Certain handy boat items require only small portions of string, Sunbrella or sail canvas. Examples: gate pulls, winch covers, protective flag covers, protective strips for exposed Velcro, and cockpit pockets for lines, sheets or miscellaneous small items.
Gate pulls: we have some pretty firm lifeline gates that are often difficult to open by the clevis pins alone. We needed a bit more leverage for them, so I Googled "macrame" and found a very simple, 4-strand square knot pattern that fit our needs well. The 2 inner strands are cut about 40% of the length of the 2 outer strands, with which the square knots are tied around the inner strands. To ensure I would have more than enough string for a finished pull of about 4", I cut the 2 inner strands at about 8" and the outer 2 strands at about 20". I'm smug to report that the final product - using about 45 minutes of time per pull and less than 50 cents in string including the excess - looks like what one sees for sale for far larger dollars in chandleries. As long as you don't get close enough to examine the details. Besides, the dirt that inevitably gets everywhere on a boat, eventually conceals minor sewing flaws quite nicely. Yet another factor in favor of the amateur canvas worker.
Winch cover: we upgraded the size of one of our winches, so the Sunbrella cover that had been provided for it was suddenly too small. After 5 years of living with this undersized winch cover (sue me) I finally made the time in Ensenada to sew a proper size cover using the pattern from one of our other similarly-sized winches' covers. The new cover comprises an elasticised inner cylinder sewn to a conventinal outer cylinder, with a circular top and a snap closure on the lower outer portion of the outer cover.
I used our nav station's dividers with their pencil attachment, to make a 7" diameter circle for the top piece. I cut two rectangles - the inner one smaller than the outer one - for the inner and outer cylinders of the cover. Because Sunbrella tends to ravel aggressively, I sewed all the cut edges with a zigzag stitch. Used a 1/4" bungee cord for the elastic inner hem. Lower hems were sewed at 1-1/2" and the top and side hems were 1/2". Here you see some views of the finished product turned inside-out for a look at the hems and the inner elastic section.
Flag cover: We needed a sun-protective cover for the US flag we fly on the Fox's stern. Prolonged sun exposure when we're not actually underway, rapidly deteriorates the nylon of the flag - for some reason the white stripes are far more vulnerable than the red stripes. Also, we needed to cover the flag because one of us objects to the sound the flag makes when it's flapping in the breeze; "It makes my brain itch," he says. Therefore, in the interest of preservation of both fabric and domestic tranquility, I did a quick-sew of a cover for both the flag and its staff, using scrap Sunbrella. It's a very plain, long and skinny, pillowcase-type design I swiped from a sailing friend of mine, Vicky Manning of the s/v Maloose and a very accomplished seamstress; her design is a rectangle sewed with a top seam, one side seam, and a hem. Like Vicky's cover, I fancied-up our cover with a drawstring at the lower hem so that we could tie the cover to the stern pulpit. Although I doubt that my rather snugly-cut cover could ever slide off the flag by itself.
Come to think of it, the left of this photo of our new flag condom snuffer, shows the Sunbrella cover I made years ago for the handle to the outboard motor, after we'd noticed the sun was deteriorating its black plastic handle. It, too, is made from scrap Sunbrella, but instead of a pillowcase style I sewed an oval top piece to a rectangular piece using 1/4" hems throughout. I initially considered setting grommets in the handle cover and the motor cover and connecting the two pieces to each other; but frankly, as is, the handle cover does not budge. Both the motor handle cover and the flag cover are sort of like Sunbrella Trojans, I guess...
Sun protection for Velcro: I hate to admit it, but this was GB's design and it's a good one. Our Sunbrella cockpit cover that came with the boat, is a marvel of engineering and the canvas worker's craft, and has long Velcro strips on either side of the dodger to which side pieces attach to fully enclose the cockpit in the event of a downpour. (We deployed the side panels a lot, when cruising up in the Great White North). Unfortunately, even up north where the sun is less intense, the Velcro deteriorates rapidly. Actually, the Velcro's wool and little hooks stay intact -- it's their fabric backing that disintegrates, requiring all the Velcro to be replaced. If only there were some way to block the sun...
Per GB's design, I sewed Velcro wool to two 1-1/2" wide (finished) strips of scrap Sunbrella cut to the length of the exposed Velcro hooks on each side of the dodger. They stick to the exposed portions of Velcro on the dodger and cover them completely. When they're in the way of full cockpit-cover deployment one simply rips them off and stows them someplace handy. Bonus: because they're backed with the same color Sunbrella as the rest of the deck canvas, when they're attached to the exposed Velcro they're completely unnoticeable.
Cockpit pocket: to port of the helm, our cockpit coaming has an indent, presumably intended to keep lines, sheets or small items out of the way. Unfortunately, there is no way to keep these items handy yet in place without some sort of fabric restraining device. Enter scrap Sunbrella and some mesh. Scrap Sunbrella and piping to firm up the perimeter of the pocket and fancy-up the finished look. Elastic sewn into the upper edge of the pocket that failed to contract and snug-up the potential contents of the pocket as I had expected. Holes punched into the Sunbrella edge to correspond to the screws in the fiberglass trim around the cockpit indent. Elastic-design failure notwithstanding, it now looks as if we have something more useful for restraining loose cockpit stuff:
Moral of all these stories: no matter how small the scrap, never throw away any of that expensive Sunbrella, Velcro, mesh, or piping. You will find a use for it on a boat. Eventually. Heh.
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