Winch Cover
This week we celebrate the installation of our beautiful new winches by…promptly covering and hiding them from view! Wait. Really? They look so beautiful and shiny and are a wonderful new addition of boat bling, must you really cover them? Yes, we must. Winches should be covered to protect them from UV rays, dust, debris, and water intrusion. And while on the last blog we explained how we were able to score a great deal, the winches were still very expensive so we want to make sure we protect them. Aboard Yara we have a philosophy of: “buy nice things and keep things nice.” Therefore, our nice new winches need to be kept nice and winch covers are a good protective measure to do so.
Sewing new winch covers for our new winches was a must to keep them protected and to help them provide many years of service. Using our Sailrite sewing machine and the Sailrite instructions here https://www.sailrite.com/PDF/Winch-Cover-Instructions.pdf, Devin sewed the new winch covers. She made one great improvement to the Sailrite instructions by adding a velcro hook and loop opening to allow lines to pass through the winch cover.
Some cruisers say having a Sailrite sewing machine aboard their boat is a waste of space and expense. But we’re firm believers of having this workhorse aboard. While the upfront cost is expensive, the Sailrite sewing machine has saved us more than its purchase price. Our DIY sailboat settee cushions basically paid for the machine itself because we didn’t need to hire to sew the covers. And now sewing our own winch covers with the Sunbrella material we wanted, in the color we wanted, in the size we needed, and the higher quality of a DIY job (think many, many stitches!) we have started to make more money than we bought the machine for. Not to mention we’re developing a skill.
Each time we break out the Sailrite sewing machine we experience some failures because we’re new users. But with enough trial and error, we eventually see success! We were impressed with Sailrite’s customer service when we contacted them to help resolve a persistent bird’s nesting issue with the bobbin thread. Within a couple of hours, the problem was resolved. And while these winch covers are version one and not perfect, they are certainly doing their job to keep the sun, rain, and debris off the winches.
We have six more to create so we’ll keep pushing through with a Yacht of Love to learn and grow. Do you have any tips, tricks, or recommendations for sewing? We’d love to hear them in the comments of the video!
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/zbejBFTjhyc