The Jerry Can Cozies

For someone who does not sew, I sure sew a lot.  I am the freakin' Queen o' Sunbrella.

So, in contrast to practically every other long-distance cruiser, GB opposed having Jerry cans with a bit of extra diesel fuel on board the Fox, because it offended his sensibilities of having a relatively clear deck unmarred by the sight of fuel cans riding by the shrouds.  He also did not want to give up valuable lazarette space to conceal belowdecks such an extravagance as extra fuel.  That is, he opposed it until he saw in a very direct way (1) how important even an extra 10 gallons of diesel could be on a cruising boat; and (2) how difficult it might be at times to get the boat to a fuel dock for a fillup, as opposed to simply dragging a couple of Jerry cans back and forth from fuel source to boat until the job is done.  He saw the light in Ensenada, when for 5 days straight, and right before we were due to leave, we had no access to the one fuel dock in town due to a succession of very large power boats taking up the fuel dock space and sucking up almost all of the available fuel, day after freakin' day.  Yep; GB broke down and bought two whole 5-gallon Jerry cans, with hyper-fancy no-spill spigots, at premium prices.  They fit in our lazarettes, as well as on deck if said lazarettes are full of "more important stuff."

Because these Jerry cans may sometimes ride on deck, GB wanted some Sunbrella covers to protect the plastic cans from salt and sun deterioration.  Enter the Pfaff.

Once again I used scrap Sunbrella for this project (at a Mexican price of US $30 per yard, every Sunbrella scrap is gold).  Some folks sew a simple pillowcase-type cover for their Jerry cans, but I had a spigot problem:  these no-spill spouts of our two 5-gallon Jerry cans stick up more than 6 inches from the body of the Jerry can, so a simple pillowcase style cover would leave a lot of excess material all over the place.  Instead I essentially sewed a box-like Sunbrella cover (open bottom, 3 narrow panels for top & sides and 2 larger panels for front and back) for the main part of the can, to which is attached a tubular condom cover for added protection of the spigots.  Yes; it looks slightly obscene, but it covers all parts of the can with the least amount of Sunbrella.  So there.

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Comments

[HelpIambeingheldinArizona]

It's a well known fact that Sunbrella was developed by the CIA. It has unique properties which allow the Feds to use Google Earth to track ex-pats around the world. I suggest a layer of tin-foil over the fabric.

[sailnmuffin]

ZOMG!!! You are totally right! Now I have to retrofit all the Sunbrella, not only to deflect the CIA satellite technology, but to protect our vital electronics from possible lightning strikes. I need lead-coated tin foil!!!!