Practical Boat Owner – August 2019

1

The original sprayhood showing the
port side panel, with webbing
straps, joined onto the roof and window
panels, prior to deconstruction. You can
see the UV damage to the torn zip.

4

These are the component parts that

form the central zip channel and

there’s a similar set for each of the two

smaller curved channels.

2

Lay the old roof, right sides

together, onto the new canvas and

draw around the entire shape. Transfer all

channels, zips and handhold positions to

the new canvas, allowing for a 5mm seam.

Repeat for the front window panel and the

two side panels.

5

The two smaller side zip channels,

ready to sew back onto the new roof

section.

3

To make the new zip channels I

drew around the originals on the

rear of the new sprayhood roof. I cut off

the flaps to form the patterns for the

separate zip channels, then cut along the

centre length of each flap to form a

pattern for the new zip opening.

6

The rear of the roof section with the

bridging piece zips inserted and the

central zip channel attached. The

handhold gaps have also been edged.

Broken zip

My sprayhood is a three-dimensional
structure fitting over a demountable
stainless steel frame. Before disassembly I
took lots of photographs to show how the
different sections are attached, and
labelled each one. The four main
component parts are the roof, front
window section and two side panels.
The rear section had a continuous
canvas tube, with scalloped handhold
gaps, into which one of the stainless bars
is threaded when the sprayhood is erected
each season. I wanted to replace this with
zipped channels so the stainless frame did
not need to be dismantled to take the
sprayhood off – but at the same time I
wanted to retain the handholds. The finished sprayhood on Aderyn Glas – very neat looking

DIY CANVAS WORK

Sprayhood construction