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Don't know if it will help you or not, but check out www.thesamba.com  probably the easiest place to find vw parts and get vw questions answered (huge forum with a lot of diehard VW guys). 

+1 to what everyone else has said here...

Solarfix is the way to go. I tried Tenara once and had a lot of problems, it was a constant battle to keep it sewing.  Solarfix hasn't given me any problems.

On my servo I can adjust how long it takes to go from 0-100% when you step on the pedal.  I didn't like the delay at first, but after trying a bunch of settings, I found a setting that I like.  Just a little tiny bit of delay, makes it really easy to go one stitch at a time, in places where I'd walk the machine by hand before.  Between this and the needle positioning, I very rarely touch the hand wheel anymore.  I like it.

At my local marina, you pay a one time fee of $75 and they give you permission to advertise at the marina (they have areas for service providers to advertise) and they give you a key for all the gates.  They never ask for any money, and all I have to do for them is show them proof of insurance once a year and they are happy.  I had talked to a couple other canvas places that refuse to work at this marina because they are under the impression that the marina wants a 30% cut.  I don't know where they got their info from, but they take it for fact, so who am I to try and change their minds???? I don't mind them staying away at all, since this is one of the biggest/nicest marina's in the area, and it's where most of my work comes from.

Always rains up here in the PNW...lol  They were just saying up to 10 inches of rain in places in one day up here.  I may have to move towards some sunshine one of these days...

Ive had a cheap Consew servo with needle positioning for almost a year now.  I payed $170 for the motor, and I haven't had any problems so far.  This motor has adjustable ramp up speed so you can adjust how long it takes to go from zero to 100% when you mash the pedal.  Can also adjust the speed down really, really, really slow (slower than other servo motors I used)  and this consew is a 600w motor and it has enough power to sew one stitch at a time through multiple layers.  I used a 400w servo for a while and if I turned the speed down, I would have to flip the handwheel to get it going if I was sewing 3 or 4+ layers at once. 

I never thought I would like the needle positioning as much as I have.  You can stop with either the needle up or down, then just tap the heel of the pedal and the needle jumps to the opposite position of where it stopped.  I never have to "walk" the machine by hand, as I can go a half stitch at a time with the pedal if I need to.  It works well and it was cheap, so I am more than happy with it.   Oh ya, and changing it out with my clutch motor took me all of about 10 minutes max.  I didn't even have to get a new belt.  What ever servo you look at, just make sure it was designed to use the same mounts as a clutch motor (most do, some don't, usually they will specify) then mounting it will be a piece of cake.

Thanks for all the replies, I looked up Bruin and contacted them, I think the Energy Shield 200 is just what I'm looking for, and it also helps to know its been proven in this application. 

Ive been searching for something like this for a while now, wish I would have asked earlier.  This place is Awesome!  Cant thank you guys enough!

I'll check it out, Thanks!

I'm going to build a couple stand up paddleboard bags for a customer.  I need a fabric that is reflective (UV and Heat) and abrasion resistant.  Does anyone know of any fabric that might work?  I was thinking like an aluminized fabric or something similar, but I'm worried about abrasion resistance.  Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I have a friend who's PVC air supply line blew up in his shop because something fell and hit it.  He replaced it metal pipe.  I know a lot of people use pvc without a problem, but I wouldn't use it if it were me. Just my $.02

all I see is a box with a red X....

Thanks for the input guys.  I went ahead and signed up for a couple of the courses at Northcoast.  Should be an interesting adventure...

I would like to know if any canvas people on here have ever taken any classes from any of the canvas training places (northcoast, MCTI, Hood canvas), if so which classes and what was your opinion on them?

I'm thinking about taking some classes to brush up on my skills.  I'm so slow at canvas work, I'm hoping I can learn a few tricks to speed things up and improve my overall quality.  Just curious if others who have taken these types of classes thought they were worth it. 

Thanks

Depend on what the finished work looks like............









Just kidding...

I'm going to have some made up in two sizes, a small one and a huge one.  The big one will be for on the bow of drift boat covers (easy money jobs) and the little ones for any other canvas project where a big one would be "too much" or wouldnt fit for whatever reason.

I get customers asking for sunbrella sometimes because of the 10 year warranty and sometimes because sunbrella offers a color closer to what they want than any of the others.  Then there is the customers who want it just because its the only name they have heard of when it comes to fabric.  I havent tried recacril yet but have been wanting to.