More Marine Canvas Wrinkles Argh!

[timtheboatguy]

Mike, How you can pattern only half the boat is amazing to me! It seems like you would run the risk of the cover coming out either too wide or too narrow even if only by a 1/2".

What about when you have a ladder or something on one side but not the other?

[Mike]

well tim on this pontoon I patterned the side with the window with a pocket to allow the window fir the port side I just cut the fabric flat and eliminated the window pocket


this red cover the port was patterned and the extra walkway piece just eliminated on the other side



other time its just too different like the trolling motor on the bow here so I do 3 sections right front and left front then just one side on the rear 

other times its all equal

[Peppy]

    'Tiz sad to say but Sunbrella aint what it used to be..   It's crap these days.

Yup. 20 year old tops come in for repairs and it feels thicker than brand new cloth. More money spent on 'finishing chemicals' less on acrylic if you ask me. It might be in my mind but it seems black has gotten thicker feeling in the last year? Burgundy is like tissue paper though.

Tim's top looks like some I've made. I like the skirt around the edge too. The sewer likes the side to side seams going over the rail. She also likes to 'push' the fabric under the needle. She's a fabulous sewer aside from the puckering and her red hair. (The red hair precludes her from listening to any criticism.)

As for the warp/weft debate my guess would be: a warp faced fabric (like Sunbrella) would stretch less across the weft which is a straight line of string and stretch more along the warp that is going over and under the weft and so has more length to stretch out. Just my guess.

[Darren Henry]

I see more "shrinkage" sewing up the roll ---ergo; the shorter that seam the better for fit.Mocha sunbrella is by far the worst. I got sent out to install a set of patio blinds that the other upholsterer had sewn up and they were all a mile too short. After the customer had chewed one cheek and the boss BBQ'd the other in front of the rest of staff , we did an experiment. On a 78" run it shrank over 2 " up the roll and around a 1/4" across the 60" width.

[Mike]

Darren how did it take for the shrinkage?

[fragged8]

I've been there Tim and the long and short of it is yes you can improve the seams
but you will never cure it . sometimes you got to accept the material vs machine limitations

I've done the sewing long ways and across the roll and it is definitely different each way, seam pucker
is very noticeable length ways 

Yes you could get better results with a puller attachment on your machine but that is going to set you back
a lot of cash.
I spent about a year cursing wrinkles and yes with time spent trying different needles, tensions, foot pressure, stitch length and feed dog hole sizes
I got to a point where I just had to say this is as good as it gets.

One thing to note is the direction you seam your covers, if you seam a navy top fore to aft then you can use the
tension between the frame and windscreen to pull out 90% of the wrinkles, but you need to staple everything
out on your bench when patterning with a little bit of tension to make it play like it would on the boat.

[Darren Henry]

Darren how did it take for the shrinkage?

Did you mean "how LONG" it took? It was instant. I tried to install later the same day.

[Peppy]

As for the warp/weft debate my guess would be: a warp faced fabric (like Sunbrella) would stretch less across the weft which is a straight line of string and stretch more along the warp that is going over and under the weft and so has more length to stretch out. Just my guess.

Just to clarify for the non-weavers in the crowd; weft = across the roll, warp = up the roll.

[Mike]

ive seen sunbrella cover shrink but it was over years and the owners wanted snap extentions for the rear, mostly ive noticed it streach making a nice tight aft curtuanj see ut katr abd it sagging   or a tight laced on t op sagging in the morning dew and tight in the afternoon sun

[Peppy]

Ya it's unbelievable how damp Sunbrella sags. Can be bullet tight at lunch in the sun, and the morning it's flapping in the breeze under the dew. Although its the same with a lot of canvas. I've seen it with seamark which I never would of thought. I have pictures somewhere of a seamark top in the AM then in full sun. I was astonished.

[Mike]

Yaepoy id think it only shrunk it slway tight ass drum that ive seen.
Ny t top has outdura and every morning i see sags a bit between the frames mid day its tigh again i need to put my coffee doen and tighten the lacings when its loose and see but im lazy.
Well i have to go install a 16 panel enclosure today. And its cold out.  :(

[forsailbyowner]

Yep I just got back from stretching a windscreen in place that "didn't fit". I told the customer hold it and keep holding it and it will stretch slowly, and be easy to install this summer. I got the call back" it just don't fit". He did look a bit sheepish when he came out and it was installed.

[Mike]

Forsale this windsreen was sunbrella not clear vinyl ? 
Ive made a snap on. O koit cover real tight at the rear snap ehen ininstall then later or the next day i can snap it with one hand.  But if the customer is watching when you install there. Concerened.
Thing is they streach and i dont want it sll loose puccfilng water in back. And iv had customer call that it did and i trimed it tighter. Then i hear other peoplel not cover ive made and i see it it shrunk so bad it wont  ome. Lose to s apping i wonder it they get lazy ive had some say even when i snap it easy later that maybe they just dont bother snappit all the snaps and then its allowed to shrink. And gets worse as youve seen sunbrella will shrink drying in the sun all day.

[forsailbyowner]

This was a strataglass windscreen with sunbrella facing. I built it in the summer  heat and he was installing in cold temps.The vinyl is amazing how it changes dimensions with temp change. Ive been working on my outside table in the sun then come inside the boat and the vinyl would shrink 3/4" by the time I laid it out on my inside table out of the sun. The outside table is big enough to handle a sheet of strata the inside just big enough for a single panel.