Holes in my Sail

T

THETAZMAN

New Member
Like I said in another thread, I just had a Sunfish given to me with a trailer. It was stored incorrectly for at least 4 years I know of, (it had been stored so long that the sail cover was rotten and fell apart when opening it) and when I hosted the sail I noticed several small holes. These hoses are no bigger than a quarter and most of them smaller than a dime. I have about 85 cents worth of holes (7 holes total). LOL Someone said something about a heat tape and another said something about tape that isn't heated up to apply. I was wanting to sew them with a patch. Is there anything special I need to do for this? Or am I going totaly the wrong way? I don't have the money to buy new sails this year and really who like to take this boat out, I haven't sailed in many years and the Hobbie Cat I had didn't have holes in the sails to worry about. I would hate to be in the middle of the lake and have the sails tear and be stranded up a lake without a sail........LOL


Thanks for all replies
Michael
 
Michael, I'm just going to pull an answer out of you-know-where here and say tape it up and go for it. Round off the corners of the patches so they don't pull up in the wind, and patch both sides of the larger holes. It's getting late in the season where you live, so why drive yourself nuts? You can get a used sail on craigslist or ebay over the winter.

As for tape: Get sail tape at a marine store, or try to match the color with 3M tape (from a hardware store). There is even some new stuff called "Gorilla Tape" which claims to be the strongest tape in the world. One roll would take care of all 7 holes several times over. Fear not...the sail police will not kick in your door while you sleep, and haul you off to sail jail. If you can live with it cosmetically, then fine. Enjoy yourself and find a replacement online after the lake freezes. I personally have never seen a Sunfish sail totally blow out...that sort of thing is usually reserved for the folks with the J-24's and such when a spinnaker lets go in heavy air.
(When my big-boat sailing friends ask me why I love Sunfish, I ask them how much they paid for their last suit of sails...)So, in conclusion: Tape it, sail it, enjoy it.
 
Thanks for the info. I feel safe enough to take down my security cameras that are fixed on my door watching for the sail police.......LMAO One more question, how can I tell what year the boat is? Here is the numbers off the stern AMF 82871MBCE I am going to try attach a picture. Maybe that can help tell what year it is by the colors.

Thanks again
Michael
 

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I too am a recent owner of an older sunfish. MIne is a 1980 I bought from a classified ad. My sunfish also has a few small holes in the sail. I just taped them with a little sail tape and it sailed fine. It cost about $10 for the sail tape from West Marine and I used only a small part of the roll. Enjoy your new boat. I sailed mine all last weekend. It is a blast!
Cathy
 
Sail tape is available in colors.

I'm a duct tape pro, but not suggesting a duct tape application here.:)
 
Oh yeah...

When repairing with tape, take advantage of the best-located repairs to attach a few tell-tales on the sail. A contrasting wool yarn is good.

Patches stay on best when they are round. (Or rounded, as previously stated). Those are relatively small holes, and your patches should last many years.
 
Thanks for all the GREAT info. My other question got lost in the mix so I am going to start another thread about how to tell the age of a boat.


Thanks again
Michael
 
I used sail tape I bought at West Marine last summer as well. It worked great and has held up too.
The repair was on a large 5 inch by 5 inch "L" shaped tear in my sail. I would call it a $2.00 sized hole.:)

I spoke with a sail maker/repairer friend of a friend who said to just tape and sail.
He suggested and I followed this-

Start by pinning the torn part of the sail to a piece of ply wood or the like and stretch it tight and flat. Don't worry the pin holes will go away. Make sure that the tear does not seperate and the edges are as close together as they can be without overlapping. Make sure that the tape extends at least 1" longer than the tear on all sides.

Cut the tape to length and round the corners. Apply the tape and go over the tape with something hard like the plastic handle of the scissors you used to cut the tape.

Flip the sail over and do the same thing on the other side. As noted for the $0.10 holes tape on one side should be enough. But, tape on both sides would be best.

Hope this helps.
 
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