Its a rectangle of canvas as long as the sail on the boom plus a bit and as wide as the circumference of the fattest part of the sail flaked on the boom and the boom.
On my version I used heavy nylon covered in breathable polyester. I tensioned it along the boom with a piece of webbing tape tied to the mast (I sewed a second length at the mast end to allow the ends to tie round the mast easier ) and tied to the topping lift eye at the other end, pulled tight and sewed to the centreline of the cover. On the edge, I put plastic hooks and then used a single piece of shock cord to tension the cover by zig-zagging it between the hooks and over the top of the sail. Always confused the crew but it held up to gales.
Yes there are pretty tapered covers but mine lasted about 5 years before the outer polyester went and I had to replace it - the webbing tape along the middle stops it splitting when you pull it tight along the boom.
Need to remember to sew over the edges so they do not fray.
An older sewing machine equipped with ball point needles suitable for denim can cope but the tension adjustments need a lot of playing with . Also new machines may not work because they are not run-in and tend to jam, or they are too lightly built. We use a Singer from the 1960's and a John Lewis Jonelle machine from the 1990's for home made covers.
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