Any advice on removing sun protection on genoa

[yelkenli]

I sail on a lake with low winds, and the sun protection strip on my genoa has a length along the leech that is coming off.

The sail has a wide band of sun material at the foot, and a band of sun material along the leech.

I am thinking of removing all of the sacrificial sun protection material and replacing with a genoa sleave.

I am thinking it is a matter of cutting the stitches to remove the sun material.

Anything to look out for when doing this?

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Do you have a roller furler? If so, I'd restich or replace the sacrificial cloth on the sail

 

[BigEasy]

Did that several years ago. To save $, I ripped off the old Dacron sacrificial strip and took it to he sail loft for a sunbrella sacrificial cover. Worse part was pulling the threads from the sail, once the old cove was removed.

 

[yelkenli]

Do you have a roller furler?

Yes. It is on roller furler.
Our light winds and the weight of the extra material don't mix well. I am thinking a genoa sleeve would be better. I have to take it off and put it on, and it is an additional expense.
If I want to defer the additional expense, I suppose I could sew the portion that is coming off.

 

[garymalmgren]

RE: Our light winds and the weight of the extra material don't mix well.

Removing the UV protection strip will not make the wind stronger.
Realistically, we are looking at a few ponds of sail weight.
Have you thought of getting hold of a (secondhand) asymmetrical spinnaker/gennaker?

gary

 

[Davidasailor26]

RE: Our light winds and the weight of the extra material don't mix well.

Removing the UV protection strip will not make the wind stronger.
Realistically, we are looking at a few ponds of sail weight.
Have you thought of getting hold of a (secondhand) asymmetrical spinnaker/gennaker?

gary

In very light air it’s not as much the weight as the stiffness the sunbrella adds to the sail that disturbs its shape. In order to qualify for a roller furling credit PHRF Chesapeake requires boats to have at least a 4oz woven UV cover on both the leech and foot, so at least in their estimation it makes a difference.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

You’ll need a spinnaker halyard to raise the sleave/sock. I have one and it’s a PITA. I don't use it. I suggest you sew it or bring it to a sailmaker. Also, the labor will be less costly than a sleave AND likely your sails already are in desperate need of maintenance even beyond that strip. (The reason the strip is coming off is probably UV-“rot“ of the stitching. I’d bet a dinner that the rest of your seams are also very weak. If I’m right you’ll see a self-destruction event in heavy winds sometime soon.).

 

[jssailem]

The boat is a 1985. Is the "heavy" sail original?
Get a new sail made with the new lightweight material. You'll be happier and faster on the water. It can be a Jib, Genoa, or Code 0. Use it for light wind days. I had a friend buy a used Tape Drive sail. He raced his boat with it and loved the sail.

 

[Davidasailor26]

As a data point - I had UV cover stitching start to come undone on a jib that was only 4 season old. We were waiting for a race to start on a particularly windy day when we noticed it. Our sailmaker redid the stitching, and we have not had a problem since. That was 6 years ago and the sail was still serviceable, though a bit blown out, this season.

 

[Tally Ho]

I took the sacrificial UV cover off my Genoa to save some money…but I chickened out on trying to sew the new one on…so I took the sail to a local loft. Old sail was pretty bad (about 10 years old I think). Ended up having a new sail made.

Very dirty job, time consuming and easy to rip the sail.

Greg

 

[Project_Mayhem]

To have my whole sunbrella stitching removed and redone cost $300 and that included maintenance to the rest of the sail as well. Most years I paid about $200 to have both cleaned with minor repairs