Is there a way to tell if a sail is still good?

G

GCRicker

New Member
I'm new to Laser sailing, and just purchased a used 2000 Laser over the weekend. The previous owner didn't take care of the sail. The boat is like new, sailed less than 10 times, but he kept the sail tightly wrapped to the mast and kept it outside, under the house (not exposed to sun). It appears that a small critter ate the sail where the sleeve wraps around the mast. That is the only visual thing I see wrong with it. However, from this forum, I understand it's really bad to keep a sail wrapped around the mast for any length of time, but I'm not sure what happens. Maybe it stretches? The outter layer of the sail that was exposed is dirty and I think has less resin. Since I'm a beginner, I"m not going to race anytime soon, but hope to in the future. Do you think it's worh getting fixed or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new sail?

Thanks.
-Greg
 
just get an intensity full for now only 200 because the sail your talking about doesnt sound to useable/race able
 
Sun is the reason for not leaving the sail out, as long as it was out of the sun, your good except for the mouse hole(s) - depending on the size of those, some sail repair tape should take care of that.

There is hardly any resin in the finish of a Laser sail to begin with, the reason it may feel a little less firm then the luff of the sail is that the leech is under much more load when sailing, which breaks the cloth down faster..

So, just get it fixed and have fun
 
ohh so you could be worry free with your new boat without fixing an old rag and to get used to the boat with a nice sail i guess would be my confusing reason
 
GCRicker said:
It appears that a small critter ate the sail where the sleeve wraps around the mast.
Click to expand...

Probably a South American sail shrew:



I10-82-shrew.jpg




Since I'm a beginner, I"m not going to race anytime soon, but hope to in the future. Do you think it's worh getting fixed or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new sail?
Click to expand...

If you're a beginner there may actually be a short term benefit to using an older sail. Wind flows over them easier, owing to the maximum draft beign a tad further aft, and while it does effect the balance of the boat i.e. tends to overpower sooner, you won't notice it while you get up to speed on general boat handling. In short, if the wind flows over it, and it's not full of holes, it's an ok sail.
 
If the sail has been eaten beyond a reasonable condition, maybe try find a second hand sail? A brand new one is probably overkill for you and your level of experience at the moment
 
Wow. Thanks for all the replies so quickly. I'll let you know what I end up doing.

I have another question, but I"m not sure it's this forums etiqutte to ask another question in the same thread, or if I need to start a new thread since it's a different subject. If I should, please let me know. Since it's a used boat, none of the lines were nicely labeled, so I had to guess some and follow some information I found on the Internet. It's a standard Laser, and the line I used for the Outhaul is 21 feet long. Once cleated into the boom and the end looped, I still have about 12 feet left over? Shouldn't this line end soon after the cleat?

Thanks again for your replies.
-Greg
 
for the sail problem i have three old lasers one is in repair but all of the boats are from the 80s and 70s with original sails and i am still using them ya i have repaired two of the sails but they still work just fine for little club regattas to get out and have some fun

as far as the lines i have rigged my outhal down on to the deck of my laser i am not sure if that is class legal with out having the new rigging system but it is so much easier to control
 
If you don't want to spend the money to put pulleys and things in, put a caribeaner attached by a line right above the goose neck thane tie another one to where the Cunningham goes threw at the bottom of the mast you will be able to run it into the cockpit.
 
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