Roller Furling Head Sail - Improving Life and Shape

[OldCat]

I have a new roller furling head sail on my boat. 135, Dacron, no sun shield material. The sail lives under a zip up sunbrella cover to protect it from UV. The sail maker said it would last longer and keep better shape if the sail was all sail material and the cover was a separate sock.

My old stock Catalina sail had developed a hook in the leech where the (original equipment cheap) UV material was. That hook was in the direction that the sail rolled around the furler.

So my question: should the direction that an RF sail wraps around be reversed now and then so that the sail does not acquire a 'set' from always being rolled up the same way?

OC

 

[RichH]

This should make a difference which way you roll it.

The old sail developed a 'hook' because the original sail fabric and the UV cover stretched/shrunk at different rates ... sunbrella is the worst vs. woven dacron sail material, if you 'must' have a sewn on suncover, consider 4 oz. dacron "insignia" cloth but plan on the need to replace it @ 5-6+ yrs.

 

[OldCat]

This should make a difference which way you roll it.

Then I will switch the roll up direction - perhaps monthly? And roll it head to clew in winter.

The old sail developed a 'hook' because the original sail fabric and the UV cover stretched/shrunk at different rates

Tks for confirmation on this - it was what the sail maker told me.

sunbrella is the worst vs. woven dacron sail material, if you 'must' have a sewn on suncover, consider 4 oz. dacron "insignia" cloth but plan on the need to replace it @ 5-6+ yrs.

The old sail probably had the insignia cloth - and lasted 6 years - sort of. I now have a sail without any sun cover - sounds like I went the right way on this. Besides - the boat looks good at the dock with its Sunbrella head sail sleeve up and better on the water with an all white sail.

Tks again,
OC