If I can do it...so can you!!

[emoney]

You know how you accomplish a goal or complete a task and no one is around to share in your celebration? That's what this thread is all about, at least how it applies to my cabin cushions. Here's the skinny:

Nomoorkidz, my gentle old soul of a 1970 Newport 27 came to me neglected and in a ragged state on the inside. Since there's no way the real boss of this operation would consider sleeping on something (or even sitting for that matter) that looked like this;


And for more proof, here's the "sleeping quarters" (sorry about the blur);


So...what was I left to do? I priced two different uphosltery shops as to how much to recover the cushions and we'll just say, the number was astronomical. I quickly would've been "upside down" in the boat and I own it out right, if you know what I mean. What's a guy to do? I've never even darned a sock (althought I've damned a shoe or two), let alone used the sewing machine that we received as a wedding present years ago (25 to be precise). Plus, everyone that did know how those machines operate told me there was no way it was capable of sewing upholstery material, let alone vinyl. What did I do, you ask? What the rest of you would've done; went to JoAnn's Fabric, found the material of choice and some thread, and had at it. Here's what I ended up with-




Hey, I know it's far from a professional job, but some of the seams are even straight! Who'd a thunk it? Anyway, this is my little "atta boy" to myself, and a word of encouragement for anyone facing a similar dilemna. This is from a guy that considers himself the "man's man of masculinity", the guy who can't cook and does a great job convincing Mrs. Emoney that it's best if I don't operate things like the vacuum, broom or washer/dryer, and definitely don't get near the cutlery. They (the whole family) have thought about padding the stairwell, just in case....Mr. Two Left Thumbs to sum it up. Now, his wife thinks "its cute" that her little seamstress toils away at the sewing machine. If that guy can do it, you can definitely do it. All together now.....ATTA BOY, EMONEY!!!!

Oh...and right now, if you're an "insider" JoAnn's Fabric is having a sale! Tell them, emoney sent you.....I need the rewards points.

[Squidd]

Dude...that is cool...

So did you rip the old cushions apart and use them as patterns ... or cold cut and stitch ?

I'm planning on redoing my cushions as well... soon as somebody shows me where the on/off switch on the machine is..

[sailguy40]

I think that's a really nice job you done there on those cushions! Oh yeah I can certainly relate and know exactly what you mean about do it yourself jobs. My father passed away 23 years ago, of the many things he done in his life, one was a master carpenter. He done everything with wood, carving, building a house, a store, even half of his own house! How I wish he was still here today, we would have built our own sailboat, as you name the machines and tools, he had it all. I was a teenager back then and into girls, weight lifting, going out with friends, just a normal teenage boy life. I was around my father off and on while he worked and I helped him a lot and learned a few things. Now, here it is, 23 years later and I actually remember some things that I learned while working with my father and it has helped me working on my boat. Prior to owning my current boat, I never done much of anything in over two decades, not even staining wood but now that's not a problem. Now I go down as making the following improvements to my boat... new cabin hatch doors, new vinyl wall paper and insulation on salon walls, a nice wooden name plaque, applied my own name to the boat, and soon other things such as a small table, new tiller handle, a door to v-birth, shelves, and I even plan to install a shore power system in about a month. I have also successfully done some work on my outboard and I have never known anything about outboard motors. Although here again, my dad knew a ton about boats and outboard motors, but he never owned a sailboat. Anyway, I have read many times on this forum and elsewhere, owning a sailboat like this means you have to learn how to do many things on your own to upgrade and maintain it. I bought that don casey sailboat maintenance book several months ago and it has been big help. At last here we go, here are some pics of things I had done myself which I am proud of... (oh and excuse the dirty bottom on the stern of her, she has been cleaned since the photo ) I also have these and more pics in my online album here...

SailNet Community - sailguy40's Album: 1980 O'day 22 "Tropic Spirit"

[emoney]

@Squidd....just ripped off the old, broke out the tape measure, took the "current" dimensions of the cushions and went to town. The first attempt I carefully disassembled a cushion and used the old for patterns, but was left with a rather "floppy" cushion due to the distortion from age the foam had taken.

@Sailguy40....thanks for sharing and for the compliment!

[DRFerron]

(sniff)

I'm so proud of our emoney!

(honnnnnk)

[wingNwing]

Nice!

[bljones]

Good on ya, emoney! Of course, you do realize that with new cushions you will now be forced to fix the sagging headliner which looks worse than it did before and the cabin sole, which looks worse than it did before, and the woodwork, and find a way to hide the inverter, and...

[Captain Drakofski]

Great job. I will be doing the same for mine soon. My sailing buddy also did the same for his.

[emoney]

Originally Posted by bljones

Good on ya, emoney! Of course, you do realize that with new cushions you will now be forced to fix the sagging headliner which looks worse than it did before and the cabin sole, which looks worse than it did before, and the woodwork, and find a way to hide the inverter, and...

Wait....honey, is that you incognito? Or, have you paid off Mr. Jones to do your dirty work, hmmmm?

[bljones]

lol, em. It's the standard "mission creep"- pretty soon you will own tools that you never thought you would be buying, to accomplish larger and larger tasks that you thought you'd never be doing.

Sewing cushions- it's a gateway drug, I tell you.