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The Boat Cover - My greatest challenge

After many hours of Sailrite videos, (pausing & rewinding repeatedly), I put my ultrafeed LZ-1 on the living room floor and proceeded to embark on a project that would teach me more than I realized. I operated the pressure foot with my knee sewing panels that were 174" in length and 60' wide. It is the canvas project I am most proud of to date.

​ Grey Wolf is a Mariner 31 ketch who lived a few slips down from me. The owner wanted a full cover as the tarps he had been using for many years weren't quite doing the trick. It was the first major project I had ever done. I had no idea what I was doing. It took a month of 15 hour days to complete. What is not visible in the picture is the lacing on the underside of the panels to which the sandbags are attached.

The cover consists of 3 main panels and the transom piece, (with the extended boom cover). Shelter - rite tape was used around the underside of the edges for reinforcement & for added protection where the zippers join. The stanchion boots close with velcro around the top of the boot and shelter - rite tape velcro closures at the base. A webbing strap keeps the bowsprit piece in place.

There is a small fleet of Etchell racing boats owned by members of the Bellingham Yacht Club. One of them asked me to create a cover that would effectively cover the cockpit and shed the water from winter rains. His boat sits up high in the parking lot where it's subjected to high winds.
This is a boat cover I modified for Pilgrim. The boat owner wanted it to come around the mast to help keep down the moisture in the boat but still wanted it to breathe. I took the full cover and cut it from the hatch cover back and installed the velcro to keep it tight but still let the air flow underneath.
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