Binnacle Cover and Lee Cloth

Phil and I started making making a Binnacle cover working on it all morning this past weekend.  I don't have any pictures of it - yet.  Saturday, I took some of the velum that I got from my Dad - that he had gotten from work.  Usually I use the velum for paper piecing for my quilts, but in this case, I used it to make a pattern.  It worked well because it's stiff and the sunbrella fabric is also stiff.  We have decided not to cover the wheel because when at anchor or at a dock, we take the wheel off to make more room in the cockpit.  Then Sunday morning I got the Viking sewing machine out on the table that Phil made to put up in the cockpit and sewed - Phil helping to hold up the extra fabric. WE're getting pretty good about this - so don't think there was many "words" between us.  I got the darts sewed and the front and back sewed together.  Then we stopped and went sailing about 130pm.  After about a hour of sailing, I went below and took a nap and promptly went to sleep.  Phil said - we're tacking - I went over to the other settee and went back to sleep, not waking up until we were in the harbor and it being about 4pm or so.  It's been awhile since I had such a good nap.  It was a great sail with the winds from the north about 7-9 knots.

This evening after Phil treated me to supper at Sammy's in Grand River, I decided to work on the binnacle cover some more.  Phil went to "Abby Marie" and talked with Dan Christian, then Paul Canfield on "Tachyon" tied up and Pete Fluhr came down from their condo.  Oh! and Bud and Jack w/daughters Meghan and Hannah from "Providence" arrived too.  It's great at GRYC and usually there is someone to visit with.  

Back on track now - I cut the hole for the post or axle that the wheel is attached to and cut down the center of the fabric below to the edge.  I sewed on some fabric to edge the hole and also to sew the 2" wide velcro.  When it came time to sew on the velcro -I realized that Phil bought the hook part but not the loop part.  Oops!   Pete came to the rescue saying that he has a source that we can order it tomorrow morning and get it delivered to his company down the road across the river 4 hours later - so we will take him up on it.  The cover is now usable even though not complete and we left it on the binnacle - looks like it will be easy to velcro it together even with the wheel on.  I'll probably finish it when Phil is on his trip transporting a boat from the Bahamas.  He leave Saturday morning early!!!!  He's to get back at the latest July 3 - Captain Dave is renting a car and they are driving home from Mystic, Conn.

Now the Lee Cloth - Phil made a batten and also the lee cloth for the port settee.  We want to make sure our 2yr 7 mo grandson, Henry, doesn't fall out when sleeping when we go on vacation.  Phil also plans to use this as a storage area when we are cruising.  He also made it from the sunbrella that we use for the main sail cover and binnacle cover.  Looks good and he left enough room that if I get seasick bad, I can still lay in the settee and have enough room for my head to pitch into a bucket.  We mock tried it out and I think will work well.

I'll try to get some pictures and add them later to this post.