Genoa for a 1976 Hunter 25

Dec 11, 2015
291
Hunter 25 Plymouth
Dear Fellow Sailors:

My favorite sail (Genoa) was destroyed over the weekend by the Memorial Day storm here in New England. Does anyone have the correct dimensions for a replacement?

Your kind response appreciated!

Best,
Mark
 
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
Ouch!!

Does anyone have the correct dimensions for a replacement? Great question. The answer depends on how much overlap aft of the mast to the clew it was. The overlap dimension is the LP of the sail divided by the J dimension of the boat, where LP is the luff perpendicular which is the shortest distance from clew to luff, which always works out to be on a 90 degree angle from the luff. To be sure you purchase the correct size you will need to measure your Luff (leading edge of your sail), Leech (trailing edge of your sail) and decide on how much overlap beyond the main sail or mast you want. Then take these dimensions to your local or on-line sailmaker who will fabricate one to insure the new sail fits correctly. These articles should help you make all the measurements yourself, if you do not have your local sailmaker do it.

For Hunter 25 sailboat specification look here: SailboatData.com - HUNTER 25 Sailboat
Measuring Sails (thesailwarehouse.com)
Genoa / Jib Measurements | Yagers Sails & Canvas (yagersails.com)
How to Measure for a New Jib or Genoa - Precision Sails Ltd (precisionsailloft.com)
 
Last edited:
Jun 5, 2010
1,107
Hunter 25 Burlington NJ
Best online resource I know of is sailwarehouse.com - they list your boat (and mine!) with all sail dimensions. They also provide a ‘how-to’ measuring chart and explain what the I, P, E and J all mean.

They carry sails by Rolly Tasker who is well known in Australia and about the Southern Ocean. I ordered a 135 from them last August. They did NOT have it listed for the H25; what they suggested is for me, once I could cite the correct sail dimensions, to just search for any other boat’s sail that fit my luff. What I got was a Cape Dory 25 headsail.

The 1st-gen Hunter 25 as designed by my dad is notably tall in the rig. He was a B24 pilot who knew the worth of high-aspect aerofoils. So looking at any other boat’s headsails is likely to mean you’ll end up with more foot that you’d expect. The Cape Dory 25’s 115 is a perfect 135 for the H25 (13.5-ft foot).

Just be careful ordering mainsails. There is almost no other boat for which a ‘stock’ 6-oz mainsail will be 24.5’ on the luff and only 8.0’ on the foot - a CD25 for example will be like 10-11 ft. My boat came with one at the right luff but only 7.75’ on the foot which I believe had to have been the mizzen for some ketch of about 35 ft.

Read the sailwarehouse.com site carefully. You’ll be grateful for the education.