In between rain showers, I'm laying my projects out on the dock for measurements, and dragging them back inside to sew. Guess what? I'm done with four of them.
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| Main sail cover up and completed. |
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| I got personalized labels made to put on all of my sewing projects for Denali Rose. |
You may recall a previous post about how I cracked the front vinyl window.
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| Original look to the dodger. (Sprayhood, over the companionway, entrance to the boat.) |
When we bought Denali Rose three years ago, we had a "professional" add a leather strip to the top leading edge of the dodger to repair some chafe, and to protect against any more. They took the dodger apart, and when they sewed it back up with the leather strip, they tweaked it somehow, and we couldn't get any of the zippers to meet after we put it back on the frame. (major irritation) I was afraid to take it back off for fear I wouldn't get it back on, so I took the zippers off, added material to one side, and resewed all of the zippers back on, BY HAND, and in place on the frame.
We have put up with the cloudy vinyl, and weird looking zippers, until I cracked it last winter, and then it was time to see if I could make it better. We decided on one continuous stretch of window, instead of having zippers so that the middle piece could open. We're in Alaska, and we don't really need the ventilation, (for now). I had to create a new frame for the new vinyl, and hope that when we put it back on, it would fit. My swear jar is full.
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| Sewing with Bill's help. |
We reused the original roof, and sides of the dodger, and sewed in a new windshield. It was super unwieldy, because you don't want to fold, bend, or make marks on the new vinyl. It is fragile while you are working with it, and preventing permanent damage is important. Bill helped maneuver the piece around while I pushed and pulled it through the machine.
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| Installed the new lower windshield, and removed the top one. |
I'm not tall enough to look out the top piece of the windshield, so I wasn't going to redo it, but Bill is, so he said he would like that done too. I had just enough of the sheet of vinyl left over that it was a perfect fit for the redo. Since I had gotten the main piece to fit, I thought that the smaller window would be easier. Guess what, I was right! (mostly, still the swear jar got used)
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| It's easier to fit in my sewing area. |
Notice the cat curled up in the upper left, Elsie pays no attention to commotion. And the pile of tools on the right, Bill is continuing the electronics re-do. I figure I'll keep sewing till he's done, and then I'm done.
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| Woot woot, windows in, and we can see out! |
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| What do you see in the background? |
Yup, you guessed it, the mizzen sail cover is complete and up in it's place also.
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| Done! |
So, yeah, I've been lazing around.......... in my dreams. Hmmm, what's next, I may tackle a couple of window coverings, an inside project.
As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.
ok---I'm tired just reading this!
ReplyDeleteI've taken a "rest" day, now I'm getting back at it.
DeleteI love your personalized labels - what a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI think it was Facebook, Sewing on Boats that gave me the idea. I saw someone had done the same thing, and then it was just a google search to find a company that makes custom labels. Dutch Label Shop did a great job.
DeleteI'm just so impressed with you. I'm just going to stand back in awe. Also, I think it was a good idea to do that one continuous piece window. Sometimes I think dodgers have more pieces than they actually need.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words. I sometimes just stand in the cockpit and look out my new windshield, and smile. I love the one piece window, and it's so nice to be able to see out clearly. It was hard work, but so worth the end result.
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