A sail boom boot gone wrong...

[fragged8]

hiya

jobs go wrong , i get about 1 a year. Its how you deal with it that counts. if the guy asked you to copy a cover and the new one is a fair copy of the old one I'd say its his fault .. ?

Make it a rule never to make a new cover copied from an old one thats a sure recipe for disaster that has bitten my ass more than once..
 
Sail covers are easy from just dimensions, a lot of english sail makers have a downloadable sail cover Pdf form the customer can  fill in the dimensions and it's simple to make a cover from about 8 or 9 measurements. Unless its a Gaff rig blow boat then it's just about a straight cover

http://www.newjsi.com/maincover1.aspx
http://www.sailandcover.co.uk/SailCoverMeasure.pdf


Rich

[Highvelocity]

Also, there must be a shrink phenomenon with some canvas items.  I had a new customer just ask me how his covers on his used boat purchase, look 6 inches too short..!!  He said there is no way the side curtains on his bimini would reach the snaps.  I didn't really have a good answer for him, but I have seen it before.  Do covers shrink when not in use...??

[Mojo]

The only acrylic that I know of that will shrink or stretch is Sunbrella. Recacril and Sattler have zero stretch or shrinkage because of their special weave.

Bobbin, Mike or June may know of other acrylics that may shrink but Sunbrella is the worse. I have seen it numerous times on slide toppers where it stretched against the depth and shrunk along the length.

Chris

[fragged8]

i doubt its the acrylic shrinking but more likely the panel has a window cut off a roll and some of that shrinks a fair bit
having said that a cover can be tight to fit at the start of a season and loosen up after it's been on a frame for a while
or when it gets warmed up.

what i do is rough cut out window at the end of the day so it can settle over night before i sew it the next morning,

[bobbin]

It depends on how you cut the sail cover, too.  If you cut down the selvedge of the goods you can expect a lot of "shrink" when it's stitched (1/8"/ft. sticks in my mind from something I read years and years ago; but that adds up when you're dealing with a long boom!).  I learned the hard way to leave the aft portion unfinished until I'd stretched the cover out on the floor and remeasured it!!!  Some covers are made cutting cross grain (more stable) but if you do this you'd better seam and topstitch to one side rather than running it through a double needle.  Seaming and topstitching leaves a fully protected seam after the topstitching rots away.  And it matters a good deal if the sail to be covered is old or new.  New ones don't scrunch up the way older ones do and that can be important for the sail cover. 

I will remake items from originals, but it's made very clear that if it doesn't fit, it's not my problem! I will happily pattern anything you wish to have made, and if I do I'll happily accept and correct anything that's not right.  I do it "your way" and any necessary repairs are on your dime... ("do you feel lucky, punk? well do ya?").

I'm with Fragged on this one.  You did what you were asked to do.  I assume you priced accordingly.  Let the buyer beware!  You shouldn't be expected to make all necessary repairs on your dime and on your time when you did what you were asked to do in the first place.  How you convince the boat owner that that's the case is the hard part. 

Blow boaters are the cheapest of the lot.  We have a small sailboat and all the other blow boaters seem to think I'll "do them a favor". (yeah... right.  What they don't understand is that they get an automatic surcharge because I know they're cheap!)

[Mike]

Also, there must be a shrink phenomenon with some canvas items.  I had a new customer just ask me how his covers on his used boat purchase, look 6inches too short..!!  He said there is no way the side curtains on his bimini would reach the snaps.  I didn't really have a good answer for him, but I have seen it before.  Do covers shrink when not in use...??

sounds like you meen side vinyl windows yes they can shrink .
I had a formuila  233 and a 6 foot long bimini aqnd front and side window s and aft curtain/ one year I decided to sell it and comw the end of march I uncovered it and set it in front of my shop set up the top and installed the front wondow the the side were 6' short I had to streach then and let the sun warm them and get a snap as I could over a few days to snap then , I had stored the vinyl in the cabin over the winter

[Highvelocity]

Well, here is the verdict...!!!!  When asked how the cover fit the sailboat guy says, less than enthusiastic "Well it's a cover and it fits..."  So even though he wasn't doing cart wheels, he couldn't come up with anything negative to say.  So I am looking at it as a victory!!!...and since this person seems to be a hard to please sailboater I'm cool with it....lol

Thank you guys for the input, It's reassuring when you know your not the only one.

   Ed

[bobbin]

All's well that ends well!

[Mike]

Over and done with. Ow get the boat ready for the forth.
If it dont rain ill bE watching the show on the harbor

[Highvelocity]

You bet Mike...!!  Gonna watch them in Atlantic City over Harrah's.  The reflection off the water is pretty cool.