Serging boat covers - Machine?

[baileyuph]

Serging is often desired for repairs on marine overs - especially where it would be more effective than binding.

What machine do you think would be good for doing this?

Often we get boat covers that are fraying at panel joins, a lot of times we can bind to increase
strength.

But, is there a preferred serger for these type of repairs? 

It seems some factory covers use material vulnerable to fray - keeping cost down, obviously.

Doyle

[Mojo]

Doyle:

We have a Juki 6716S series serger. Bob Kovar selected this for us based on us sewing heavy acrylic fabrics. It will serge multiple layers of heavy acrylic.

It is a solid performer and does a great job. It goes right through heavy acrylic fabric like butter. It was not fun setting up and threading but once you do it a couple times it becomes no big deal. They are not cheap but worth it in the long run to go with the heavy duty model. It makes little sense to go with a lighter duty model to save a few hundred bucks. We are not limited on what fabric we can sew. We also sew with V92 sunguard thread. It easily accepts 69 thread. 92 is about the thickest you can go. You have to be careful with some of the other sergers as they are limited on thread size and wont sew well with the thicker thread. If you are sewing boat covers you will want to sew with at least 69. 92 is preferred.

The Juki sergers are the most reliable. Here is a link to the one we have -

www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/products_e/apparel_e/cat6/mo6700da.html

Mojo

[baileyuph]

The JUKI serger looks exciting (complicated too).

I have a JUKI long arm now and like it very much - impressive!

I will be busy doing the home work on this one.

Thanks Mojo,

Doyle

[Mojo]

You are very welcome.

My best advice is not to limit yourself by buying a serger that will only sew medium thickness fabric. Many are also limited on thread size.
A limit on thread size will limit you on fabric at the same time. Either one can add up to wasted money because you are very limited on the fabric you can sew. If you are planning on sewing canvas ( acrylic ) then you want a heavy duty serger that will accept heavy thread and fabric.

Pay close attention to the specs rather then the cost. I cannot remember what our serger cost but I believe it was around $ 2,000 complete. This is one of those purchases that you do not want to scrimp on. Also you need to look at the payback from future jobs. Sergers are not used that often but when needed are a blessing. They can open other jobs up for you and expand your offerings.

Mojo

[baileyuph]

Got it!

Makes a lot of sense and potentially "cents" also.

Doyle

[Eric]

I have a juki MO3704, does everything needed. Used. I never serge boat tops, just sunbrella furniture covers. I can use solarfix also on machine. Buy a Industrial machine and you'll be good.

[baileyuph]

Thanks Eric for the suggestion.

This one machine does all sewing required for the chair covers (all seams are serged - that is).

Impressive looking machine.

Doyle