135 Jenny with UV cover

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John D. Myers

I purchased my boat in the very early spring a few years ago, so being proactive I sent the sails to Sail Care Inc. to be cleaned and while there I ask them to put a UV cover on the roller furling genny. The sail seemed heavy when I packaged it to ship out but on the return the sail felt really heavy. The UV cover appears to be the same sunbrella that the mail cover is made from. Unfortunately I never got to sail the boat to see how the genny set origianally. In light to moderate air the sail does not fill properly, when the air is heavy enought to fill the sail, I need to roll part of it up because the boat is over powered. This may be a seperate issue but when hard on the wind, the genny backwinds the main, causing it to buckle. I have purchased a couple of used jibs, all lighter weight and no UV cover and they seem to work well even though they are well worn. Am I all wet or is the UV cover ruined this sail? Can I remove or have the UV cover removed or should I just trade it in on a new sail? By the way this UV covered jib looks and feels almost brand new other than it has lost most of it's stiffness. Sailor with a heavy jib and backwinded main.
 
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Bill Colombo

Sailcloth and Weight

John, It is hard to say without actually looking at the sail but it sounds like this sail was built out of cloth too heavy for the application and then the addition of a Sunbrella cover made it even heavier. A 135% Genoa for a 25ft boat should be built out sailcloth that is approx. 6oz per sailmaker's yard. Sunbrella weighs in at 8oz which blocks the sun very well but is a bit heavy. A good alternative would be UV Dacron which is about half as heavy. It sounds to me like you should try to replace this sail with a lighter one. Thanks, Bill Colombo Doyle Sailmakers
 
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