In article _4gUf.1563$kB1.278@trndny07, says...


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 ?

Try an outfit called Harbor Freight Tools. We just bought an industrial
strength sewing machine and table for about $500. Some assembly required. If
this thing can't sew it, it can't be sewn. The all up gadget weighs about 250
pounds. The motor is enormous.

We made a sail cover from a Sailright kit a couple of years ago. It's a
beautiful job but it killed the domestic sewing machine we had then. And some
years before that we rebuilt our dodger with a rented industrial strength
tabletop machine. It wasn't easy. The new machine should make fast work of
any job. And yes, it can run at 5,500 stitches per minute but the speed is
inifinitely controllable. Just needs a little practice.

I would start with an old singer or similar. You can always
upgrade, if necessary.
You can get one in good working condition for about $50.
Mine easily sews through a double layer of Sunbrella and
two layers of sail cloth on a furling jib's edge. More layers
towards the eye were difficult.
Get a model with zigzag and reverse, ~1940s or 50s. Older
ones only do straight stitches, newer ones are flimsy.
Mod. 99, 66, 201, pretty much every old black and gold
machine will do.

Hi Thomas,

My wife and I bought a new chinese industrial machine off of
EBAY for ~$300. We were doing a couple of covers out of
Sunbrella, and her hi-end Pfaff machine was not cutting it.
Fifteen years ago we completely reupholstered our old boat
using her Singer machine, and it was not as good as the Pfaff.

The industrial machine will sew practically anything you can
feed through it. When we got it we experimented and were up
to over 8 layers of heavy Sunbrella without even making it
breathe hard. BTW, we are using Tenara thread which is a
heavy Teflon thread (impervious to UV). We could never get
the Pfaff tension set right for this thread, and finally
gave up and bought the industrial machine. Believe me, it
was not for lack of trying. Also, the Pfaff motor was
really working hard punching through four layers of
Sunbrella, and pulling the heavy thread.

The chinese machine is not nearly as nice as the Pfaff in
terms of fit and finish, but it sure can sew.

YMMV

Don W.

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,

In article ,
says...


Hi Thomas,

My wife and I bought a new chinese industrial machine off of
EBAY for ~$300. We were doing a couple of covers out of
Sunbrella, and her hi-end Pfaff machine was not cutting it.
Fifteen years ago we completely reupholstered our old boat
using her Singer machine, and it was not as good as the Pfaff.

The industrial machine will sew practically anything you can
feed through it. When we got it we experimented and were up
to over 8 layers of heavy Sunbrella without even making it
breathe hard. BTW, we are using Tenara thread which is a
heavy Teflon thread (impervious to UV). We could never get
the Pfaff tension set right for this thread, and finally
gave up and bought the industrial machine. Believe me, it
was not for lack of trying. Also, the Pfaff motor was
really working hard punching through four layers of
Sunbrella, and pulling the heavy thread.

The chinese machine is not nearly as nice as the Pfaff in
terms of fit and finish, but it sure can sew.

YMMV

Is that a Yamata? We bought a new Yamata industrial machine from Harbor
Freight Tools. Despite the name it is a Chinese machine. With the table, which
is essential. it all cost some $500. 'Tis indeed a mighty brute. The motor
alone weighs 75 pounds. It is rated at 5,500 stitches a minute. Scares the
hell out of us and we have yet to use it. Can't find a user's manual. But we
look forward to doing a lot of uphosltery, biminis, dodgers, etc.

Hi Gogarty,

Gogarty wrote:
says...
My wife and I bought a new chinese industrial machine off of
EBAY for ~$300. We were doing a couple of covers out of

snip

The chinese machine is not nearly as nice as the Pfaff in
terms of fit and finish, but it sure can sew.

Is that a Yamata? We bought a new Yamata industrial machine from Harbor
Freight Tools. Despite the name it is a Chinese machine. With the table, which
is essential. it all cost some $500. 'Tis indeed a mighty brute. The motor
alone weighs 75 pounds. It is rated at 5,500 stitches a minute. Scares the
hell out of us and we have yet to use it. Can't find a user's manual. But we
look forward to doing a lot of uphosltery, biminis, dodgers, etc.

No, the name on the maching is "Innovation". You can see
one he

http://cgi.ebay.com/Industrial-Heavy...cmdZV iewItem

Note that with shipping and everything you're looking at
~$280 for a brand new machine.

Don W.

Don W wrote:
Hi Gogarty,

Gogarty wrote:

says...

My wife and I bought a new chinese industrial machine off of EBAY for
~$300. We were doing a couple of covers out of


snip

The chinese machine is not nearly as nice as the Pfaff in terms of
fit and finish, but it sure can sew.


Is that a Yamata? We bought a new Yamata industrial machine from
Harbor Freight Tools. Despite the name it is a Chinese machine. With
the table, which is essential. it all cost some $500. 'Tis indeed a
mighty brute. The motor alone weighs 75 pounds. It is rated at 5,500
stitches a minute. Scares the hell out of us and we have yet to use
it. Can't find a user's manual. But we look forward to doing a lot of
uphosltery, biminis, dodgers, etc.


No, the name on the maching is "Innovation". You can see one he

http://cgi.ebay.com/Industrial-Heavy...cmdZV iewItem


Note that with shipping and everything you're looking at ~$280 for a
brand new machine.

Don W.

This machine is the same as the Sailrite.com "LS" (non-zigzag) except
that it has the long arm, and doesn't have the Sailrite spiffs added
on, and I don't think there is a case available for it. I looked on
Ebay for the zigzag version I got last year, but no one was offering
it right now.

In article ,
says...


Hi Gogarty,

Gogarty wrote:
says...
My wife and I bought a new chinese industrial machine off of
EBAY for ~$300. We were doing a couple of covers out of

snip

The chinese machine is not nearly as nice as the Pfaff in
terms of fit and finish, but it sure can sew.

Is that a Yamata? We bought a new Yamata industrial machine from Harbor
Freight Tools. Despite the name it is a Chinese machine. With the table,
which
is essential. it all cost some $500. 'Tis indeed a mighty brute. The motor
alone weighs 75 pounds. It is rated at 5,500 stitches a minute. Scares the
hell out of us and we have yet to use it. Can't find a user's manual. But
we
look forward to doing a lot of uphosltery, biminis, dodgers, etc.

No, the name on the maching is "Innovation". You can see
one he

http://cgi.ebay.com/Industrial-Heavy...achine-9_W0QQi
temZ7604868609QQcategoryZ26256QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Note that with shipping and everything you're looking at
~$280 for a brand new machine.

Oh, that's a dinky little baby machine compared to the monster we just bought.
Can't put binaries here or I would post a photo.

Go to the Yamata web site and have a look at the 8500. But that's only part of
it. Look also at the Accessories, which shows the motor and table (K-leg).

I did see that they are also being sold on eBay. Harbor Freight,
interestingly, has a flat $9 delivery charge. On more than 200 pounds of
stuff. Unless it has to go by truck.

Gogarty wrote:

Oh, that's a dinky little baby machine compared to the monster we just bought.
Can't put binaries here or I would post a photo.

Go to the Yamata web site and have a look at the 8500. But that's only part of
it. Look also at the Accessories, which shows the motor and table (K-leg).

I did see that they are also being sold on eBay. Harbor Freight,
interestingly, has a flat $9 delivery charge. On more than 200 pounds of
stuff. Unless it has to go by truck.

Well, the 8500 doesn't look much bigger, but its got a nifty
attachment for an external motor that looks like it might
come in handy for industrial use.

The reason we bought the machine we did was that we talked
to the importer and got a "guarantee" that it would work
well with Tenara (teflon) thread. They were so sure that
they were willing to take the machine back if we couldn't
get it work. Sure enough, that thing sews Tenara like
nobodys business.

It would be nice to have a machine with a little more room
under the arm, but my sister-in-law does king size quilts
with a machine about the same size. The trick is in how you
roll the material before (and after) sewing.

Good luck,

Don W.