old sails?

Halfjack

Halfjack

Dad & Lad
I'm in the market for a few used Sunfish. Many of these boats have sails in "good" condition or unused, but several years old.

What makes a sail still good or too old, are we talking about damage, or does the fabric degrade a lot with age and/or use? Is a too-old sail functional and a new sail faster?

Just a little confused...:(

Any & all comments/links appreciated!
 
Thanks for the links, two of the threads were new to me and I did read through them all. I'll search for the topic and read more as well.

I get that there's a performance benefit from newer, stiffer sails, and I guess this is something I'll need to experiece to understand.. part of being a newbie!
 
Well, if you are a newbie, an older sail could work well for you. It's mostly the racers that are fussy about their sails.
 
newer sails have a crinkly finish (good). If that's worn off and the sail is "soft" that could be bad.......dry rot. You'll be able to tear them with your hands if rotted. Watch out for "soft"! :eek:
 
The Sunfish I bought on Craigslist- a 1974 in very good condition - it said in the ad that the sail would have to be replaced. So before I picked it up (it was 4 hours away) I ordered a new non-legal sail.

But when I picked up the boat the sail was fine for recreational sailing, it just didn'nt have that crispness to it an was very soft, so soft it didn't feel like the same weight material (3.9oz) as the new sail. However for my wife and kids learning to sail it was perfect and they did not know the difference, they are beginners and the learning curve is steep and they are more concerned in keeping the sail out of irons.

Now when we did go and put the new non legal sail on it was like - WOW - this thing is alot faster now.
 
I think what happens is that folks put em in the washing machine or scrub em up and that goes along way toward "wear". I'm not sure of the best way to clean them so with "search" later. Have fun!
 
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