Happy Way Bus

The world of sewing for boats comes down to shade, sails, and covers. In the covers category, the crème de la crème in complexity and value is dinghy chaps. A small quality dinghy like ours runs around $3k, and leaving it unprotected in tropical sun can lead to a painfully short lifetime. A set of custom chaps in the states is probably ~$2k+ so there was no doubt that I had to make them but I was afraid – it’s a big and complicated project. I also knew I needed several days and a large interior space to work…not easily come by while cruising. Marina Isla Cortes in Altata turned out to be the perfect answer. They have large storage sheds for all the power boats in the area, and luckily one was empty. When Harry went home, I ordered all of the materials from Sailrite and he valiantly packed and flew with it all back to me (inc. 13  yards of fabric!).

And what’s with the name? In the book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, our intrepid traveler tries several different ways to reach his destination, including a bus (which he ends up not being able to take). One fellow says, “Just run down that hill and around the next bend you’ll come to the Happy Way Bus Route, my friend. The Happy Way Bus leaves at 4:42 and will take you directly to Solla Sollew, on the banks of the beautiful river Wah-Hoo, where they never have troubles, at least very few.” Our friend Ann Marie was flipping through the book and said, “Oh my gosh! You should name your dinghy Happy Way Bus! It’s always on its way to Solla Sollew! So there you have it. Our skiff, Happy Way Bus.

Below is a retrospective (not a how-to) on the project for any other brave souls who embark on custom chap creation…with all of my 20/20 hindsight. It assumes the reader is familiar with canvas sewing and ideally has watched the Sailrite (SR) video that I primarily followed, How to Make Dinghy Chaps. I also used several techniques learned from Tom & Deb at Cover Craft.

Dinghy: Avon RIB 260 Lite (~8.5ft long by ~5ft wide)
Primary Materials: Sunbrella (10yds though used only ~8) , Shelter-Rite for chafe protection (2 yds), Phifertex for rear drainage, Duraskrim patterning material
Sewing Machine: Sailrite LSZ-1 w/monster wheel
Thread: Profilen
Needles: size 16 (2 broke)
Bobbins: 8
Materials Cost: $375 (new Profilen cone was $75, I already had the Phifertex from a previous project)
Timing (with 8-9 hour days): Day 1: Patterning & partial cutting. Day 2: Finish cutting & cut-out making. Day 3: Cut-outs and previously made name-panels sewing-on Day 4: Sewing panels together Day 5: Perimeter chafe protection & drawstring, inner hem, small bow tie-down. Day 6 (1/2 day): Snap installation & cleanup. 1 additional day later on for bags.
Mental State: 4 audible swear words, 1 thrown object

Patterning:

• I used Duraskrim because it’s what I had, but I should’ve used the recommended Plastipane because it’s heavier and drapes more like fabric does.
• I got lucky and my dinghy turned out to be very symmetrical. If it wasn’t, I would have made 2 sets of patterns for each side rather than the SR recommendation of 1 pattern and different color markers.
• Patterning the inside bottom was a challenge and I didn’t trust my marks at all. I left the bow and front side pieces long on the inside which turned out to be the right call.
• Unfortunately, I had 4 circular cut-outs that split the seams and I really didn’t know what to do with them. I patterned as-if I was going to split the cut-out; would’ve been better to pattern both sides with the full circle so the patterns had more to hold into place.
• SR says to use the seam of the cut-outs as the perimeter, but this leaves the seams exposed to the sun which is what we’re trying to avoid. I should’ve patterned the cutouts smaller, but in the end, I was able to correct for this using the ShelterRite.

Cutting:

• SR recommends using a hot knife to cut everything out. For this size project that would take a while. I used pinking sheers on all but the cut-outs and outside seams , since everything else was going to be in a double or a semi-flat felled seam.
• I tried SR’s method for the cut-outs in Shelter-Rite, but it was going to take forever and not be very consistent. Instead I made templates of each of the cutouts, ensuring straight lines and consistent radiuses for corners. Then traced and cut all out at once, assembly-line style. SR has you seamstick them all on, then sew them all on. I would’ve rather stuck and sewn one-at-a-time to make the fabric easier to maneuver around the machine and stick-ons less likely to come off.
• I thought 1.5” perimeter cutouts were too big, and some of my cutouts were pretty close together. I went with 1” perimeter mostly and I’m happy with them.
• I purposefully oversized the cutouts for the air pump inlets. Patterning was difficult in this area and I anticipated problems with the fit. This was an excellent decision as it gave me more margin for error which I needed in the end.

Sewing:

• They recommended zig-zagging the cutouts on, but I switched to straight because the underside was a mess (despite successful test pieces). Obviously I’m a huge fan of Sailrite, but holy hell that machine can’t zig-zag consistently to save its life. It’s SUPER frustrating. I wish I had used the longest stitch length for the straight stitch for less puckering.
• I wish I’d remembered to sew on the reinforcement for the snap-on bags I made before sewing any panels together. I had to do it after everything was together, which was a PITA.
• I’m glad that I sewed the stern cones on to each stern panel before attaching those sections to the bow sections.
• I ended up sewing on my split-seam cut-outs after finishing the flat-felled seam – this was the right call but since the panels together are quite a bit bigger, it was very difficult maneuvering around the circles.
• I did 1” double hems on the inside bottoms – I think SR called for less but I think 1” is better for the snaps.
• The bow grommets for a tie down they use looked really bad in the video IMHO, so I went with a trapezoidal piece of ShelterRite and an elastic band to pull around the handle. I think it looks great (I made it tighter than what you see in the pics).
• In the video she’s pretty loosey-goosey with the stern cones. It’s somewhat difficult to pattern that piece, but I wish I had spent some time after the fabric was roughly cut coming up with my plan for the drawstring hem. I could’ve made smaller cut-outs for the transom and made each cone symmetrical with measurements. Mine are a little lopsided because I did it all at the end (shhh don’t tell anyone). Also, if your drawstring exits at the bitter end of the cone, there’s a good chance it won’t be low enough to go under the cone and will slip right off. I put exits in before the end, and added grommets to take the stress. We had the added challenge of dinghy wheels on the transom to contend with. Harry drilled through the channels for me.   
• The inner bow sections didn’t come out perfectly, but the extra bit of material turned out to be helpful for the snap installation. SR has you pattern as if it’s going to hang straight down, but in reality, it’s going to curve around the tube a bit which changes the fit.

In summary, I’m very happy with how it all turned out. A few days after writing this I made the bags that snap into place for the air pump, shoes, sunscreen, etc.

The hardest part of the custom chaps project has now begun…actually using the dinghy with the chaps on…they’ll get stained, salty, dirty, stretched – never looking as good as they do today – but such is the life of a cruising seamstress.

(If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll answer as soon as I’m able.)