Malahini Progress on Long Island, NY

[soedesh]

"Completed" seats. (I actually added stainless ends to cover the "Hidem" ends after these pics where taken.) I wound up making my own "Hidem" welt.

[soedesh]

For future reference, I made my "Hidem" welting in the following way. First I marked the back of the vinyl material to the width (2 1/2 inches), along with lines drawn 3/4 inch from each edge. Then I cut the strips along the line at 2 1/2 inches. I placed 3/8 inch wide welting tape (double sided tape) along each edge on the back side. I then doubled these over so the edge came to the mark I had drawn and pressed them down to stick. Finally, I sewed these roughly in the middle of each half. Some pics:

[slug]

Very nice Soedesh!
Thanks for the information on the Hidem procedure. I will probably be doing my own also.
Doug

[vupilot]

Nice! The upholstery looks great with the wood backs!

[soedesh]

Windshield glass panels have been cut and polished, and will be sent to the tempering facility today. Yeah!

[soedesh]

I am planning to make my own cutwater from stainless. I am going to make a replica of my bow (fiberglass splash then plaster cast) to use a mandrel to measure and fabricate the cutwater. I'll take pics along the way, just in case it actually works. This technique was suggested in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10908.

[Cabron]

You made your own seats? WoW!! You likely saved yourself a small fortune.

My wife does sew. Possibly I can persuade her to help me with mine.
Your seats look incredible. Really nice work.
The Malahini is the boat I wanted to build. I just don`t have quite enough space.

[soedesh]

Cabron,

I was planning to build the Monaco (I bought the plans), but would have needed to build a bigger shop. So I switched to the Malahini (actually a stretched Ski Tow) to fit within mine.

I really enjoyed designing and building the seats, I plan to build more seating to match but wanted to finish the front first so I could launch next year. I doubt I actually saved much, since I needed to buy a sewing machine. I bought a sewing machine for the job, since a run of the mill household sewing machine (like the kinds my wife has) won't really cut it. I selected a Sailrite LS1 after looking at a lot of walking foot models (new and used). I'm glad I did, this is a really great machine and I can imagine making lots of other stuff with it.

It was fun learning to sew, I always wanted to. I practiced by making new outdoor pillows for our back yard furniture, and recovering our sling chairs. lol.

Now I see upholstery through a whole new lens. When I walk into a house or store, I look at how the furniture is built, the type of seams, etc. Fun.

[soedesh]

Windshield installed today.

[vupilot]

Awesome!

[fergal butler]

Very nice, keep up the good work it won't be long now till you have one of these

[mrintense]

That is a great looking windshield frame. It really adds to the look of your boat. I just love how your boat is coming together.

[BarnacleMike]

Those windshield brackets are gorgeous. Where did you get them?

[Bob Maskel]

Those windshield brackets are gorgeous. Where did you get them?

Yeah, what he said!!!!

[soedesh]

The rough bronze bracket castings are from Classic Boat Connection. They are the Chris Craft Riviera style, their part number "RIV".
These were plated by Jim Wade @ Wade Technology, Inc. in Phladelphia.

I did a little work on the brackets to true them up a bit and knock down some of the major spots. Jim did an EXCELLENT job of making these look really beautiful and I highly recommend him. His price was fair given the amount of work required.