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Figure 3-36–Baseball stitch.
Sewing Bolt Ropes to Canvas by Hand
Bolt ropes are the ropes around the edges of
awnings and sails. Their purpose is to take the strain of
the stops, clews, reef points, and the like. To sew on a
bolt rope, hem the canvas and lay the rope along the
edge. Use a round stitch, the size of which is determined
by the size of the rope. Sew the rope strand by strand to
the canvas as shown in figure 3-38. Carefully observe
these points when sewing on bolt ropes.
1. Keep the rope taut and the canvas slack.
2. Do not bunch the canvas, but hold your needle
at such an angle that it goes through the canvas a fraction
of an inch ahead of where it comes out from under the
strand.
3. Sew each strand to the canvas, making sure the
needle goes under, not through, the strands.
4. Do not let your stitches start to creep up around
the rope, but keep them coming out of the rope in a
straight line along the underside. If you let them creep,
the canvas begins to curl around the rope.
5. SEW THE BOLT ROPE TIGHT.
AWNINGS
Awnings are canvas or synthetic coverings spread
over the decks of a vessel to protect the crew from sun
and weather. The center of an awning is held up by a
strong fore-and-aft wire rope jackstay supported by
intermediate stanchions. There may be a wooden
strongback in place of the jackstay and others leading
from it to the rail. The edges of the awning are hauled
out and secured to ridge ropes along the rail. The ridge
ropes in turn are supported by specially braced
stanchions that usually can be taken down when the
awnings are not in use. Edges of some awnings are
secured to the ridge rope by lacings reeved around the
ridge rope and through grommets in the awning or
through awning hooks sewn to the bolt ropes. Other
awnings are equipped with stops and earrings (short
lengths of line) spliced into the grommets. Earrings are
larger and longer lines than the stops. They are spliced
to the corner grommets and to the grommets that line up
with the ridge-rope stanchions.
Figure 3-37.–Herringbone stitch.
Figure 3-38.–Sewing a bolt rope to canvas.
3-27
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