Making or buying a cockpit cover for a 22

[chipwagon]

So I'm going to being mooring my boat a 6 hours away from home this year. I can't really have any friendly phone calls from the marina to come check my boat because a pump failed and the rain is filling up the cockpit. I think the smart way to go is a sloping cockpit cover. There has been a few threads talking about them but I'm wondering 1) How hard are they to make? I can't sew and haven't worked with fabric. 2) Is there somewhere I could order one from that would have all the dimensions for a 22 cruiser (from Canada!)?

[thataway]

It would be fairly easy to make a slant back cockpit cover from Shelter Rite (from Sailrite), use HH 66 glue. Use lift the dot fasteners along the gunnel on the outside.

Pro, totally waterproof, no sewing, easy to do. Con: heavy, and bulkier to store.

I would be happy to walk you through the steps from getting fabric, making patterns, putting awning rail on cabin top, and fabrication of the slant back.

Here is a link to the shelter rite fabric. All of the other materials can be obtained from Sailrite.

You start by placing an awning rail (aluminum preferred) along the back edge on top of the cabin. Then glue several pieces of the ShelterRite fabric together, and then to the bolt rope for the Awning Rail. Next take the pieces of fabric over the back of the boat and start marking where they will fall as close to the edge of the back of the outsides of the gunnel and side of the cabin. Across the back, to the splash well and out over the lazarett to the outside of the boat's gunnels.

Here is one example:



And a more fitted example:

[MannyBridge]

I made a full cockpit enclosure for our 25 a few years ago using supplies from Sailrite - sewing machine, fabric, zippers, etc. It was a fun challenge and the sewing machine has come in handy for lots of other projects. I plan to make a slant back cover this winter as well.

I do have a slant back cockpit cover from a CD 22 we owned before the 25. It may need a few modifications to fit your boat, or maybe not. It does not have an awning rail as Bob describes (snaps only) so you may want to follow his advice and add one.

Id be happy to give it to you the next time you are passing through Nanaimo, no charge. I assume you come through on the way to your boat.

Nathan

[thataway]

A wonderful offer from "MannyBridge". It is easy to put the male lift the dot, fasteners on the cabin top; (Again from sail rite--).

Sewing is a great way to go, (I have two machines, an old Pfaff 332, all metal gears. And also an older commercial portable Brother. The Pfaff can do fancy stitches, but I don't have the cams. It is rugged machine, and will sew up to 10 layers of canvas. It has a small throat, thus a little more difficult for repair canvas Particularly. Both a double and single walking foots are available for this machine, which was made in 1957.

The Brother has all sorts of fancy stitches. The Brother. has over 100,000 "sea miles" on my cruising boats....A larger throat, and built in cams for fancy stitches.

Occasionally these great older machines can be bought a garage sales for very low prices. My Pfaff was $ 30 with many accessories. My dad bought the "Brother" new at a going out of business sale of a sewing machine sale. Many apparently had rejected it because it was "too heavy," and "too big"!

However the reason I mention the glue construction, is that it does not need an investment in a fairly expensive sewing machine. Definitely if you want to do multiple projects, then it really pays to get a Sail rite or similar machine. There is an almost identical Chinese machine, but it is rough, for much less.

Now if I want to be serious, I have a friend who has a Consew industrial, with 1 hp servo motor--and a foot clutch. This was used for making sails, so has a deep throat.

[MannyBridge]

I agree older sewing machines can be just as good if not better than new. I started work on the cockpit enclosure using a Husqvarna machine built in 1980. I got it at a garage sale and it had a low gear for canvas work. It was fine until I got into stitching the vinyl windows. I looked for a used machine like the ones described but I was in a hurry to move the project along so I got a new one from Sailrite. In hindsight I should have gone with a longer throated model given the limitations described above. Either way I am not sure I would want to be without it now. Curtains, cushions ,etc, etc.

[thataway]

Good thick and quality clear vinyl is very difficult to sew. Dodgers on sailboats are particularly hard to build--try it with lexan!

We needed to sew repairs on a 1000 sq foot Genoa, which had been damaged in a storm--we actually had to go hundred of miles to find a sailmaker with deep enough throat to do the repair. When you build new canvas/sails, you sew so there is no more than anywhere from 15" to 40" on the material you are adding. That will go thru a fairly small throat when rolled up.

[chipwagon]

[Marco Flamingo]

Be very careful when mounting your fastening hardware to the boat that you don't cause any problems. If you drill into any cored areas, you must go through the "epoxy fill" process noted elsewhere on this site.

I made a very elaborate cockpit cover using vinyl coated polyester fabric (like Shelter Rite from Sailrite) using HH66. Surprisingly easy and very durable. But for those of us living where the weather gets colder (i.e., anything below 60F), the cover gets progressively stiffer. When removing in 40 degree weather, it's like trying to hand-fold sheet metal.

Mark

Note: My mother-in-law just gifted me her old Brother. Way faster than my other machine (a Singer treadle that also has a hand crank). Turns out the Brother will also do leather. Don't know if it will do it for a century like the Singer has done.

[chipwagon]

Big thank you and shout out to MannyBridge who very kindly gave me the slant back cover from his previous 22 cruiser.

Fits perfectly and I can see and end to my worries of a failed bilge and rain filled cockpit.


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