Caveat – This is from my singular experience. I believe Lite Skin sails are an excellent product.
Condensed version:
The Good: Great sail, reasonably priced, definitely improves performance.
The Not So Good: Requires more pampering than Dacron sails for my application.
Longer version:
After less than a year of use, my hank-on Lite Skin jib showed excessive wear at the leech and had to be repaired (see photos). My sail supplier (thesailwarehouse.com) made the repair free of charge, but I was frustrated by Rolly Tasker’s responses when I made them aware of the problem. They repeatedly suggested that the damage was due to handling (folding at a seam) and chafing, even when I showed them with photographic proof that the area was not subject to folding or chafing. Flogging was mentioned as a possible culprit, but I don’t allow flogging other than in the minute or less it takes to raise the sail and bring in the jib sheet. Material failure was out of the question as far as RT was concerned, even though none of their suggested causes seemed plausible or consistent with what I was seeing. For instance, even though I fold my Lite Skin mainsail at the same points consistently I am seeing no undue wear as a result.
My expectation was that the “durable” Lite Skin material would stand up to being stored in my deck bag, as I had done with my Dacron foresails since I purchased my boat in 2020. Naturally, getting the Lite Skin sail in the deck bag requires flaking it, but my supplier says that is not the ideal way to store it, and that it would be better to remove it from the forestay and roll it up. I keep my boat in a slip five minutes from home, and love that I can hop on the boat and be on the lake in 15 minutes or less. Removing and rolling the jib would add considerably to that time, so is not really a good option for my situation.
Hopefully the repair will hold and I will experience no other issues.
My takeaways are:
-The Lite Skin jib is probably better suited for roller furling, as it allows quick deployment and retraction without folding.
-If your jib hanks on, the recommended storage method (per thesailwarehouse.com) would be to remove it and roll it up. It rankles me that this advice was not offered until after I experienced problems.
-Hold on to your old Dacron jib if you plan to store it in a deck bag and save the Lite Skin for race days.
Condensed version:
The Good: Great sail, reasonably priced, definitely improves performance.
The Not So Good: Requires more pampering than Dacron sails for my application.
Longer version:
After less than a year of use, my hank-on Lite Skin jib showed excessive wear at the leech and had to be repaired (see photos). My sail supplier (thesailwarehouse.com) made the repair free of charge, but I was frustrated by Rolly Tasker’s responses when I made them aware of the problem. They repeatedly suggested that the damage was due to handling (folding at a seam) and chafing, even when I showed them with photographic proof that the area was not subject to folding or chafing. Flogging was mentioned as a possible culprit, but I don’t allow flogging other than in the minute or less it takes to raise the sail and bring in the jib sheet. Material failure was out of the question as far as RT was concerned, even though none of their suggested causes seemed plausible or consistent with what I was seeing. For instance, even though I fold my Lite Skin mainsail at the same points consistently I am seeing no undue wear as a result.
My expectation was that the “durable” Lite Skin material would stand up to being stored in my deck bag, as I had done with my Dacron foresails since I purchased my boat in 2020. Naturally, getting the Lite Skin sail in the deck bag requires flaking it, but my supplier says that is not the ideal way to store it, and that it would be better to remove it from the forestay and roll it up. I keep my boat in a slip five minutes from home, and love that I can hop on the boat and be on the lake in 15 minutes or less. Removing and rolling the jib would add considerably to that time, so is not really a good option for my situation.
Hopefully the repair will hold and I will experience no other issues.
My takeaways are:
-The Lite Skin jib is probably better suited for roller furling, as it allows quick deployment and retraction without folding.
-If your jib hanks on, the recommended storage method (per thesailwarehouse.com) would be to remove it and roll it up. It rankles me that this advice was not offered until after I experienced problems.
-Hold on to your old Dacron jib if you plan to store it in a deck bag and save the Lite Skin for race days.
