I did learn before I bought A90 that the enemy of an Atalanta was not sea water but rain.
So off to Sturminster Newton and Hansons’ massive material warehouse.
Then bumping back down to South Dorset with a 20 metre bolt of Plastic Coated Polyester in the back of the car.
The dining/sewing room would not accommodate one single piece cover and neither would I be able to manipulate such bulk through the sewing machine.
In any event, I had planned, by the use of lacing ties, to give me the flexibility to arrange the cover/s for: Afloat Mast Up, Afloat Mast Down, Ashore Mast Up & Ashore Mast Down.
On my previous yacht, a Victoria Frances 26 I had made covers for liferaft, boom etc., but all done using my grandma’s 1928 Glasgow built hand cranked Singer.
There was no way I could make these proposed covers for A90, single-handed, so to speak.
Off to Portland to buy a Brother LX25 electric sewing machine plus a ‘denim’ needle.
Right, now we were off.
The cover is in 4 sections : Bow, Forward, Midships & Stern.
As the width of the material was 145 cm I had to sew two pieces together to cover the beam for each section.
I did all this on my own, except when doing the long stitch that would join the two 145 cm pieces together. So my wife volunteered to help in material management as I sewed.
Once the sections were completed it was off to Steve Moatt, sailmaker at Portland for a reel of webbing tape to make the lacing.
Solid brass eyelets were purchased from H.Webber at Dorking.
To get a good clean hole cut for the eyelets I bought a 15/32nd ‘Round Drive Punch’ from C.S. Osborne.
All 4 sections are now protecting A90 ‘Jenaka III’ – and have so far survived the winter winds !
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Brother LX25
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Sewing on the lacings
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Lacing completed
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Well and truly laced
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Laced loops gave various cover options
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Top of transom protected
I like the lacing idea, more robust than a zip. And more flexible.