Sail repair?

[Merrily]

I rigged the 4.7 sail, and it turns out that the nylon strip across the top of the sleeve, the bit that keeps the sail from sliding down the mast, has rotted right through. It needs to be replaced. I have a sailor's sewing palm and a bit of skill with a needle and thread. Is this repair something that a novice can do, or should I not try this at home? I have some thread from the marine store.

Fortunately, the rest of the sail looks fine.

 

[fishingmickey]

Hi Merrily,
It sounds like you've got a plan to me, a piece of nylon webbing strap same width and length as a full rig sail strap. A large needle and some very strong thread like spectra fishing line (aka spider wire) available at Wal-mart or maybe waxed dental floss would probably work just fine. you might want to use a drop or two of super glue on the knots.
I'm sure you have some good ideas as what to use for thread anyways, then go for it!
Regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157

p.s. and you wonder why the nickname of Fishingmickey...

 

[Merrily]

Hi Merrily,
It sounds like you've got a plan to me,
p.s. and you wonder why the nickname of Fishingmickey...

Thanks for the encouragement. Fishingmickey is a mighty clear name!

 

[167542]

Last year this happened to four sails at my club in 3 days! (One of them was mine)

You'll have to open up the seam on the sail if you want to do a 'proper' job of it which will get kind of tricky if you havent done it before.

Unless you know how to do it might be best to get a sailmaker to do it, for them its a piece of cake

 

[49208]

It's easy enough to do with handstitching. If you need the webbing, send me a PM

 

[Merrily]

It's easy enough to do with handstitching. If you need the webbing, send me a PM

I found some sail tie webbing that is the right size that I think will work very well. Thanks anyway.