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Old 01-24-2017, 09:29 AM   #214
tedted
Veteran Member
 
City: Marblehead,Oh
Vessel Name: Castoff
Vessel Model: 77 Heritage West Indian 36
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 54
I got into canvas knowing nothing a few years ago. I have the Sailrite LSZ with all the goodies. Major projects so far have been two bimini tops and a winter cover for our previous 37 foot sailboat. Oh, and a sun top for a dune buggy.

If I were to buy another machine knowing what I do now, I would go online to ebay and pick up a walking foot Chinese machine. These machines are the same ones sold by Sailrite for a fraction of the cost. The difference is more attention is paid to the quality of the Sailrite machines and they are gone thru and checked out by Sailrite before you get them. Some of the Chinese parts are a little under par on quality and are replaced before you get them by Sailrite. Sailrite sells all the parts needed for these Chinese machines at their site as they are the same machines.

If you use your LS or LSZ machine long enough you'll sooner or later crash it but good. (they're very powerful and you won't stall them) So you'll be buying new parts. Fortunately the parts are reasonable at Sailrite. Their manuals on the machines are pretty much essential and available. They go to great lengths to show you how to repair your machine if it messes up or you crash it. (and you will)...

Its pretty amazing what you can do with these machines including huge projects like a winter cover. You have to be a bit patient and think things thru beforehand as it gets pretty tough to pass ten feet of canvas under the arm. You can do it though.

As stated by previous posters, if you are not going to sew sails, you really don't need a zig zag stitch so the LS machine would be cheaper, considerably simpler and easier to repair and maintain.

I buy most of my supplies from Sailrite as they are such a good company to do business with. Their videos and live support by knowledgeable people is well worth the minor extra cost. They have some good books that are essential reading if you are a do it yourselfer. If you call them they'll tell you what are their best books.

One last thing. Go slow and be patient. Sewing takes practice. All my projects have turned out decent, but practice is needed to turn out professional results on bigger jobs. Start with some simple small items to get a feel for sewing. Port covers and ditty bags are great projects to get started. A decent sewing machine is one of the few things in boating that will pay for itself if you use it. You'll make a lot of friends at the dock with it too...lol...
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