New Sewing Tips

Tip #1: Goodwill Stores

I needed some denim material for some fender covers.  A trip to Goodwill and the purchase of a few

pairs of Fat Boy denim jeans provided enough material for 4 fender covers. After cutting and sewing the material into shapes it was easy to make new fender covers.











Tip #2: Magnetic Thread restraint

I learnt from the Sailrite website about holding the upper and lower threads during the first few stitches to make sure that neither get pulled out. They showed a solution of using a Quarter ($0.25) with a piece of basting tape to hold it to the surface of the machine base trapping the threads.

Well that works, but far from ideal. A better solution is a round magnet (about the size of a Quarter) covered in leather with about a 1/2" overlap. This allows an easy way to sweep the threads away from the sewing point and capturing them between the leather and the machine base. After the first few stitches, just pickup the covered magnet. I keep two of them near the machine - the 2nd is for when I have a bunch of material that won't fit between the threads if held by just one magnet. I use the 1st magnet to hold down the lower (bobbin) thread and the 2nd magnet to hold down the upper thread passing the thread over the material.

Oh! Tip #3: Guess where I got the leather from?
Same place I get the denim. 😊

To make the thread restraint, simple find a suitable magnet (Amazon has them) and a piece of leather about 3" x 1.5". Fold in half to create a square. Sew from the folded edge about 1.25", rotate the square by 90º and sew a 2nd edge to form a pocket a little bigger than the magnet. Insert the magnet (Raise the foot out of the way, lower it after magnet is in it's pocket. Rotate the square another 90º and sew back to the folded edge. Include a couple of reverse tack stitches at the start and finish. Trim off the excess leather. All done

Here's how I use them.

Simple.

See you on the water.

Saving the view

Adding a Cover for the Cabin Top Hatch

New cover for the Cabin Top Hatch on Eximius.

This is a modification to the Sailrite Hatch Cover in a couple of ways.

• The Corners are hemmed even though all edges of the material were cut using a Hot Knife.
• The Line exit is moved from a corner to the middle. This makes it easier to put the cover on as all 4 corners can be secured before pulling down on the cord lock to secure the line.

Very pleased with how it turned out. Used some of the old Sail Cover (it's huge).

This is my 5th Hatch Cover, and I really like the design. I can pull up on any edge or any corner and it will not release from the hatch, but easing the cord lock will release it right away.

Using my new Sewing Machine table and Servo motor for my Sailrite LSZ-1 machine makes it a breeze to sew accurately. Very pleased with my investment.

Here are two more hatch covers I made today.

Piece of Cake

Still trying for a decent loaf

After several bakes on board, I'm nearly satisfied with my bread making, but it's always a delight when a loaf actually turns out better than expected.

This loaf was baked using a dough recipe from King Arthur's Flour website, here a link: 

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-100-whole-wheat-bread-recipe

I substituted 1/8th cup of brown sugar for the 1/4 cup of Honey just to keep my grand daughter interested in the bake.

After kneading the dough for 10 minutes with my grand daughter's help, we left the dough to rise and it rose to over double it's size in an hour sitting on top of my cooker (off). Next, I divided the dough into three nearly equal pieces (that's a good game!) and rolled them on a slightly oiled surface into sausage shape about 12" long. Then Platted them, squeezing the ends underneath and placing into a prepared sprayed baking tin. 2nd Rise for 1 hour, heated the oven to 350º F (regular bake, not 'Fan') and baked for 40 minutes.

Turned out nicely.

This is definitely doable on the boat. I did not use city water, which probably explains why the rises were so good. It makes great toast but is delicious (Peggy & KT both gave it a 10) and it looks nice.  The lower temperature for this bake, 350ºF v 400ºF of my other bakes should make it even more repeatable on the boat. I'll have to try it on a baking sheet rather than in a bread pan, it seems to hold it's shape really well.

If you see me on the water, you might come aboard for a snack of Cheese, Grapes and some fresh baked bread. 

Admiral cannot get out of the cabin

Cabin Sliding Hatch is a pain to open

Peggy has been complaining about how difficult it is to open the Cabin Sliding hatch from inside the cabin - this past weekend I realized that she cannot open the hatch from the inside! Not good!

The problem is well known to the members of the C34 Association (http://www.c34.org) and one of the members has developed a cure.

Basically the problem is that the Hatch rubs fiberglass against fiberglass which has gathered dirt and grime during it's 30 Year lifetime. Not only is the hatch difficult to open & close, but it makes a nasty screeching noise in the process.

There appears to be two solutions: #1 - Remove the hatch cover which involves removing two 7' long strips of teak and possibly some traveller hardware, then clean up the underside of the hatch and the surface that it slides upon, then put it all back together - pretty simple, but wow!

#2 - Insert a piece of UHMV plastic on the sliding surface. Done!

Mark (from c34.org forum) has taken the trouble to purchase a sheet (or more) of the UHMV 1/16" thick material and has cut it into the appropriate length strips. I contacted Mark this morning, asking if he had any of the strips left over, he does. I paid him by Pay Pal and by mid day he has packed a pair of the strips and dropped them into a USPS drop box. WOW ! 

Several of the guys that have already installed them have left very positive comments with the advice to secure the strips in place with a countersunk screw at the aft end of the strip and as far forward as can be reached without removing the hatch.

I'll take pics.

Thanks Mark! Great product.

See you on the Water.

Not a big Fan

Can you hear me or the Fan?

Fan motors really spoil my day, I detest the noise as much as that of a vacuum cleaner and we have 5 Fans on Eximius: 2 in the Salon, 1  in the V-berth, 1 in the Bathroom(head), and one in the aft Berth. I purchased them all at the same time, installed them all and all of them are NOISEY!

It finally got to me on our last trip and I plead my case with Peggy that I made a bad choice when purchasing the fans and would like to replace one to see if we could find a more bearable option.

The Galley Fan (old one shown here) was mounted just forward of the Fridge/Freezer lid and did not have a lot of room for positioning. It did have a good blow, but the noise was awful.

$40 from Amazon Prime.

This is the model I replaced it with. No cover over the blades, which the manufacturer claims will not harm fingers.

Well, that's my experience as shown in the video below.

So, with one fan replaced and the new is soooo much better than the old, I'll be swapping out the rest of them over the next few weeks/months.

See you on the water.

Upgrading my Sewing Machine

Sailrite LSZ-1 Sewing Machine Upgrade.

Ok, so I like doing stuff! Boat repairs - love it, Cooking - love it, House repairs - love it, Sewing - love it. I'd rather be busy than bored!

It's nearly two years since I purchased my Sailrite Sewing machine - it's a beast! I've made Fender covers, repaired our Dodger, made new cover for the Lifesling, New Cabin Curtains, Fire pit cover, Pressure washer cover, New Cabin base cushions, Re-designed our Asymmetric Spinnaker, New Line bag, New Hatch Covers, New Winch Covers, New Dodger frame covers, New Dodger windows, I've even repaired my shoes using it! My latest project is a huge Boom tent, with a 2nd in the works. So I feel that we're getting our use out of the machine.

The only issue I have with the machine is that I cannot sew 'slow' it's so damn fast that it's a beast to control - at least with my size 11's I feel like a beginner driver and unable to make a smooth transition using the throttle.

With more great projects in the works, I decided it's time to upgrade to a Servo Motor - and a new work bench. But pricing out the cost the new bench and the servo motor, I figured I might as well spring for the Sailrite - Workhorse Bench and Servo Motor.

It arrived today, 3 boxes, thanks FEDEX for the on time delivery.

After getting back from the store run for our weekly home provisions, I set to work putting it all together. This is not a quick 'some assembly required' project. After two hours I had the table put together and the servo motor drive pulley installed. It'll take at least another hour in the morning to get the motor installed ready to power up the new Beastie!

I have set up the height of the table to match the height of my existing work bench in the garage (a 6' folding table) hoping that I can figure out some way to meld the two tables.

The big plus of the new motor is the speed control! If you watch the videos online at Sailrite.com, you would see the demo where the machine is stitching at 1 stitch per tap on the treadle control.

I have a large boom tent project that has to be sewn this weekend, it's a bit more complex compared to the over the counter boom tents as it has to cover the main cabin while leaving the lazy jacks in place.

Taking the new Table & Motor for a spin, I felt that the Treadle position was not ideally suited for my lanky legs. So I moved it far over to the right side of the work table. While at it, I also raised the table quite a bit but that resulted in the rod from the treadle to the motor being too short. Luckily, Sailrite provided a duplicate of the rods, I used one part of the extra rod set to extend the rod so that it easily reached the raised table. Sweet!

First impressions of the improvement in sewing is - WOW - the video showed it doing a really slow stitch, but it's actually better than that! When I raise my foot on the treadle, the motor stops! None of the old 'wait till the motor stops spinning', it stops dead in it's track! That makes it much easier to stitch up to a corner and STOP, with the needle buried, shift into reverse and SLOWLY backup a couple of stitches, forwards to the corner and the locking stitches are complete. All with incredible control. I'm really impressed! Oh! Did I mention that it's SMOOTH - and QUIET - it is.

With the new setup complete, tomorrow afternoon I'll get back to production. So far it looks like the investment was well worth the money, and time (to put it together).

All of the parts (Motor, Foot Control, Old Jack Wheel, and the extra items included in the two equipment packs for the upgrade) are now all stored in the Original Sewing Machine Carrying Case, just in case I ever want to change it back to a portable machine. Might happen if I need to take the machine to a boat to do work on site, but I'm not really planning on doing that kind of work. It has to be fun! and right now, it's totally fun!

See you on the water.

Father's Day Weekend Cruise with HISC

Bahia Mar for Father's Day Weekend with HISC

It was that kind of weekend!

Leaving the dock just after 11am, we motored down the New River, pleased that all of the work we did to take care of the fuel system was behind us and was working out just fine. When we passed under 7th Avenue bridge, we could see two boats holding just West of the FEC railroad bridge, we could not see the others, there were 5 boats in front of us all waiting to pass the FEC bridge. It was down for over a half hour, so we did several doughnuts around the other vessels. Finally we decided to tie up on one of the floating docks at Sailboat bend. Peggy maneuvered the boat beautifully along side the docks, I stepped off with lines in hand and the bridge promptly opened.

It was that kind of weekend!

I had called the New River Dock master in order to reserve the pump out at Smokers Family Park, they confirmed we were ok to use the pump out and we came alongside as calmly and I was able to step off without even stretching. Of course the pump out wouldn't work! Some buffoon had left one of the pump valves open way back up river by 3rd avenue bridge.

It was that kind of weekend!

Arriving at Lake Sylvia Friday afternoon. we saw Bob & Joyce on Diversion and they agreed to a raft up. Third time in one day, we came alongside without a slither! Bob & Joyce are great 'rafties' with as many stories about sailing and cruising as I have about events in the Navy. We shared a few drinks and discussed world issues, many of the solved.

It was that kind of weekend!

On Saturday we motored out of Lake Sylvia into Bahia Mar Marina. We called them on the phone to get our dock details - Oh Oh! We're going to the South Basin directly opposite the River Queen and Jungle Queen tourist vessels - We going to have a peanut gallery to watch as we try to navigate into the slip backwards - never easy! We Nailed it! backing in without touching the dock and easily passing the dock lines to the Bahia Mar Dock hand. We were the first HISC boat to arrive on the Saturday, and both the River Queen and Jungle Queen were EMPTY! No body saw us make the perfect landing!

It was that kind of weekend!

Saturday night we joined the crowd of HISC members at the Captains lounge of Bahia Mar for the After Race Party and the Father's Day Cruise Party. Christeen and Jacqui did a great job of making the event a huge success. After the party, we returned to the boat on the promise that Christeen would setup the Karaoke on the dock after dark. I should not sing Karaoke!

It was that kind of weekend!
Sunday we assisted the club boats leaving the Bahia Mar Docks if they asked, everyone got away safely and without incident, although Imagine took a little while to fix an Engine Starter problem, they proved that knowing your boat is the best solution!
We spent the rest of the day doing a few projects on Eximius, including cleaning the port side cockpit combing, and trying (unsuccessfully) curing the grating noise when opening our companionway hatch. After dinner, we invited ourselves to spend the evening aboard Pegasus - Sully & Loraine where we swapped stories and tried to solve more of the world problems.

Then, to close out the weekend, here's a video of me making my Sunday Night Rum Tott

It was that kind of weekend!

We left the Bahia Mar Dock just after 1pm in order to reach the FEC bridge before the train arrival and have the tide in our favor. Huge yachts in the New River delayed our arrival and the bridge was down. Luckily it was only down for about 10 minutes so no big deal. We got back to our dock and made a text book arrival at 14:07, unloaded, secured the boat and we were in the truck for the ride home by 14:53 - We're getting this down.

Great weekend with Great people in a Great Marina. Looking forward to doing it again.

See you on the water.