Before reading on, please take a moment to fill out this week’s survey so we can share your knowledge and experiences with the Cruising Compass family. Thanks.
When buying gear and maintenance supplies for your boats, where do shop most often?
Many thanks to the many readers who took the time to fill out our long survey on sail and canvass repairs. It turns out, based on the survey, that Cruising Compass readers are well prepared and handy with both sails and canvass. 100% say they have needles, thread and a sailmaker’s palm; 92% have sticky-back sail cloth for patches and 86$ have spare sail cloth; 58% have webbing for reinforcing corners, while 52% have chord for replaing leech lines; 52% carry contact cement and 51% have spare slides for the mainsail; 23% have a sewing machine on board. 82% have made sail repairs with tools and cloth aboard.
62% say they do canvass work and repairs themselves. 63 and 54% have made biminis and dodgers or the repairs; 47 and 45% have made sun awnings and cockpit cushions. 45 and 43% have made winch and windlass covers. 31% have made cockpit enclosures while 24% have made their own fitted sheets. 28% have made foredeck awnings. 21% have made lee cloths for berths. 19% werather cloths for the cockpit. And, 16% have made chaps for their dinghies.