Just a couple of quick questions for the group. I am considering replacing sails while CD is having their 15% off sale. I have looked on the forum quite a bit and it sounds like they make a good high quality sail that is better than stock. However I have also read somewhere that a full batten main strikes the backstay in a gybe or tack. Is this True and if so how is this corrected? I am looking at their 2+2 batten sail for better shape but I sure don't want to deal with it striking any of the rigging.
My second question is in regards to the Genoa. Their hank on Genoa is made of 4.4 oz fabric which is some of the lightest weight I have seen for my boat. Does this sail stretch too much and should I request a heavier weight cloth? The roller furling genoas are all made of the same 5.6 oz fabric that the main and the smaller jibs are and according to the rep from CD he is not exactly sure why the weight is less for the hank on other than they consider it a light air sail. However I want to be able to fly it up to 15 kts max in a club racing format without blowing it out. Over that and I will size down to my 110. Thanks in advance for the responses.
To LarkShark, the original poster who started this thread by asking a couple of questions:
However I have also read somewhere that a full batten main strikes the backstay in a gybe or tack. Is this True and if so how is this corrected?
Nope, a sail with one or two full battens doesn't have to hit the backstay on a Catalina 22 or any other boat. The size of the roach is determined by the designer and the customer during the design phase. Sails designed for cruisers usually stay inside the backstay. Sails designed for racers have more sail area and often overlap the backstay.
At Hyde Sails Direct, for example, we offer cruising mainssails with a roach either comfortably inside the backstay, or almost/barely touching the back stay. Cruising mainsails have less total area than racing sails and are easier to tack and gybe.
Very competitive club racers who compete sail in handicap or one design races want the biggest, most powerful mainsail allowed under the rating rules. They don't care about the annoyance or abrasion caused by hitting the backstay. Serious racers order mainssails that have a big roach that overlaps the backstay. A race sail that overlaps the backstay is typically is 6% - 10% bigger than a cruising sail. At Hyde Sails, we charge a little more for race sails because the require more sailcloth.
Their hank on Genoa is made of 4.4 oz fabric which is some of the lightest weight I have seen for my boat. Does this sail stretch too much and should I request a heavier weight cloth? The roller furling genoas are all made of the same 5.6 oz fabric that the main and the smaller jibs are and according to the rep from CD he is not exactly sure why the weight is less for the hank on other than they consider it a light air sail. However I want to be able to fly it up to 15 kts max in a club racing format without blowing it out.
The short answer to the cloth weight question is this:
In general, a sail built for use in stronger strength winds needs to be made of stronger cloth. A hank on 150% is meant to be used in light to light-medium winds. A hank-on 135% genoa is for use in medium to medium+ winds. As the wind range gets stronger, the cloth has to get stronger too.
Furling headsail sails are
usually intended for use across a wider wind range than a hank on sails, so furling sails are often built of stronger cloth than a similarly sized hank on headsail. A furling/reefing 150% sail that will be used in medium winds will need to be made of the same strength cloth as a 135 used in medium winds.
One important thing to remember is that "strong cloth" means it doesn't stretch very much. Stretch depends more on the weave style and the quality of the yarns than it does on weight. If you use a higher quality cloth, it will stretch less and hold its shape longer than a lower quality cloth of the same weight. If fact, very low stretch (expensive) sails generally weigh less than "entry level" sail.
If you are comparing cost of "apples to apples", you need to compare similar styles of cloth, not weight.
Every name-brand manufacturer makes a "value line" dacron that's a good basic cruising cloth, in addition to premium and super premium dacrons.
The following are "value lines" which are for cruising: Supercruise dacron from Contender, and Performance Cruise dacron from Challenge.
C-Breeze is Dimension Polyant's lowest tier dacron, but it much less stretchy and will hold its shape longer than the other two. It is more more expensive as well.
(There are a many more dacron sailcloths than the ones I've mentioned above, but comparison start getting more complicated as you consider the premium and super premium weaves. The premium cloths are engineered specifically for different technical requirments, such as high vs low aspect, highest UV resistance, etc, That is beyond the scope of this discussion. Suffice it to say that sail cloth is highly engineered, structural material! )