I was a little worried about buying this machine. The Sailrite machine gets such great reviews, and everywhere I looked at the Relaible machine online this same single review kept showing up bashing it. I couldn't afford $900 for the Sailrite. When I saw the Reliable machine was available at the Defender Industries annual spring sale I went and looked at it. A liveaboard cruising sailor I met at Defender that day owned a Sailrite and had been using it for years. We went over the Reliable machine together and it looked good. He felt it was built the same inside and out as his machine, (including the foot control). At $450 this machine was literally half the price of the Sailrite, and I bought it.
This machine does not come with a carrying/storage case. the Sailrite does, and the case is a bit over $100 to buy separately.
This machine comes with a very basic manual. I think the Sailrite comes with several reference manuals which look like they could be very helpful.
I emailed customer service at Reliable (its in Canada) before buying this machine and got a courteous reply to my question within an hour (I had asked the motor size it wasn't listed anywhere I could find it online it is 1.5 amps). A thorough online search leaves no doubt the customer service on Sailrite is top notch.
I had no trouble sewing multiple layers of heavy fabric with the Reliable 2000U Barracuda machine. It went through 8 layers of Topgun plus a layer of webbing without a hitch. Using the Sailrite anchor riding sail kit and the Barracuda sewing machine, making an anchor riding sail was a breeze! The clutch did not slip at all.
My wife's regular sewing machine is an old Singer Featherweight. It is both beautiful to look at and a pleasure to work with. The fit and finish on the Barracuda is not up to that of the old Singer. The Reliable is not art, but so far it looks to be a solid heavy duty sewing machine well suited for sewing Sunbrella, Sailcloth and canvas.
After a week and a half owning the machine and a single large project (riding sail) and several smaller projects (tool roll, storage bag for auto jumper cables) I am happy with this purchase so far. I would recommend this machine to a friend.
0 comments:
Post a Comment