Sunbrella Source

[Quickstep192]

Has anyone found a low cost source for Sunbrella? There used to be a fabric store here that sold it for really cheap, but they're gone now (don't know if there a connection there or not). I'm not a very good seamster, so mistakes are easier to live with if I can find the material for cheap.

[Driver]

Try eBay. I've purchased several rolls of Sunbrella on eBay at a fraction of retail price. Shipping costs were not too bad and the material was not seconds. A lot of it is less than popular colors but I did get the Mediterranean Blue and Pacific Blue. (Don't like the Pacific but was trying to match other stuff that was already on our old boat.) Good luck with your project.

[Sabreman]

Try Sailrite. They're great to deal with, offer expert advice, and have a FULL range of canvas supplies. All of the canvas (except sails, of course) and cushions on VICTORIA were made from materials purchased from Sailrite. Even the sewing machine.

HIGHLY recommended.

www.sailrite.com

[chef2sail]

I would agree with Sabreman... Sailrite is great in terms of variety and their pricing is fair . 3 weeks ago we finally bought one of their machines, and my wife hasnt stop marveling at the ease with which it sews canvass compared to the sewing machines she had tried to use. We have embarked on redoing the cushions and interior of our C&C 35.

Subscribe to the sailright catalogue. It has many neat things in it and is good reading if you like doing that. Many projects I have planned from an anchor sail to redoing the dodge and bimini have liturature found in it.

Dave

[ebs001]

The best prices we found are at Sailorman in St. Augustine, Florida.

[Freesail99]

Sailrite does sell sail kits.

[Sabreman]

Freesail99 Sailrite does sell sail kits

Absolutely. I don't know why I forgot to mention that. Their sail quote page is great and I plan to make a main one of these days. The hard part will be to wrangle a school gym floor for a few days while I lay it out. I hear that it's about a 40 hour job. My bimini took about 20 hours so I may be underestimating the job a bit.

[garymcg]

I have to agree with the eBay suggestion, we just recently bought 10 yards of 60 inch wide sunbrella for $125.00. Also, you can buy the super expensive Tenara gore-tex thread online from a different vendor for $158.00 for 16 oz, it's $138.00 for 8 oz. at sailrite. They are definitely helpful and knowlegeable people over there, but definitely do not have the best prices.

As for sewing machines, check out the older Pfaff machines on ebay. We bought one locally on craigslist, it was used by a professional seamstress who worked for the J.L. Hudson company but is now retired. It's an absolute marvel of mid 20th century German engineering, the mechanism is so brilliantly simple (belt drive, and the belt is a piece of leather), that anyone who appreciates that sort of thing will love it.

They usually come mounted to a table and are belt driven by an external motor; the motor is absurdly oversized, I swear if you put the pedal down the thing will walk across the room. This beast will stitch together any two objects you can wrestle under the needle, just to test it my wife sewed 4 pieces of leather together. It's frickin' unbelievable. I haven't tried it but I swear you could sew a turtle to the back of a porcupine if you really wanted to.

[chef2sail]

Great visual Gary.... The thing I like about the sailrite machine 9s that it is portable and self contained and we can take it with us when we go crusing for a couple of months. In a pinch with the "monster wheel" which weighs 8 lbs or so you can actually hand crank the machine and sew with it that way.

[dpayne]

I had tried ebay, and found what I wanted at a good price. However the item never arrived and I had a hassle with the seller. In the end end I got my money back though I had to go through both paypal and ebays dispute resolution. The seller was PERSIS, so if you go that route be wary of buying from him. Other than that, sailright had a competive price of 18 dollars a yard or so. and I think they included shipping.