Needle

Most commonly, rounded sailmaking or upholstry needles are used in sewing a SOF boat. Especially when making a piped seam on a flat surface, the curved needle is very handy. When using dental floss, the ends of the dental floss can be tied onto the needle.

Having needles large enough to hold in a hand is important when more than 2 layers of cloth needs to be sewn. Small needles can be hard to push through the cloth. If the needle is too large in diameter, however, the friction on the needle will be considerable.

The needle should not be a cutting needle, but have a round point and smooth edges which push threads apart instead of cutting. This needle may be referred to as a ball point.

At right is a picture showing the use of curved needles in sewing a deck seam.