Sewing Machine - Tops on Pink Tool List

 

I just hauled out my SailRite sewing machine to sew a patch onto the sail cover. I remember when David did his “Top Ten Power Tools Aboard” post, he never mentioned the sewing machine and a reader asked why not. It's probably because he never uses my sewing machine. He's fiddled with it on occasion, but he's never really sewn anything on it. It tends to be a pink tool, I guess, at least aboard Nine of Cups.

I think the reason it never even occurred to either of us to include the sewing machine on David's list is that we don't use it all that often. It's not a tool that you grab and haul out everyday. When we do use it, however, it gets a workout. I've mended sails and UV, made biminis, dodgers, several sail covers, lots of courtesy flags and sewn many other items too numerous to mention.

In general, sewing machines are bulky and not easy to stow and they're heavy. When not in use, the machine nestles under my seldom-used vanity, lashed down and out of the way.

When I need to use it, I usually set it up on the saloon table, although we've certainly hauled it ashore on occasion and even up on deck when necessary.

Heavy duty sewing machines are not cheap. I have an Ultrafeed LSZ-1 which we bought a decade ago. They currently list over $700 for this basic straight/zigzag stitch machine. It handles heavy duty fabric like double and triple thickness sailcloth and Sunbrella. I've purchased several accessories including a monster wheel, a light, a carry case and a zipper foot.

There are a couple of things I don't like about the machine. I find adjusting the tension is a crap shoot. There are no numbers or marks on the tension knob, so you're never quite sure exactly where you are tension-wise which requires some practice runs before you get the stitches right. There are no seam guides, and I've remedied this by etching my own ¼ inch line on the needle plate.

There are some parts of the machine which are especially susceptible to rust like the needle plate and on a boat, that's obviously an issue. The case is heavy duty, but again the hardware rusted which is a problem. The fact that a light was an optional accessory as opposed to being included was rather stingy, I thought, and the method for attaching the light is pretty gimcrack. The zigzag stitch length and the arm limit the sail size and area you can work with, but quite honestly if my machine can't handle it, I probably don't want to wrestle it into the saloon and deal with it anyway. Perhaps some of these shortcomings have been addressed in the newer models. All that said, I love the machine.

SailRite has a great catalog (hard copy and on-line) for just about any do-it-yourself sewing needs you might have for pretty much any sewing project. Their customer service is great.

No, we don't get any kick-back from SailRite, but I might call Big Matt and see if he wants to advertise on the blogsite. Hey, if you buy anything from them, tell 'em Nine of Cups sent you. Now excuse me while I patch the sail cover.

Hint: Mark your sewing machine case with a piece of tape noting the “needle end”. It makes it much easier to place the heavy machine on your work surface in the correct sewing position the first time.

Adelaide - The Hottest City on the Planet

 

Remember how I was complaining about the cold a couple of weeks back when there were sub-zero temperatures and I was in Boston? And remember how I said I wouldn't complain about the heat because I was finally thawing out. Well, I lied. At the moment, I'm not only thawed … I'm melting.

Record-breaking high temperatures for the area have us staying under cover with the fans constantly whirring and no escape from the wretched heat. No work is being done … we're lethargic and oh, so sweaty. We recorded a high temp of 117F/47C outside the boat today … 103F/39C down below. The local airport reported only 115F/46C, so perhaps we're exaggerating a bit. Still … a bit too hot for comfort. In fact, we read Adelaide was the hottest major city on the planet today.

Sometimes you just can't please a girl. Although I may be sweating, still, I'm not shoveling snow.

Welcome to the Neighborhood - North Haven, South Australia

 

North Haven, South Australia, home of Crown Marina and currently Nine of Cups and crew, is a tiny little suburb about 20km northwest of Adelaide. The population is around 10,000 people at last count. It's primarily a residential area with several marinas, a large yacht club and one small shopping center that offers a supermarket, post office, pharmacy and a few other shops. It's about a 25 minute walk away. The busy street running by the marina is called Lady Gowrie and it's lined with majestic Norfolk pines. There's a train station nearby which makes getting to Port Adelaide or downtown Adelaide quite convenient. This area is referred to as the Outer Harbor and looking at the map you can see why.

There's a small chandlery and boatyard just off of the marina grounds and just beyond that is a small strip mall with several restaurants … Chinese, fish'n'chips, Indian … and a pub, The SailMaster Tavern, known locally as Saily's. All are quite pricey in our estimation and so, after looking at menus and prices, we've opted to walk 25 minutes to the grocery to buy food to prepare on the boat. David has sussed out the shortest route to the supermarket which involves so many alleyways and turns through dense residential neighborhoods that it took me at least 4-5 trips to figure out how to navigate between the boat and the store and back.

The marina berthing area, surrounded by classy condos, is man-made, dredged out with a direct entrance to Gulf St. Vincent and the ocean, part of the reason we chose this marina in the first place … it saved us from having to navigate the Port River into Adelaide which would have added several miles to our trip. That said, we're now paying the price for our isolated location with long walks or bus/train rides necessary to get just about anywhere. No complaints though; we can use the exercise.

Life at the marina is very quiet during the week. Most boat owners are local and either work during the week or if they're on holiday, head out on their boats. The weekends are a bit more lively. This suits us well as there's so much to do on Nine of Cups at the moment, we can barely make time for the sight-seeing I've planned. Aussies are friendly, outgoing folks and we certainly get enough invitations for dinner, drinks and outings, but we've begged off quite a bit in favor of getting chores done.

We've already talked about the resident moon jellies here. Other native residents with which we share the marina are primarily silver gulls. Those piers which are unoccupied or have less foot traffic have been taken over by the gulls … hundreds of them. They're so loud some nights, we have to close the starboard port in order to drown out the racket. Every so often, a couple will land on our finger pier and carry on a heated discussion. A loud pssst out the port or rattling something has no effect on them. Instead, one of us has to get out of bed and out on deck to shoosh them and chase them away. Territorial rights!

All in all, we're comfortable enough here although as David says “once we know our way around, it's time to leave.”