Hi Jim,

If you're bent on sewing, there are curved (almost C shaped) canvas
needles or "Sail" needles for this purpose.

I took a different approach in that I need to access my luggage rack
from inside.  Not to mention that I sometimes put a 5,000 BTU air
conditioner on a custom stool that sort of straddles the luggage rack
and the inside lip of the Westy.  I then close up the open hole around
the air conditioner with fabric.

Anyway, my different approach was to get the "Screen Kit" from Jonce
Fancher and the new screen replaces the old one.  It is put on with
adhesive which really works!  The adhesive is included (Tear Mender).

http://fanchers.com/223/Screen%20Replacement.htm

Mike

Jim Felder wrote:
> The canvas in my westy's poptop is in near-perfect condition...
> except for the fact that on a recent trip, when I went to zip in the
> mosquito screen on the front, the stitching tore away as I zipped.
> There is no problem with the canvas, only with the outer insect screen.
>
> I'd like to sew the screen in permanently, as I know that replacing
> the zipper and screen means replacing the canvas, and there's no
> other reason to do that yet.
>
> I'd like to permanently sew the screen to the outer canvas. I realize
> that I could no longer get to the "luggage rack" from inside the
> camper, but that's no big deal. I just want to be able to open the
> canvas and have the screen in place permanently.
>
> I figure I could accomplish this with a needle and one person outside
> and one person inside, but isn't there a hand-held canvas stitcher
> made for this kind of work?
>
> Any other ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>