To start, back October 2013, one or two of the thread participants of a thread with this title asked for an eventual status report.*
18 months later, after several fits and starts on the sail cut-down project, it is finally on my boat. Picture below. To summarize the background: An extremely heavy Dacron fabric weight mainsail came into my possession. Markings indicated probably original manufacture by North Sails was 1980-1983. Other than yellowing with age, the sail was in very good condition. Problem: At 49' luff, it was too big for my boat with a 41' spec. So a cut-down was required. By chance, at 8' up from the tack (49' - 41' = 8'), the potentially new foot measurement was perfect for my boat's boom length. So a DIY mod seemed doable.
I am pleased with the outcome. My main observation is that the project entailed a lot more work and time than I originally anticipated. For a non sail maker, the number of variables and permutations to think about before each step were significant. And when I eventually installed the sail, further adjustments were necessary.
The modification at first seemed simple, but with only a heavy duty home sewing machine, and no real sail maker's experience other than the occasional DIY repair/mod, the challenges turned out to be many. One for example is that the original sail's second reef fortunately matched-up in a reasonable position for the cut-down's first reef location. But a second reef location needed to be added. Another was that although I had calculated that after the cut-down, the roach/leach would clear my back stay, it didn't. Hung up when tacking. Same for the head-board. It extended too far back and would lodge on one side of my back stay at the masthead when the sail was full up. The sail also featured a leach cord that ran through blocks mounted on the head board and down to the tack for adjustment at the mast. Cutting the sail down required some modifications to the leach cord system.
(* Just to mention that I did want to hit "reply" within the original now 18 month old thread with the above title. But the option wasn't there. Either the thread was too old, or the feature is lost due to the recent upgrades to SBO's website. Anyway, here is the link if anyone cares to read: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1068541&highlight=cloth)
18 months later, after several fits and starts on the sail cut-down project, it is finally on my boat. Picture below. To summarize the background: An extremely heavy Dacron fabric weight mainsail came into my possession. Markings indicated probably original manufacture by North Sails was 1980-1983. Other than yellowing with age, the sail was in very good condition. Problem: At 49' luff, it was too big for my boat with a 41' spec. So a cut-down was required. By chance, at 8' up from the tack (49' - 41' = 8'), the potentially new foot measurement was perfect for my boat's boom length. So a DIY mod seemed doable.
I am pleased with the outcome. My main observation is that the project entailed a lot more work and time than I originally anticipated. For a non sail maker, the number of variables and permutations to think about before each step were significant. And when I eventually installed the sail, further adjustments were necessary.
The modification at first seemed simple, but with only a heavy duty home sewing machine, and no real sail maker's experience other than the occasional DIY repair/mod, the challenges turned out to be many. One for example is that the original sail's second reef fortunately matched-up in a reasonable position for the cut-down's first reef location. But a second reef location needed to be added. Another was that although I had calculated that after the cut-down, the roach/leach would clear my back stay, it didn't. Hung up when tacking. Same for the head-board. It extended too far back and would lodge on one side of my back stay at the masthead when the sail was full up. The sail also featured a leach cord that ran through blocks mounted on the head board and down to the tack for adjustment at the mast. Cutting the sail down required some modifications to the leach cord system.
(* Just to mention that I did want to hit "reply" within the original now 18 month old thread with the above title. But the option wasn't there. Either the thread was too old, or the feature is lost due to the recent upgrades to SBO's website. Anyway, here is the link if anyone cares to read: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1068541&highlight=cloth)
