Thomas Wentworth wrote:
I have been reading Don Casey's book about repair, and upkeep of sailing
yachts. He recommends getting a sewing machine so that sails, covers,
dodgers, etc can be repaired, made etc by the boat owner.

I don't know anything about sewing machines.

Where would I get one? How much should one cost? What brands are good? Is
this something I can get on ebay?

Any help ?

Thanks,


There's a very long and tedious thread on this issue on the SSCA forum
(comparing Sailrite sewing machines vs similar models).

We have a basic machine (older) that is all metal inside that will sew
up to about 5 layers of Sunbrella or a similar amount of Dacron.
We've sewn awnings, made a dodger, repaired a mainsail etc. on it.
The cheap little walking foot attachment is very useful. However it
is hard on the machine to use it for such heavy fabrics and it does
tend to go out of timing fairly often. I'm seriously considering one
of the "clone" Sailrite types for the next boat

Evan Gatehouse