To Sew A Sprayhood

This here below is something that has caused – how should I put it – a bit of disagreement in our little home.

Drawing guidelines for the window seams

Mads is making a sprayhood for our boat. For those of you who don’t know, a sprayhood (also “dodger”) is the canvas hood that covers part of the cockpit and the entrance to the boat. You can see the old one in the picture below.

Anna

The one in this picture was old and brittle, and it had seen many repairs in its time. Last year was the end of it, it toar and was past saving. Which is why we have been looking for someone to make us a new sprayhood for some time now, continuing to be schocked by the prices everywhere. Having someone make you a sprayhood and a cockpit enclosure for a Shipman 28 (which for most is not a pattern they have lying around) can easily cost you around DKK 23,000 (app. 4,000 USD). This may be fair, given the time and material used, but at the same time, it’s around 25 % of what the boat cost us in the first place. Rather steep.

Now, I have been making a few things for the boat last year. I made new cushion covers, curtains, and pillows.

Packed and organized - notice the new cushion covers and curtains

Packed and organized - notice the new cushion covers and curtains

Boat curtains

And it all turned out pretty good. However, a sprayhood is a heavy duty kind of thing, and I announced, that I would not sew a sprayhood. No way. So what does the man do? Does he go back to the best offer we received and ask them to make it for us?

Cutting pattern

Nope… He let’s me know, that in that case, he will do it. I objected at first, even a lot so, feeling certain that we would end up having an installation more similar to a hammock than a sprayhood over the entrance – but now he’s working. And even though we have yet to see the result, I have to say, it does look promising.

Sewing a sprayhood

He borrowed a heavy duty sewing machine from the yacht club, used the old sprayhood for pattern, bought all the different supplies to make it look just right, and now I feel a bit guilty for backing out in the first place. Well, well – I’m sure he has fun with it even so. And I am so excited to see how it turns out. I’ll show you when I know. 😉

11 comments

  1. Millie says:

    Clever Mads! Good for him! My mother has a similar industrial machine….I am scared of it! I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

  2. Astrid says:

    Yes, he is clever, Millie! 🙂 This machine is actually quite good even though it’s around 60 years old. Quite impressive when you think about it. I can’t wait either!

  3. Martin says:

    Mads sewing, really ??

    Not just photoshop ?.

    If Mads needs to reclaim his manhood, he can come by for a beer anytime 😀

  4. Kim says:

    If he manages to pull off something comparable to what you did inside (beautiful!) that would be fantastic! Love it, what a man!!

    • Astrid says:

      Hej Lone – dit navn ser dansk ud, sÃ¥ nu svarer jeg lige pÃ¥ dansk. 🙂 Vi har desværre ikke et mønster – det havde været smart at tegne sÃ¥dan et i samme omgang, men det gjorde vi ikke. Sikkert ogsÃ¥ til dels fordi vi pÃ¥ det tidspunkt ikke helt vidste, hvor godt resultatet ville blive, men det fungerer perfekt og ser pænt ud. 😉 Mads brugte den gamle sprayhood som mønster og prøvede at tage højde for de steder, hvor den var blevet mør og dermed strakt for meget. Du kan prøve at spørge pÃ¥ den Facebook-gruppe, som henvender sig til Shipman-ejere – det er ikke sikkert, at nogen har noget, men der plejer at være stor hjælpsomhed. Held og lykke med det! (Og ren nysgerrighed – hvor ligger din Shipman?)

      • Lone Løvschal (@Lovschal) says:

        Tak Astrid. Jeg går til den med oprejst pande 🙂 Selvfølgelig er der en shipman facebook gruppe, det havde jeg ikke tænkt på.
        Vi er tre familier der netop har købt en og pt. ligger den på land, men det er planen at den skal ligge i Jyllinge. Vi glæder os meget og drengene gir den gas så den bliver sååååå flot. Måske ses vi på vandet en dag.

        • Astrid says:

          Hej igen – det var sÃ¥mænd sÃ¥ lidt – jeg ville ønske, at jeg kunne hjælpe, for vi ledte selv med lys og lygte efter et mønster, da vi skulle have ny sprayhood. Ja, mÃ¥ske ses vi pÃ¥ vandet – I har i hvert fald valgt en virkelig dejlig bÃ¥d! 😉

  5. Lena says:

    Hi there
    Nice homepage and usable information
    However I am missin a picture of the sprayhood that your husband made
    Looking forward to seeing it 🙂
    Kindest regards
    Lena, Kastrup, Denmark

    • Astrid says:

      Hej Lena
      Jeg har da lige overset dit spørgsmÃ¥l, men hvis du kigger her, sÃ¥ kan du bÃ¥de se billeder af sprayhood’en og af det cockpittelst, som han efterfølgende syede. 😉

      /Astrid

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