Recently took sail in for restitching on 3 year old uv cover. Good sailmaker who made it, told me that all you can expect out of thread today is 2-3 years. He said thread makers have been forced to take uv resistant chemicals out of the thread. Sounds like hogwash to me. Three years? My 10 year old main cover has had the velcro wear out from slight exposure to sun and old sail bag for hanked on jib (prior to furling) had deteriorated plastic zipper, but not the thread. Is anyone else hearing anything like this.
thread deterioration
- Thread starter Glenn17467
- Start date
Yes, hogwash. Gore Tenara sewing thread (the gold standard of marine stitching thread) is guaranteed for the life of the fabric it is sewn through. So if a sailmaker knows their stuff the thread will last as long as the UV cover material they used, and the quality of their sailmaking skills.
Even regular polyester thread should last longer than 2-3 years. If our poly thread covers were failing so soon we'd be hearing about it.
Glenn,
From my experience ore these many years, stitching, Sunbrella & Velcro properties differ in their resistance to UV.
Several years ago, I was told by a sailmaker that there are better nylon & Velcro types that are more resistant against UV rays. UV is what breaks these cheaper composites down. Sunbrella sadly, also deteriorates because of UV rays & aside of a laminated plastic bimini covering, we're just stuck with it.
My first question to a sailmaker when discussing work to be done is, does he have UV resistant /nylon stitching & Velcro materials. If he doesn't say YES on a good choice for UV resistance, go somewhere else pal.
Personally, I NEVER use Velcro at all.
CR
From my experience ore these many years, stitching, Sunbrella & Velcro properties differ in their resistance to UV.
Several years ago, I was told by a sailmaker that there are better nylon & Velcro types that are more resistant against UV rays. UV is what breaks these cheaper composites down. Sunbrella sadly, also deteriorates because of UV rays & aside of a laminated plastic bimini covering, we're just stuck with it.
My first question to a sailmaker when discussing work to be done is, does he have UV resistant /nylon stitching & Velcro materials. If he doesn't say YES on a good choice for UV resistance, go somewhere else pal.
Personally, I NEVER use Velcro at all.
CR
All the polyester thread I've bought from Sailrite is UV resistant. Nothing will last forever in the sun but 2-3 years is on the very, very low end of the life expectancy. I've gotten longer than that out of plain old nylon upholstery thread.
Tenara thread is supposed to be the best and have a very long life against UV. The downside I have been told is that it is not as strong as the poly threads and it is 3X the cost. (read $95 vs $27 for a spool). As a point of reference, my winter cover that has seen 18 years of service is now in for re-stitching. The dealer told me that the typical time for re-stitching is about 10-12 years. To be fair, I have re-stitched some of my cover seams each year for the last 5 years.
My ex sewed our sailcovers using Sunbrella and V-69 from SailRite in 2003. I'm now getting ready to have the top seam on the mainsail cover restitched. That's 13 yrs in the Texas sun.
Most of our canvas, built in '95, is now coming up for replacement. Thread deterioration has not been a concern, and it shouldn't be.
Considering that much of the cost of any canvas structure on your boat is labor, saving a dollar or three on the thread is the poorest (and kind of dishonest) way to cut costs.
IMHO, and YMMV.
my $.02
Considering that much of the cost of any canvas structure on your boat is labor, saving a dollar or three on the thread is the poorest (and kind of dishonest) way to cut costs.
IMHO, and YMMV.
my $.02
Thanks for the replys. I didn't think 2-3 years was right. My main cover had the velcro deteriorate and the zipper on the jib bag was in sunlight. Both of these I got through Catalina Direct and the thread is still good after 10 years and one major hurricane. I'll check into Tenera and V69, I do minor repairs myself.
That's the truth. I got tired of taking our head sail in just to get the UV strip sown back down so wife and I just did an ugly stitch job using poly thread and it's lasted fine.
Does that count for the little bit of stitching that came loose from the binnacle cover?
(It's three years old and outside every day, you think you're getting warranty or something?)
Zipper on the sail bag was exposed to sun without a flap. Replaced the zipper and added flap. The main cover has two velcro locations, around the mast under the uv cover but has deteriorated, the front velcro covering the zipper has a flap and is ok.
