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How much thread (roughly) to sew a boat?


SteveH

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I am getting close to skinning the Curlew and was wondering if anyone can tell me roughly how much thread you use to skin a boat (curlew in particular). Reason being is that I plan on buying my thread (80lb braided spectra) from the local fishing shop and he sells it per foot off a bulk roll.

 

Also, any recommendations on line to use? I see someone in another thread recommended the spiderwire brand at 65lb. I believe this is waxed - is this a good or bad thing? The stuff I'm looking at is rated at 80lb and made by Fins, it's just a braided spectra.

Thanks.

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I had lots of sinew left over from my 2nd roll, so I used it. Worked well, no regrets.

When sewing in my coaming I underestimated the length of sinew I would need. It was a pain to splice in more. My advice: go long!

I don't really have an answer for you on total length needed.

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Thanks Ben, yes I have my 2nd roll of sinew too, suppose I could use that. Just on what you said - do you use one piece of thread to say do from coaming to bow? i.e. One piece so you dont have to splice/join somewhere halfway along? Its just the videos I've watched all dont seem to have thread anywhere long enough to get all the way through?

 

Another thought I've had is instead of stitching has anyone ever used glue tape? Ive made a couple of skin on frames boats of Platt Monfort design (GA Boats) and the dacron skin is just stuck to the keel and gunwales with this tape using an iron to melt the glue. It works very well and my skins are still drum tight and dont look like ever coming off. I wonder why we cant do that on these boats? 

 

Any thoughts Jeff or anyone else?

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Yes. So ideally, you would use just three lengths of thread to do the sewing. I think, if my memory is right, I was short on my bow thread too. That means you have  to pull a knot through your fabric causing bigger holes in that area. The long thread sounds cumbersome but it isn't really that unmanageable.

 

I have no opinion on the tape other than I like the sewing method just fine.

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My approach to sewing was to work with relatively short lengths of cord (Dacron fishing line) until my fingers got tired, I got bored, I ran out of cord, or my wife called me to do something. At that point, I'd tie off. Next time, I'd start a new run. Rationale was that it was easier to work with shorter lengths and if the cord broke somewhere (admittedly a low probability event), only a short section would fail. Turns out that lengths between knots range between 1 and 2 feet. A picture of one knot is attached.

Fair winds, Andy

CIMG1639.JPG

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I tried the heat bond and it works OK, but I do not like it and I don't trust it with my life. Plus you still have to do something at the seam.  Sewing isn't hard and it is just so  much stronger. Men are just so scared of sewing for some reason, I see it all the time.

 

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I'm not scared of sewing I just have used the heat bond before and see no reason why it wont work on these boats. I have some ideas for the seam. Only thing is I have already oiled the frame so dont know if the tape will bond to it very well so ill leave it for another boat and sew this one.

Back to my original question - how much thread do I need to buy? If I use 60-80lb braided spectra do i use single thread or double it and tie a knot? Would 50' be enough for the curlew? 14 for the running and rest for the whip?

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I worked it out - a lot less than the 100m I bought. Plenty left over for another boat or three. I really enjoyed the sewing in the end, actually probably more than the building as it was something I hadn't done before. I would like to go with a semi transparent finish (similar to the other boats you see hanging) for those I used a waterbased polyurethane and it worked really well but the cloth (dacron) is a tighter weave I think. 

 

I am thinking of using that Rustoleum leak seal down the seam and then some sort of oil based poly over the whole thing. I know it's been asked a thousand times before but what should I look for in a poly given that the brands we have available here in NZ are different to the majority in the US.

 

Here are a few pics

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