Loose Footed Main Sail

[Shoaldrafter]

It was said on this forum: "I think that this is becoming the style for Mainsails."

'Free Footed' was a new style popular about 25 years ago. It affects sail shape and performance. The mast and boom should be designed for them. They are use on IMF sails because of difficulty of having slides come out.

I would stick to the style sail designed for the 25 of a weight of cloth sufficient to last. Also some sort of battens should be used.

Free footed sails often do not have any battens. Back in the 1980's a few races were won with free footed sails. Today, the racers use high tech plastics for racing sails.

So where is this $500 main sail? Is that really $550 from Sail Warehouse? Does that include battens? Batten pockets? Slides? Rope bolt? Leech line adjustment?

Ed K
26

 

[Joe11688]

Myself Ed, I prefer sail slides on the foot as well as the Luff. Any Mainsail that I've ever owned that had the bolt rope on the foot, I had converted to slides. One thing that I've always done before covering my Mainsail is, let the out haul off to relax the foot of the sail. Some of my friends do not do this. Not, good.
Joe

 

[RECESS]

So where is this $500 main sail? Is that really $550 from Sail Warehouse? Does that include battens? Batten pockets? Slides? Rope bolt? Leech line adjustment?

Ed K
26

A look on their page and it looks like ordering with the battens included runs you more.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]$ 675[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]Std/OEM type w/full battens[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Battens on Main Sail

Dave,

Some main sails do not have battens. I would prefer a main sail with some to maintain sail shape. My main actually has four partial or 1/2 sail battens.

It also has a leech line to adjust the leech edge. Serious sailors like to adjust the trailing edge for perfomance.

Does the new main include the sail slides? As Joe pointed out the main can be free footed that is attached at the goose neck and aft end of boom or can be attached to the boom. There are more than one way to attach to boom.

The sail slides can be either metal or plastic. Are those sail attaching devices included? Are they metal or plastic? Actually I think plastic are fine and slide easier. Or do they expect you to use the slides off your old sail?

Have you considered repaing your old main sail yourself? Repair material and thread can be orded from:
http://www.sailrite.com/Categories?search=thread
They also have needles. But you can get large needles for such a project at Wally or K-mart. They are in the crafts section of sewing. Thread is another matter.

Tenera Thread (r) is what professionals use today. However, even a small spool cost $149.00. I have a spool of the older V-30 which would be a serviceable thread for this purpose. I had to buy the big spool of V-30 at the time and just wind a bunch on some carboard with a big needle for the boat for emergency use.

Canvas could be ordered from sailright. Duck canvas for generic repair can be had material stores. I have no comment on its use for such purpose but the olive green duck canvas might hold up for a few months?

Anyway, while you are studying the situation, try fixing it yourself?

Ed K
26


Ed K
26

A look on their page and it looks like ordering with the battens included runs you more.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]$ 675[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]Std/OEM type w/full battens[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[RECESS]

I looked into purchasing a kit from sailrite immediately after the sail was damaged from the storm. I have a friend that has been rather dead on with his advice. He knows my main sail and boat rather well. We had a beer when I was talking about how to repair the sail would cost me about $100 to do it myself. He was is a very patient man and gives very measured advice. Often we just hang out. He told me nothing against my DIY abilities, but honestly fixing a sail that is ripped all the way across is something you want to have someone that has a lot of experience doing. This is not a small patch. He said if you were out cruising and it happened, sure do the repair to get back home. His advice is to send it to Sail Care and have it done by a professional or even better spend some time and find a really good sail that has a lot of life left in it. He made a good point that it is a 30 year old sail and even if it is fixed to the point that there is very little performance loss from the repair, how long do you expect a sail to last?

I really think for the money I can find a really good used mainsail, it may take a little time but in the long run I will end up with a sail that will last me at least 20 years with really top performance.

I will keep my damaged mainsail and repair it in the future just for furthering my knowledge, but right now I need to spend within my budget or I lose too many trips, both with the boat and the RV.

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

This is an offer to loan you a sail until you find what you want. It is from an O'Day 23 and would not look to out of place on your boat. It is just sitting in my garage. If you can use it I will ups it to you. You know, to keep you sailing NOW!

 

[RECESS]

Wow Lance, That is a really awesome offer!! I think we will pull the trigger on a sail tomorrow. Thank you so much for such a great offer.