Sunfish Sail Storage (off the spars/booms)

[sadkins372]

What is the recommended way to store an extra Sunfish sail that is not on the spars/booms? Roll it? Fold it? Or a combination? We currently have two well-used recreational sails and one used race sail. I would like them to not take much room, but also want to keep them in as good as condition as possible (especially the used race sail).

We keep our Thistle sails rolled up in a sail bag and store them in the boat when not in use. We do not have room to do that with the Sunfish sails.

Thank you!

 

[signal charlie]

Flake them then fold, similar to how they are first packaged.

 

[Wavedancer]

As Signal Charlie wrote.
It's a bit of a pain because the foot of the sail is so long; less so with another person helping.

 

[danpal]

Signal Charlie, I never realized that folding a sail in a zigzag pattern was to "Flake" a sail. My dad taught me to do this but I never knew it had a name.

 

[signal charlie]

Everything has a nautical name, sometimes two or 3 three. Plus there are the little known names for gear like the "left handed gronicle."

Flake, then roll or "brick."

Stuffing a sail into a bag is okay for older materials like silk, cotton or nylon, but the newest Dacron sails have a gum resin coating, and wadding them can put a lot of little creases or cracks into that coating. At a minimum those creases will disrupt airflow and potentially cause loss of boat speed, and in the long long long run the sail could be damaged. We have some 60+ year old sails that are in good shape, it will be interesting to see how the new coated Dacron sails hold up....I'll be about 120 years old then.

How to Fold Sails

 

[Wavedancer]

Note (again) that there are two people working together to flake the (big) sail in the Quantum video.

 

[Tops]

OK to flake and brick a Sunfish sail with the rings or take the rings off?

 

[signal charlie]

We take rings off and store them in a ziploc with the sail, or leave them on the spar unhooked. Always good to have spare rings on hand.

 

[Alan S. Glos]

Signal Charlie,

I have been salvaging sailboat parts for the better part of 60 years and the only left handed gronicle I ever found came off a 1950s vintage wood, damaged-beyond-repair Johnson A Scow in Zenda, Wisconsin in the summer of 1965. I have several right handed gronicles. They are not all that rare, but the left handed cast bronze variety in quite rare.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY

 

[signal charlie]

Wilcox-Crittenden Inc carried them in their 1960 Christmas Special catalog....

 

[Nicholson58]

I have had mouse damage on many sails. They apparently like to chew on the material. I hang them from the ceiling.