Canoe cover recommendation...

[Howie]

A fella just contacted me about a 16 ft Morris Model A Type 1 I restored for him a few years ago. He's looking for a cover for it. Apparently he already bought a cover but it's not wide/tall enough to fit over the canoe's tall decks (I've got one like that as well). I'm thinking a cover that fits an OT Yankee or Otca would work with a Morris... Any recommendations?

 

[Benson Gray]

The usual answer is that Redleaf Designs at https://redleafdesigns.com/products/canoe-cover will make one to fit.

Benson

 

[John Sand]

Making covers isn't very hard. I have always made my own sail covers for my keel boats. I now use a pricey Sailrite, but for many years used a sixties sewing machine I bought at a yard sale.

 

[Rob Stevens]

"but for many years used a sixties sewing machine I bought at a yard sale."
Now there's another slippery slope,...
that I have so far avoided. I have also thought that an industrial sewing machine might also sew leather.

 

[John Sand]

Old industrial machines are common here, and often cheap, occasionally free. There were many different purposes, some intended to produce clothing very quickly operate at high speeds. My Sailrite paid for itself with the first set of covers, and I've used it for many other projects including making a couple of leather wallets.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

The Sailrite machines are excellent. I bought my original Sailmaker from them in 1980 to work on hot air balloons and after that, it has made over 100 sails and all sorts of covers, dog leashes, etc. The zig-zag portion only gets used on sails, but the straight stitch is used on just about all other projects, including the very long stitches which prevent needle puckering on fabrics like Sunbrella.

On leather I use an old Consew industrial, straight stitch, walking foot machine. It came set up to do about 30 stitches per second, which is way too fast to control for general purpose sewing. I ditched the old clutch-driven motor and replaced it with a small servo motor, which is much tamer and easier to control. Watching that old beast cruise through a couple layers of heavy leather is truly fun.