I am in the market for a new main and Genoa. I inquired with a local Doyle Sail loft for a quote. I then compared their quote to the identical sails located on this site. The costs of the sails from the local loft are 29% more for a difference of $975. This includes sales tax for the local sails and shipping for the online sails. The service I get with the local loft includes the sail maker coming to my boat to make the measurements, they install them and will test sail the new sails to make sure "there right". With the Online sails I need to make the measurements, and I assume take responsibility if they don't fit. Although I would like to support our local businesses, what additional value besides the sail maker being responsible for the fit do I get for the $975.88 when using the local loft? Is the "fit" insurance worth it? After all, a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars! Bill Ebling
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A lot of us are in the same boat
I just bought a new main sail for my Hunter 27. I got prices for it from $566.25 (with heavier cloth) from overseas to $2,400.00 in the US. I think all of us want to support local people. I also think we all have a ridiculous factor where we think the price difference is so much its ridiculous to spend that much more just to buy locally. Everybody’s ridiculous factor is probably different.
I just bought a new main sail for my Hunter 27. I got prices for it from $566.25 (with heavier cloth) from overseas to $2,400.00 in the US. I think all of us want to support local people. I also think we all have a ridiculous factor where we think the price difference is so much its ridiculous to spend that much more just to buy locally. Everybody’s ridiculous factor is probably different.
Local Sail Maker vs On-Line
I was surprised by your quote of the difference between an On-Line quote (possibly Doyle on this site?) and a local sailmaker, though we can't tell where "local" is for you from your post. I ran as near as possible a description of my 1 year old mainsail purchased from Ulmer/Skelley in HavreDegrace, MD and find about $21 difference on an order of about $1400. Skelley being the higher , but I had IOR battens and a draft stripe added, so I actually feel Skelley was less expensive. Since I consider myself a cruising division racer, I did not opt for any high-tech sail cloth or design. I did get the loose foot, one full top batten and the remaining battens as IOR length battens, two reef points, sail numbers and draft stripe. The most important point to me was that Max Skelley came to my boat and measured the hoist, outhaul, and mast bend, plus the change in mast bend with the backstay adjuster fully tensioned, spending about an hour measuring and discussing the various options. By the way , the sail fits incredibly well and I couldn't be happier. The typical construction, seaming, stitching and hardware are first class, however, if there were any problems they are a phone call away. Need I say more?
I was surprised by your quote of the difference between an On-Line quote (possibly Doyle on this site?) and a local sailmaker, though we can't tell where "local" is for you from your post. I ran as near as possible a description of my 1 year old mainsail purchased from Ulmer/Skelley in HavreDegrace, MD and find about $21 difference on an order of about $1400. Skelley being the higher , but I had IOR battens and a draft stripe added, so I actually feel Skelley was less expensive. Since I consider myself a cruising division racer, I did not opt for any high-tech sail cloth or design. I did get the loose foot, one full top batten and the remaining battens as IOR length battens, two reef points, sail numbers and draft stripe. The most important point to me was that Max Skelley came to my boat and measured the hoist, outhaul, and mast bend, plus the change in mast bend with the backstay adjuster fully tensioned, spending about an hour measuring and discussing the various options. By the way , the sail fits incredibly well and I couldn't be happier. The typical construction, seaming, stitching and hardware are first class, however, if there were any problems they are a phone call away. Need I say more?
Apples and oranges
As much as I'd like us to be such a great deal, any Doyle sail that is priced $900 more than a sail on this site (also made by Doyle) simply couldn't be the same sail. My guess is that your local loft either quoted you a sail with more features and different cloth. If you don't mind, go to the chandlery and click the Customer Service tab and send us the quote. We'll get it figured out. That said, measuring for a sail is easy. The tolerances are not terribly small and they turn out just fine. ph.
As much as I'd like us to be such a great deal, any Doyle sail that is priced $900 more than a sail on this site (also made by Doyle) simply couldn't be the same sail. My guess is that your local loft either quoted you a sail with more features and different cloth. If you don't mind, go to the chandlery and click the Customer Service tab and send us the quote. We'll get it figured out. That said, measuring for a sail is easy. The tolerances are not terribly small and they turn out just fine. ph.
Doyle on-line
I just replaced the mainsail on my Hunter 25.5 through Doyle on this site. The measuring was straight forward and the service was quick. I would do it again. The price differeence was not as great as yours and we only have one sail maker locally whose price was @$300 higher. Every other option was on line and higher priced.
I just replaced the mainsail on my Hunter 25.5 through Doyle on this site. The measuring was straight forward and the service was quick. I would do it again. The price differeence was not as great as yours and we only have one sail maker locally whose price was @$300 higher. Every other option was on line and higher priced.
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