Emperor's New Clothes

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Bluenose
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Boat Name: Bolero
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Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Bluenose »

On and off throughout the Sping and Summer Laura has been working away on our new exterior canvas for Bolero. I have posted a picture here and there, maybe only on my blog, but I thought I would post the finished results here. If I accidently say we when talking about work done, I mean Laura. It was all her. My only job was as an idealistic perfectionist. Let's just say there was some some seam ripping before I stop my whining.

I already discussed our new, old, Pfaff 130 sewing machine and it work exceptionally well. That is once Laura put aside her Singer prejudices. It was just a work horse. A very good tool.

We had originally decided to have a jib bag and a mainsail cover that we could attach wings to for covering the cockpit when needed. But in the end Laura sewed up a separate cockpit cover and mainsail cover. We want a mainsail cover for those days and night when we are staying on the boat.

We ordered all of our supplies from Sailrite. A kits for the jib bag and for the mainsail cover and seperate supplies for the the cockpit cover since Laura was creating her own pattern.

Laura sewed up the jib bag first. I made one of these for my old Bluenose and we both agreed that this was a good first start. Unfortunately our battened jib was not happy with the standard jib bag shape from Sailrite. It works and it fits but it is just a bit awkward.

The mainsail was next. And anyone who saw my Bolero foredeck anchor locker mock-up on our living room floor will not be surprised that I wanted a mockup to help size the mainsail cover. So I created a mast track on the front porch and attached the boom and mainsail. This allowed Laura quick and easy fittings. And also allowed me to install the reefing system.

Image

Laura was able to mostly finish the jib bag and mainsail cover prior to launch and all in all we are pretty happy with these.

Image

And one more picture of the mainsail cover on the mooring.

Image

The cockpit cover was a bit more challenging. First it wasn't a kit. And second, I didn't know exactly what the relationship was between the stored boom hieght and the toe rails. So Laura could only really create the main portion of the cover until after we launched.

Thus began the seemingly endless trips back and forth to the mooring for cover fittings. Little by little progress was made but the cover hung like a bad suit. My idealistic whining was pretty much at a peak at this point. I just refused to drape a poorly fitting cover over Bolero. This cause just a bit fo tension. Me being picky as hell and pretty much trashing all of Laura's hard work but not really meaning to. I just wanted an excellent solution. So after things sellted down we put our heads toghether and we found that by adding an additional seam everything fell into place.

We are both exceptionally pleased with the final result.

Image

Lessons Learned

We weren't absolutely thrilled with the Sailrite kits that we used for the mainsail cover and jib bag. The few sizes fits many approaches just didn't seem to fit either our jib or mainsail.

Laura has a fair bit of sewing experience and we felt that if you can actually make a kit you probably have the skills to create something from scratch. Many colors of Sunbrella are available on ebay for a good price.

I hate zippers. Both of the Sailrite kits came with big plastic zippers. The create a nice clean look at the edge but they feel cheap to me. And I think they are hard on cold hands.

I have no idea what this canvas work would have cost to hire out. We assume a lot to justify all of Laura's time.
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Chris Campbell
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Re: Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Chris Campbell »

Excellent job, Laura! Especially to put up with a perfectionist mate during the process - that is a tough one. But the final result sure does appear to be worth it - and she has the satisfaction of knowing she did it, and did it right.

Being able to keep the jib on deck and the rain out of the cockpit should make a great difference to your ease of ownership and use - and the canvas suits her to a 'T'.

Congratulations.

Cheers,

Chris
Quetzalsailor
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Re: Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Quetzalsailor »

What a drop-dead gorgeous boat!
D
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Bluenose
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Boat Name: Bolero
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Re: Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Bluenose »

Chris Campbell wrote:.....Being able to keep the jib on deck and the rain out of the cockpit should make a great difference to your ease of ownership and use - and the canvas suits her to a 'T'.Chris.....
I have to admit that early on I worried about not having self draining cockpits and the potential for nuisance water, we call that rain up here, building up in the cockpit bilge. I was also worried that the whole cockpit cover issue was going to be a pain. Now I absolutely love it. It is just a win, win, win. It is darn near as easy to install as the mainsail cover, keeps the sun off the acres of varnish, keeps the condensation off the cockpit seats, dissuades the birds from camping and snacking aboard and well that is all I can think of right now.

And one more thing, I think it sort of acts like a riding sail, more like a wedge, and helps keep Bolero from wandering around on the mooring (which she loves to do).

Looks like I got a pretty good infomercial going here :)
Excellent job, Laura! Especially to put up with a perfectionist mate during the process - that is a tough one. But the final result sure does appear to be worth it - and she has the satisfaction of knowing she did it, and did it right.
I passed along your complements to Laura and she was quite pleased, but..... being a bit of a perfectionist herself, she is still tripping over a few "flaws". Apparently our tension on this job didn't come from a disagreement on perfection, more from me pointing out her imperfection. I am still getting the hang of this whole marriage thing.

Cheers,
Bill
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Rachel
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Re: Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Rachel »

That does look great - well done, Laura!

I think I've mentioned this in the past, but this summer I've been sailing a friend's Ensign again, and I am just hooked on the deep cockpit (which is non-self-bailing). It is just such a joy, relaxing or working sail controls from the comfortable teak benches and deep coamings that place you in the boat, not on it.

It's given me the urge to go camp cruising in a boat where the cockpit is the center of all activities, i.e. deep cockpit that's huge compared to the cramped cuddy, so you'd spend most of your time there, and camp under a boom tent. Of course in my head every day is sunny and there are no bugs at night, but still.

I'll admit to feeling a little extra urgency when the boat heels to a gust, even though it's probably not that well-founded (the urgency, not the boat :)

Rachel
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Bluenose
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Re: Emperor's New Clothes

Post by Bluenose »

Rachel,

That is an interesting observation you made about self bailing cockpits. My, our, last boat, the Bluenose Sloop was 24 feet long on deck and 16 feet on the waterline. The freeboard might have been all of 18 inches. But wanting all the the modern conveniences McVay built the fiberglass versions with a barely self draining cockpit. Laura never really felt comfortable in that boat. She didn't like riding on it.

In the much larger Shields platform, like you mentioned on the Ensign, she sits deep inside the hull. In addition Bolero's small coach roof, which isn't that much larger than the old Bluenose, provides ample shelter from the much rarer spray and the very frequent apparent wind.

I first read about deep non self bailing cockpits in a review of the Folkboat but never gave it much thought or credence. But it really is quite nice once you get past those minor inconveniences, like swamping and sinking.

Bill
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