Who can make us a new sprayhood?

[Nick]

.
Kathy keeps on sewing up and patching the old one every year but it takes hours and hours and is turning into a losing battle.

Owen Sails want an arm, a leg and several major organs for the job and refuse to take a pattern off the existing hood, insisting on visiting the boat twice! For reference, their quote - using the existing frame - comes to £660 plus VAT plus travel.

Half that sum would be hard to find. Any suggestions or any volunteers handy with a sewing machine?

[Pete Cooper]

Contact Eamonn - a pal of his does that kind of work. She made a sleeve to cover the mast support post on Capricious to my measurements - quoted £20 and charged £15 as she had to use Velcro instead of a full length zip. Seems OK to me.

[Aja]

That's upsetting!!!
We have a very nice sprayhood from Owen Sails but have had to re-stitch a couple of times and it is getting decidedly past its best functionally.

I was hoping that I could send it to Owen next October and get a new one sent back. So is that a bit over ambitious?

If you go down the route of Eamon's mate - let us know how you get on.

Donald

[Nick]

That's upsetting!!!
We have a very nice sprayhood from Owen Sails but have had to re-stitch a couple of times and it is getting decidedly past its best functionally.

I was hoping that I could send it to Owen next October and get a new one sent back. So is that a bit over ambitious?

We've approached Owen twice over this now and they flatly refuse to do anything other than go through the whole visit the boat and measure then visit the boat and fit routine. It's nonsense IMO.

They might let you get away with it as they made yours in the first place, but I wouldn't count on it. They may be our local sailmaker but we certainly can't afford to use them.

[sahona]

It's VERY difficult to re-stitch a sprayhood without scrunching the windows unless you have access to a machine with a long arm.
I did ours on the last boat and would think twice about attempting it again.
I can understand the professionals wanting to take accurate measurements, there's nothing worse than saggy one side and tight the other...

[DaveS]

My current sprayhood was made by a mail order outfit called Martek (or possibly Martex). They first send you the frame which you fit then take a few measurements. From these they make up the hood, but leave the bottom edge unfinished for you to fit to the boat. This took me a fair bit of time to hand sew: access to a machine would obviously speed things up considerably. The price was around half of what the sailmakers quoted. Might not suit you though, since their frame geometry is a bit different from normal (presumably so that their semi-custom system works) and I don't think they could cope with a different type of existing frame.

[Shuggy]

My tip would be Willie Leitch in Tarbert. I paid £550 for a 3 hoop sprayhood for a 43 footer, with 2 visits to the boat. I think he may be semi-retired. Resulting hood was/is beautiful.

Owen do a beautiful job (used them for sails and bunk cushions on the last boat) but they are quite pricey. But - I've tried the cheaper alternatives and having had a very poor customer experience last year with TOP's favourite sailmaker I would not repeat my experiment.

[ash]

I got my sprayhood from C&J Marine.

They made it using information that they already had, and sent it fully finished but they were supplying a new frame too.

They provided all the bits to allow me to fit it to the boat myself.

The zips to allow easy removal from the frames were an optional extra.

The grab rail was an optional extra.

I'm very happy with the fit and the performance.

It was bought too long ago to make it worthwhile quoting costs but I wouldn't describe it as cheap.

These are photos of it's current condition.

Just did a search of old threads, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=507&hilit=sprayhood, and find that my sprayhood was fitted new at the beginning of the 2006 season so 7 years old now.





Ash

[Nick]

.
Oh well . . . barring an unforseen bit of barter or a sudden lottery win it looks as though the old one will be getting patched up again. It's pretty threadbare now and the windows are torn, but I'm sure it can be made to do another season.

[claymore]

Try Canvassman, Nick.
http://www.canvasman.co.uk/boat-covers/ ... pray-hoods#
They are in Otley and have a website
I think its going to lighten your pockets by 500 smackeroonies wherever you go!
Whit aboot a bit of bartering wi yer web-talents?

[Clyde_Wanderer]

.
Oh well . . . barring an unforseen bit of barter or a sudden lottery win it looks as though the old one will be getting patched up again. It's pretty threadbare now and the windows are torn, but I'm sure it can be made to do another season.

Just remembered i got my s hood renovated and new window a few yrs ago by Kelvin Coach Trimmers, agood job and cheap. Dont know if they are still trading, were last at Anniesland.
C_W

[Nick]

I think its going to lighten your pockets by 500 smackeroonies wherever you go!
Whit aboot a bit of bartering wi yer web-talents?

Barter is always good.

- W

[Ghillie]

Jessail in Ardrossan took our old one off & used it as a template and fitted the new one on. Very satisfied. This is a few years ago now. Circa 500 pounds.
Sally is the proprietor. You could post it.......

[Nick]

Jessail in Ardrossan took our old one off & used it as a template and fitted the new one on. Very satisfied. This is a few years ago now. Circa 500 pounds.
Sally is the proprietor. You could post it.......

Too many other expenses this year - £500 is OOTQ I'm afraid.

Looks like I'm looking for a canvas worker or sailmaker who wants a new website . . . . or more likely Kathy wil be sewing 'till her fingers bleed again. Unless we won the lottery tonight of course . . . .

[claymore]

Davey reminded me - we got one for the Delta years ago from
http://martexmarine.com/sprayhood_kits.htm
It was fine - I could save you the carriage.