[MT4Runner]

Awesome industrial machines, folks. I'm envious.

But I'll play:
My mom was a home economics teacher and loves sewing; she taught her sons to sew at an early age. I've probably been sewing for 40 years now...even took a sewing machine to college to make/fix outdoor gear. It's manly to sew. I'm a fabric welder!

I have a Singer CG590 Heavy Duty machine. It's not Industrial, but is FAR stronger than your average home machine. Cost $300 new or $100-150 on eBay.
Does 4 layers of webbing with reasonable ease. Can push through anything you can get under the presser foot...up to almost 1/4", including leather, nylon, plastic, etc.
The hardest part of a piece of webbing is other stitching. As you bartack/zigzag and start to add density to the fibers, it gets harder to push a new stitch through. Don't bartack your early layers, but do bartack your final layers.

I followed @gwheyduke's instructions to build a drop bag several years ago. have used the heck out of it. Adding in drink holsters on the front was a useful step.
Sewing into the corners is the hardest. Don't be afraid to really reef and stuff on the mesh material...better than reefing on the machine needle.
I loved/hated sewing my drop bag. It was a lot of corners to stuff under my sewing machine. Throw bags are tough, too, as the mesh is stiff and they're a small diameter. Drag bags are probably the easiest to sew for size/volume.

Paddle raft thwart wrap for soda holster/grab handles/center grab line loop:

Built a 10x10' x 8'h pyramid tent with a stove jack. Just a moderate cost coated oxford nylon. It's been super useful.

Also have an 8x8 pyramid for my dory:

I really need to build a dish drop bag.

 

[MT4Runner]

Phifertex Plus can be found on fabric.com, an Amazon company, for $20-24 and free shipping....for what its worth.

I personally would prefer to use something other then black mesh...so that is a requirement. I'm leaning towards white or a light tan for whatever I make with grey webbing since that'll be matchy matchy with my white Aire 146DD. Its cool to see the different fabrics though. I'm pretty sure the NRS mesh "floor" that I've mostly used as extra security for my TRS Everything bag is made of that Superman HD stuff. At $25/yard....I'd probably just use Phifertex Plus though.

Anybody know what Whitewater Designs uses for their drop bag stuff? Pretty sure Stitches n STuff and Tuff River Stuff use Phifertex as well as Good Vibes but none of them say what brand mesh they use. I haven't seen the multi-color stuff online... so maybe hard to say. Good Vibes uses a nylon fabric in combination with some of their stuff. Seems like Cordura but might be a similar generic brand. I know and boat with the folks from Good Vibes so its kinda tempting to buy a small roll of the stuff from them. I have products from TRS and Good Vibes and Whitewater Designs and I know it all holds up super well....so whatever they use would be great to get.

Know any interior designers? See if you they can get you some Chilewich. It comes both backed as flooring and unbacked as wallcovering. Multi-color, woven pattern vinyl. Similar material as Phifertex, but denser.

Some of the Phifertex wicker weaves and Textilene look pretty appealing:

Sling Chair Fabric - Sling Fabric by the Yard

Shop the largest selection of sling chair fabric by the yard. Sling fabric for your outdoor patio & porch. In stock and ready to ship. Samples available.

www.sailrite.com

 

[MT4Runner]

I hate you guys. Contemplating a burlier machine.

 

[MT4Runner]

Don't contemplate. Do.

I could more than make use of the machine, and could afford to buy it...but can't afford the time to use it, and it would send me right down a really great rabbit-hole of sewing projects.
I have 28 oars in various stages of completion in my shop, and they're going to get all my free time this spring.

 

[MT4Runner]

And an exhausting day job.

 

[MT4Runner]

Well that beats the heck out of a lot of pinning!!

 

[MT4Runner]

What is the teal webbing material and how far out are you on orders?

 

[MT4Runner]

IMHO that's a "business" machine. If you need the machine, you need the business to justify it.
Unless you have the money burning a hole in your pocket and just want an insanely cool bartacker. Then full send!

 

[MT4Runner]

This is the way!

 

[MT4Runner]

I'm working on a gear net that I'm making out of Textilene woven mesh and polypropylene webbing. I just learned about different needle styles and am wondering if I am fine using a universal needle or should I be using a ball point needle?

Try to get a full overlap on your webbing at the corners and bartack it when you sew it up...otherwise the mesh will try to tear between the webbing at the corners.

(You can probably make some good laps with the webbing when you add d-rings, but webbing is typically strongest along its length and doesn't do as well across its width...so again...bartack/zigzag!!)

 

[MT4Runner]

Yes! Bartack is the same as a zigzag forward/backstitch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_tack

Looks like a great corner detail

 

[MT4Runner]

It’s not the point of making one
It’s the point of knocking off a small business’s product

4 ain’t many but it’s a lot if you only make 20 a year.

 

[MT4Runner]

Girls you’re both pretty!

 

[MT4Runner]

I’ve just got off the Lower Salmon with a GREAT shuttle by All Rivers (not Wild Rivers) and was previously contemplating a machine upgrade…whaddImiss?

 

[MT4Runner]

Could retrofit a servo motor and controller from a treadmill.

Now all you toxic bellends can start scouring ditches and landfills and Goodwill for old treadmills!

 

[MT4Runner]

I did similar, but just made mine slightly longer than needed...skipped the teardrop ends and just made it "envelope" style.
I'll have to find a pic.

the bags that come with K-pumps are an awful design. K-pump needs to ship a bag like these, even though they'd cost a bit more.

 

[MT4Runner]

Made a bow bag for my Mini Max last month. The bag is 23"x24"x11" and has a little pocket at the front for a gallon water jug to help keep weight forward when doing higher water day runs on the Animas. The photos in my kitchen are before I finished sewing up the protective boarder webbing.

That's really cool, you'll get a ton of use out of it. I built a thwart bag ~24" x 8"w x 12"t about 3 years ago, it turned into my "use for everything" bag...it also fits next to my raft footwell or sling it under my knees in my drift boat as a Captain's bag

 

[MT4Runner]

Only thing I'd change on mine is to sew a small carry handle on it. I also use it for a strap/misc bag when I'm not on the water. It usually contains some extra straps, everones' water bottles, a K-pump, a few sodas and whatever random stuff would end up down on the floor.