What seems like an eternity ago (October 2013), I queried the forum about modifying, so that it would fit my 36' boat, an old but too large great condition mainsail that I had stumbled upon. Folks gave me lots of useful info/advice.
This morning, determined to finally have a go at the sail, I unfolded it out again on my driveway and into the garage floor.
But before pulling the trigger on my Weller hot-knife gun, I have one more request for info/opinions.
My current sail has slugs along the foot and I do thread them through the boom track.
The project sail also has a bolt rope along the foot but the rope is not connected to the tack or clew. Along the foot, this sail has a very baggy and very light fabric foot shelf sewn in. So in effect, the sail functions as a loose-footed mainsail.
In the cut-down, I have decided to convert the project sail into a true loose footed mainsail. So I plan to ignore re-sewing the foot shelf.
Questions regarding the foot section of the project sail:
- Do loose footed mainsails have a foot cord for preventing the loose foot from fluttering? (Similar in concept to a leech cord?)
- Also should I cut a convex arc into the foot sail fabric (as compared to just a straight line) along the foot? Would say three inches max at its extreme point as compared to straight-line be a good approximation? My foot length will be 12' 4".
For info, I currently have mid boom sheeting. And will not change to end boom. But the load is distributed between three boom bales that are spread 1.5 feet apart each = three feet total in span. I would think that this will be enough prevent damaging concentration of stress on the boom that I have read about as a concern for loose foot conversions.
Here is the link to my October 2013 post:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1068886&highlight=sail
Many thanks.
This morning, determined to finally have a go at the sail, I unfolded it out again on my driveway and into the garage floor.
But before pulling the trigger on my Weller hot-knife gun, I have one more request for info/opinions.
My current sail has slugs along the foot and I do thread them through the boom track.
The project sail also has a bolt rope along the foot but the rope is not connected to the tack or clew. Along the foot, this sail has a very baggy and very light fabric foot shelf sewn in. So in effect, the sail functions as a loose-footed mainsail.
In the cut-down, I have decided to convert the project sail into a true loose footed mainsail. So I plan to ignore re-sewing the foot shelf.
Questions regarding the foot section of the project sail:
- Do loose footed mainsails have a foot cord for preventing the loose foot from fluttering? (Similar in concept to a leech cord?)
- Also should I cut a convex arc into the foot sail fabric (as compared to just a straight line) along the foot? Would say three inches max at its extreme point as compared to straight-line be a good approximation? My foot length will be 12' 4".
For info, I currently have mid boom sheeting. And will not change to end boom. But the load is distributed between three boom bales that are spread 1.5 feet apart each = three feet total in span. I would think that this will be enough prevent damaging concentration of stress on the boom that I have read about as a concern for loose foot conversions.
Here is the link to my October 2013 post:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1068886&highlight=sail
Many thanks.
