Friday Funny 03-22/19 (Mainsail Cover Part Deux)

I've read somewhere that "perfectionism is the enemy of good enough", I believe that to be true. Also, most people know when you start a project, and you make a prediction as to when it'll be finished, always add additional days, more money, multiple elements, and increased frustration to it.

I made the current mainsail cover two years ago, to replace the aged one that finally shredded in the wind.

Old mainsail cover.

New mainsail cover. Denali Rose dressed in her Carhartt colors.

I used the old cover as a sort of pattern for the new one, and changed/added a few differences. After using it for the last couple of years, we decided we needed to make a few more modifications.

We felt that the cover impeded the view forward from the cockpit, and the twist-lock fasteners were not holding up as well in the marine environment, as we would have liked. They were getting hard to twist, and I guessed they would eventually seize up.

We talked about what else we could do, and I ordered webbing, and plastic buckles from Seattle Fabrics. I figured about 2 days to get this project completed. I should have known better.

First to measure up how much to cut off of the bottom of the cover.

Making the cover sleeker.

The weather is cooperating, with a nice dry spell, and I laid it out on the dock to make my cut with the hot knife. This device cuts the fabric, and because it's also hot, it seals the edge to keep it from fraying.

Take a breath, and cut away!

Our dock finger partner boat is away sitting out of the water, on the hard, in the Marine Service center area, waiting to be sold. That means I can use the finger for projects, and not be in anyone's way.

I made the cut, and then laid the hot knife down on the canvas... duh, it melted a small hole before I could pick it back up. 

Crud, and some other words.

I took the cover inside, and sewed on the binding tape for the hem. It's getting late, and I knew if I continued on, I'd just frustrate myself with being tired, and hungry, and so I called it quits for the day.

Day two, I turned the hem under, and used seam stick to hold it in place, now I needed to put it on the boom to make sure of my measurements. I got it up there, but it's a challenge to get the front closed in front of the mast, because it's too high for me to reach. It was difficult before, but I'm still not as mobile as I would like, and now it's impossible. Bill is away doing other things so I pulled it back down, and decided to go with it. The folded hem wasn't sitting nicely, it was going to require some finesse, (yanking and tugging), so again, to keep down frustration, I tossed it in the sewing area, and quit for the day. Scope creep starts...

Day three, I sewed the hem up, it's not as bad as I thought it would be, happy points for waiting till I'm rested and fed. I found Bill was ready to help me put it back on the boom, so I could verify my hem, (hoping not to rip out seams), and to mark where we wanted the new tie-downs. Using my chalk marker, we decided where the webbing should be located, and I pulled it back down. I still needed to mull over in my mind how I wanted to secure the strap ends, we don't want them flying around in the wind.

Day four, I'm procrastinating by writing this blog post, but I can't finish the post until I get back to sewing, so it's a catch 22. 

(Forced myself back to sewing.) I had purchased new thread for this project, I decided to switch from Tenara to Profilen. Both have a high UV rating, but Tenara makes my machine's tension go haywire, and takes lots of fiddling, I thought to try another type, and see if the tension improves. All was well with the new thread until I started sewing the webbing on. 

Lovely. Not.

Next:  

I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to say I didn't do any more sewing that day or today.

We did our yearly fasting, and this morning went in for our blood draw. Wrangell's medical center does a handful of wellness tests and provides the results at our annual Health Fair in April. It's a terrific service, and extremely cost effective at $25.00 a test. 

Then I went to my Friday Water Aerobics class, and when that let out we went to watch the Coast Guard, who were in town for rescue drills. We took a bunch of great photos, and videos, and it probably deserves it's own post. 

We ate our lunch about 1:30p, did some errands, and arrived back to the boat. Bill is working our our in-counter fridge, so working at the sewing table is out. I'd just be in the way. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Tomorrow is another day.......

Coast Guard rescue swimmer is in the water.

The helicopter came from the Sitka Station.

Selfies next to the Coast Guard helicopter.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.