Hi-tech sails continued...

mixmkr

mixmkr

Well-Known Member
The other thread really grabbed my interest about the fuller roach, shorter foot, "hi-tech" sails. Wondering mainly about the pointing improvements as that hinders me most, sometimes trying to sail upwind, thru a long narrow cove, back to the launch site. With not wanting to invest the $$$ in kevlar/mylar/carbon fiber sailcloth, I'd be "half" tempted to attempt something similar (to the best of my untrained design abilities...but think I could find a little "help) and just use some Dacron, etc. Doing marine canvas for a living, I have sewing experience, machines and figure it'd be about $150-200 experiment, plus time...which I have. I'd keep templates, so if it worked, I could duplicate or improve as needed.
Next question; how much of an improvement are those sails? Lastly I could even alter some extra sails I have too, so I wouldn't be starting from scratch, realizing draft dimensions and such won't be ideal...hopefully just in the balllpark. Or...last question...without "superior" design, are all efforts wasted? ( like my 10" longer daggerboard!!)
 
I also have an amount of larger sailboat sails that are in OK shape, but were replaced by the owner, and they just gave me the old sail. Some are easily large enough I could just "cut" one out of those sails, with only the perimeters attended to with sewing and adding grommets (and most likely, batten pockets too). The sailcloth should be light enough for a quickie test. The trick is getting the right sail shape obviously. I could cut one from the "belly" of one of these sails, just guessing. ha! hi-tech guessing!
 
Big improvement. The big challenge would be the broadseaming in the panels, and most "old" sails will not be the stiffer fabric. The new sails are stiff and dacrony, vs the old pillowcase sails. The new rec sails have that good cut, $250 through Laser Performance would be what I recommend. If you really want to poke holes in material, pound grommets etc check out kits from Sailrite.
 
Yeah....i have a trade/wholesale account with Sailrite, but I don't want to make a standard Sunfish sail. Their kits are actually way overpriced and I'd be buying stuff included in the kit I wouldn't need as well. I'm thinking of laying out a current Sunfish sail however, using that as a potential template and starting point, and making adjustments, using new sailcloth...Dacron at this point and possible an amount of clear vinyl. My "old" sails are actually in decent shape, as the owners wanted new....so that might supply some free cloth as another choice. I dont mind cutting them up. Using Kevlar/Mylar or carbon fiber would put the "experimental" costs up near $1k, and I don't want to spend that much experimenting. I could use Dacron and Sailrite does have some reinforced clear monofilm, and would keep my costs probably under $100 or less. LAVW might have a good suggestion with his comment.
 
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