This here below is something that has caused – how should I put it – a bit of disagreement in our little home.
Mads is making a sprayhood for our boat. For those of you who don’t know, a sprayhood (also “dodger”) is the canvas hood that covers part of the cockpit and the entrance to the boat. You can see the old one in the picture below.
The one in this picture was old and brittle, and it had seen many repairs in its time. Last year was the end of it, it toar and was past saving. Which is why we have been looking for someone to make us a new sprayhood for some time now, continuing to be schocked by the prices everywhere. Having someone make you a sprayhood and a cockpit enclosure for a Shipman 28 (which for most is not a pattern they have lying around) can easily cost you around DKK 23,000 (app. 4,000 USD). This may be fair, given the time and material used, but at the same time, it’s around 25 % of what the boat cost us in the first place. Rather steep.
Now, I have been making a few things for the boat last year. I made new cushion covers, curtains, and pillows.
And it all turned out pretty good. However, a sprayhood is a heavy duty kind of thing, and I announced, that I would not sew a sprayhood. No way. So what does the man do? Does he go back to the best offer we received and ask them to make it for us?
Nope… He let’s me know, that in that case, he will do it. I objected at first, even a lot so, feeling certain that we would end up having an installation more similar to a hammock than a sprayhood over the entrance – but now he’s working. And even though we have yet to see the result, I have to say, it does look promising.
He borrowed a heavy duty sewing machine from the yacht club, used the old sprayhood for pattern, bought all the different supplies to make it look just right, and now I feel a bit guilty for backing out in the first place. Well, well – I’m sure he has fun with it even so. And I am so excited to see how it turns out. I’ll show you when I know. 
