine Consignment of Fall River - it was all cut pieces left over from a canvas maker's shop - but I figured I would have to piece it together anyway. Using the excellent book "the Complete Canvas Workers Guide" I was able to get through this step by step.
Materials: Sunbrella, Coat's and Clark "Outdoor" polyester thread, brass grommets, Sta-Set braid (3/16"), and a fiberglass shock-corded tent pole for the center support. I followed the guidelines and used double-felled seams to minimize water penetration. The fiberglass tent pole was cut to the correct length, and is held in place in 3 locations with tunnels inside the cover.
All sewing was done on my24 year old New Home machine. I used 90/10 and 100/12 "Jeans" needles for the sewing machine, and had to tweak the foot pressure and the upper thread tension to almost the max. For those of you who may care, I also used a walking foot for this project.
I bent quite a few pins... but didn't break any needles. The machine was a bit grumpy at times sewing through 4+ layers of fabric, and at times it decided to jam, but in the end I prevailed and we now have a Dingy Cover. It is bright yellow!

Whoa! Very nice dinghy cover. Thanks for sharing it. I like the idea of a tent pole for center support.

center support pole

Our original idea for the center support was to use a batten but we couldn't get one at the marine consignment store for a good price (or even find one!). I bought a "replacement tent pole kit" from Amazon for about $5.00. The thing that makes it even better is that each length of pole is only 24", so you can fold it up when not in use instead of having this 8 foot long pole to transport around.

Autumn Dream said:

O The thing that makes it even better is that each length of pole is only 24", so you can fold it up when not in use instead of having this 8 foot long pole to transport around.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that is the thing that I was thinking of. Just folds up to go into a tent bag (or whatever). Cool!!

Phifertex sunscreens....Layed out by me, sewn by the wife on a basic home machne. <$200 with hardware....Really happy with how they attenuate the sunlight yet still stays bright and airy inside. Boat is much cooler!

No new holes in the boat as I used existing snap heads, and replaced screws in my aluminum window frames with snap bases..

Heron said:

Phifertex sunscreens....Layed out by me, sewin by the wife on a basic home machne. <200 with hardware....Really happy with how they attenuate the sunlight. Boat is much cooler!

Click to expand...

Whoa! Looks great! Did you hem the edges? Or just keep them flat?

jwnall said:

Whoa! Looks great! Did you hem the edges? Or just keep them flat?

Click to expand...

Thanks John! Just folded over about 1/2-1" (depending on how accurate I cut the material!) and sewed with two runs.. Phifertex doesn't shred and is dimensionally stable..Very easy to do with Material at $13 Yd at onlinefabrics.com, some snaps from Sailrite and a snap tool from Amazon. Easy to sew on a home machine... Lots of privacy from outside, yet light and airy from in... A great addition!

jwnall said:

Whoa! Looks great! Did you hem the edges? Or just keep them flat?

Click to expand...

What I usually do on screens w straight sides is to mark the fabric the finished size and again 3" larger. I fold the outer edge to the inner marked line and fold that over once again
This makes the hem 1-1\2" and leaves no unfinished edges

On curved windshield screens I cut to finished size & shape and use binding to finish the edge and capture a reinforcing facing on the inside.

Bacchus said:

What I usually do on screens w straight sides is to mark the fabric the finished size and again 3" larger. I fold the outer edge to the inner marked line and fold that over once again
This makes the hem 1-1\2" and leaves no unfinished edges

Click to expand...

Now, if I were doing that with cloth, I would then run an iron down the fold to keep it flat while the sewing takes place. Can that be done with Phifertex??

jwnall said:

Now, if I were doing that with cloth, I would then run an iron down the fold to keep it flat while the sewing takes place. Can that be done with Phifertex??

Click to expand...

John
Yes that's exactly what I do...just keep the iron on lo setting so you don't melt the vinyl coating

We bought Airswift a few years ago with the only canvas being a wrap around on the bridge enclosure, a bimini on the bridge and some old window coverings. A couple years back I bought a used Singer industrial walking foot machine from a retiring auto upholsterer for $400 and watched a lot of videos on Youtube mostly Sailrite. This year I finished my last project of fully enclosing the cockpit, making a dingy cover and new Phifertex window coverings. And the best part is I saved thousands of dollars. Is it perfect, not likely but I have had a lot of compliments. Before and after pics.

I just spent a few days with a friend and helped him repair his sunbrella awning on his motorhome. We also restitched the entire 10'x20' awning. He has a Sailrite machine and it was surprisingly easy. At least for him. I'll be getting one when we buy a boat.

This DIY canvas work is intriguing to say the least.

A couple years ago I got a quote for a rear cockpit enclosure. Not even a real enclosure because my cockpit has a hard top, so really just the vertical sections.

I remember that the quote in Seward Alaska was just shy of $10,000. To us the project didn't have $10,000 worth of value to us so we did not pursue it.

Then I saw your post, having thought in the intervening time how much I'd like to replace the curtains in the salon, and now my spiffy helm seat needs to be recovered... So I'm thinking why not pick up a new skill???

Right now I'm looking at the videos, and it does look like something fun to do, and learn.

ksanders said:

This DIY canvas work is intriguing to say the least.

Then I saw your post, having thought in the intervening time how much I'd like to replace the curtains in the salon, and now my spiffy helm seat needs to be recovered... So I'm thinking why not pick up a new skill???

Right now I'm looking at the videos, and it does look like something fun to do, and learn.

Click to expand...

Kevin

Salon curtains are probably light enough any good home machine would work
I'd suggest using good UV resistant poly thread - wife & I remade full set of curtain on our last boat - lined and everything and they turned out great

You may also want to check out DIY Canvas Tips, Tricks & Recommendations thread - lots of useful info there as well - I tried to keep the Tips separate from the "Show off your project" type posts but there are a lot of mutual subscribers I think

Lots of small project around a boat to get started & learn a few tricks before tackling the bigger jobs. Material is relatively cheap even if you screw up once-in-awhile. There are sources for inexpensive 2nds / close-outs that make it even more reasonable.

I was lucky enough to find a used Sailrite machine on Craigslist many yrs ago - you don't see them often but worth looking if you are interested - same eBay if you are so inclined.

If you or anyone else is interested in Sailrite machines it's worth inquiring if they have any specials in the action or planned - they can save a few$. I believe they usually do boat show specials - and always? have something going for Annapolis shows. I tried to get them to extend a courtesy discount to TF'ers but they said they couldn't manage that.

Good luck

I agree with Don, my first project when I was leaning to sew was to install curtain tracks and then sew up some curtains with blackout fabric on the inside. Pretty straight forward but you get to know the sewing machine. I finished them off by knotting up some monkey fists for tie backs.

Bacchus said:

Kevin

Salon curtains are probably light enough any good home machine would work
I'd suggest using good UV resistant poly thread - wife & I remade full set of curtain on our last boat - lined and everything and they turned out great

Good luck

Click to expand...

I found a couple of pics of the curtains on the previous boat - thought I'd post here for info / ideas

Thanks very much guys!

Some Very Nice Owner DIY Sewing Projects

I have seen several nice DIY jobs done by owners and thought why not add links to their project posts for others to see.
If anyone objects to their posts linked here just let me know and I'm happy to remove it.


Retreat gets an upgrade by Koliver - Very nice interior upgrade

We did a new enclosure on our flybridge and sundeck. The photo was taken before we painted the hull and replaced the portholes with New Found Metals ports.

Anyone know if this would work for minor to moderate work?

I know sailrite but i'm on a budget.

Husqvarna makes great sewing machines but I'm not sure why it wouldn't work well.


Does great sewing leather so how much more difficult could canvas be?

Does it have a walking foot?

Mrwesson said:

Anyone know if this would work for minor to moderate work?

I know sailrite but i'm on a budget.

Husqvarna makes great sewing machines but I'm not sure why it wouldn't work well.

Does great sewing leather so how much more difficult could canvas be?

Click to expand...

For years before we bought the Reliable (brand name) Industrial sewing machine, we have used a Pfaff 1222 bought new in 1974, for light and heavy jobs. Still take it with us in the Motorhome and sometimes on the boat. With the walking foot, heavy needles and heavy thread, its only failing is the bobbin, which is difficult to adjust to heavy thread.

Some of the projects successfully completed with that machine: Sail covers on an earlier boat, main cabin upholstery on Retreat, Flybridge side panels, covers for equipment, full length, full wall curtains in our homes, etc.
Your Husky, if equipped with a walking foot, should be up to the task.

A Sailrite or other industrial machine is set up only for heavier work, so is not a versatile, is much heavier to move, so not very portable.

Really, most decent home machines can tackle our canvas projects. Buy the heavier needles, the heavier thread, crank up the tension and try it out.

I had a cheap White "Jeans Machine" that did just fine. Currently using an inexpensive Pfaff and am perfectly happy with how it performs. I just finished sewing multiple layers of heavy webbing, making a dinghy towing bridle, and it worked well enough to avoid frustration. Yes, you need to take care, but it's not difficult at all.

We have done canvas work with a home machine because of the expense of a heavy duty machine. Then I finally bit the bullet and bought my Sailrite. What a difference. It has paid for itself many times over since I have done a lot of canvas work.