Whilst my captain has been working hard on the big stuff I have been busy finishing some small stuff:
 |
| British Red Ensign courtesy flag |
First on the list was to finish my two British Red Ensign courtesy flags...so I did just that by sewing on the Union Jacks and putting in two spur grommets on each flag for hoisting...done :)
 |
| Cockpit sunshade |
Next I finished making a sunshade for the cockpit...mounted on the inside. We use this only when the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. The shade is made of jersey nylon material (with lots of holes in it), which I cut to fit and then sewed a band on the bottom which attaches to the bimini tubes via snaps...for the top we just use wooden clothes pins and a line...very simple but extremely effective! The nylon material is great, because it doesn't fray when cut, so there is no need to sew the edges...best of all...I got it for a buck a yard (!) at Walmart. Of course I made another one for the front as well :)
 |
| Mosquito screen |
Small stuff number three was making a mosquito screen for the salon hatch. I used Phiphertex (also called Textoline) material to which I sewed hook and loop tape...the frame on the hatch is made of wood on the inside of the cabin, so it was easy to attach the hook and loop tape with some glue and screws that were already in place there. Now I need to make some more of these screens for all the other hatches, which are currently covered with screen material that is attached with sticky gum (the one used for sticking pictures to the wall)...seriously...this works well, but is not a long term solution.
Last but not least I successfully tackled repairs to our Eisenglas (plastic) protective cockpit coverings. The panels are zipped in at the top and the sides (snapped in at the bottom) and form a complete enclosure...great for those really gusty rainy days at anchor (or at the dock)! Well...some of the side zippers were totally disintegrated from the sun and it seemed that the material had shrunk, because there was quite a gap, making it impossible to pull the sides together! What to do? My solution: I measured the gap (actually I eyeballed it, because I am not good at measuring), sewed a small sunbrella panel to fit and attached it with snaps...yap...snaps...works great :)
 |
| Snap on panel |
We shall see how this will hold up in a gusty storm...I am pretty confident it will pass the test, keeping us dry inside :)
That's it for now...it feels good to get stuff done...now it's time to play for a little before embarking on the next project...
Just in case you are wondering about my method of putting in snaps...here is my very own snap tool called Pres'n'Snap...it is the greatest tool ever! Saw it in action at Marianne's (my sailmaker friend) shop and after she explained how it works I was hooked! It is expensive...but so worth it. I bought it on the internet from a company called Perfect Fit...they also sell all kinds of other useful stuff...I also got the hook and loop tape from them in big rolls for little money and the shipping was reasonable :)
Together with the Pres'n'Snap I bought all kinds of fasteners, which I store conveniently in a fishing box...of course I have a few of those fishing boxes for all the different fasteners. With this tool I also put in the spur grommets on the courtesy flags, which I talked about earlier. Everybody is behaving real careful around me these days, because I love this tool so much that I snap almost everything that is "snappable"...Just kidding :)
