I made a new Surfski bag using my sailrite lsz1 sewing machine. The one I replaced was the very first thing I'd ever sewn using cheap nylon fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics. This time I used Sunbrella and PTFE thread with a lifetime warranty.
Also, this time around I sewed the zipper to run along the bottom of the boat. All the commercial ones, like these, have the zipper on top. Hopefully i don't regret this, but it makes more sense to me to have the zipper on the bottom. You lay the surfski on the stands so it's off the ground, roll out the cover on top, then pull the zipper underneath the boat, lifting it as needed to get over the stands. My surfski only weighs 35lbs, so it's easy to lift.
So far having the zipper along the bottom works great, but you do need the stands. If water gets into the bag when driving through rain, the water can now drain out via the zipper along the bottom. The con is you need stands and long monkey arms like mine, but I always use stands for adding/removing the cover so it makes sense to me. I did add 2" webbing to create a buffer between the zipper and the clear gel coat.
Finally, I should have taken more photos of HOW i did this. First the red nose cover was done free hand, draping over the front, using clamps and then free-hand drawing with a color pencil to see where to cut/trim the fabric. For the rest, I added 1 ft marks every foot down the length of the surfski using painter's tape, and then measured the circumference with a cloth measuring tape, see below. I added 2" buffer for the zipper hem, but next time I'll do maybe 1" instead. I only did a single 3/8" inch folded hem for each zipper side, and the zipper adds a half inch. I ended up using seamstick on each side of the zipper to create an extra fold and sewed the folds in place to snug up the cover. Adds more fabric on the bottom, not the worst thing.
Anyway for the layout/cutting. I used my 2nd floor hallway, folding the 5ft wide fabric in half widthwise (making it 2.5 ft wide), and laid it on the floor. On the folded edge, I ticked off each foot, then I measured perpendicular to the folded edge, and marked the circumference marks from column C in the spreadsheet below.
so at the first tick it was 14 1/8"
the next foot was 16 3/4"
then 19" etc
I used a ruler to connect the Column C marks and then using sharp scissors, I cut the excess fabric off, drifting outside of the drawn ruler lines to add curves as needed (better to be too loose than too tight). From the photos you can see the bag turns out reasonably well and deals with the kayak/surfski curves just fine. Caution! Sunbrella loves to come apart, so be sure to use seamstick tape on the cut edges ASAP. I got everything from sailrite.com
