Living on a boat is amazing but we often find ourselves hiding from the sun to escape the heat.  September and October are HOT, when  the wind dies down, humidity is high, and the sun is sizzling.  Sunshades become a necessity.  Where I once used to be a deck-spider, I no longer find the need, desire, patience, or capacity to lay out in the sun.

With that said, it is a bit challenging to be “out of the sun” when you live on a boat (especially a boat without air conditioning).  We tend to hang out in our cock pit which has the best breeze, but it is in the direct sunlight.  We use our sunshades a lot, but the ones that came with the boat are old, dirty, and small.  New sunshades became a priority on our project list.

Material:

• 13 yards of phifortex fabric
• Webbing (hems, corners, connection points)
• Bolt rope (to run through the track on the Bimini)
• Straps, snaps, basting tape, and thread (black and white).

The Project: Sunshades

We both wanted to work on smaller sewing projects before we jumped into this one as it was bound to be complicated – and it was.

The existing sunshades could not be used as a pattern since we wanted more coverage.  We started with the back shade, measured across the bimini, and added 36″.  We wanted the back shade to have 3 panels: main center panel and two smaller panels.  Each side would have a small panel that extended to the helm seats or could be folded over.

To determine the overall width of the back panel, we sewed in the bolt rope which allowed us to hang the material up.  Measure, repeat, measure, repeat.  We added webbing along all of the hems to provide more structure and strength to the panels.  We also added webbing on the seam where we wanted the side panels to fold over.

Adding the straps and connecting points were next so that we could hook the shade to the life line and roll the shade up neatly.

Finally, we added snaps to the side panels (to stay folded when not in use) and to the exterior straps that held the shade to the Bimini poles.

With the back sunshade done, we were able to start on the two side panels.  We pretty much followed the same routine, but tweaked them a bit as they had angles as opposed to straight lines.

Keep in mind that this entire process was completed using a Baby Lock sewing machine which has to be as old as the boat (2001).  I am sure it would have been a LOT easier using a Sailrite sewing machine which is one specifically used for thicker fabrics like canvas.

For the most part, sewing the phifortex was ok.  But when it came to the corners or the straps which had phifortex folded over, bolt rope, and two pieces of webbing it was really challenging to get the little machine up that hill.  We coached her, babied her, petted her, let her rest, cursed, and put her away when she started smoking.  Matt had to tear her apart and put her back together a few times but all in all she did good!

This was certainly a good learning experience. It was a joint effort as  it took 4 hands just to get the fabric through – and don’t get me started on reverse!

All in all the Babylock held strong, finished the sunshade project and is resting until we get her out again for the next sewing project.