Need New Jib - Storm Damage

[jerryf609]

I could use some advice. A recent big blow in Muskegon Michigan, loosened my furled jib while at the dock. By the time we could do anything, it was pretty damaged and was shaking the boat a lot. We tied it up as best we could to quiet it down and eaze the pressure on the standing rigging.

The following day, it the winds calmed enough to lower the sail. Despite the fact that the sail is only about 3 years old (put on by my brother, the previous owner), the general opinion is that it is ruined beyond repair.

So, I need a new genoa jib. Any recommendations on where to buy, what to avoid, what to get? I suppose I could just replace it exactly. It is a Sails East sale. About a 120% I believe.

My boat is a 1983 Catalina 30 Tall Rig, Bow Sprit model. I sail the Great Lakes. I'm very new at this, and can't ask my brother, he passed away last summer.

Apreciate any advice on where to start.

 

[Steve Dion]

http://www.minneysyachtsurplus.com/

http://www.baconsails.com/

http://thesailwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi?page=storeframe.html&cart_id=

These places have used sails if that is what you may be looking for. The Sail Warehouse has new and used.

Then there is the SBO site that can provide you with advise and a new quality sail at a reasonable price.

Be sure that you have your jib sheets wrapped around your jib 3 or more wraps when stowing. The furling line and sheets should be secured with a cleat or jam cleat to prevent what happed to your jib.

 

[jerryf609]

Thanks Steve. I'll check those links out. I am currently thinking that I will purchase a new replacement but I'll look into used.

I had several wraps of the sheets around the jib, but maybe not as tightly furled as should be. The furling line was cleated but my sheets were not. From now on, I'm making both sheets fast as well as the furler line...and will put more tension on the sheets when rolling the jib in so as to get a tighter wrap.

 

[Ron20324]

Jerry, a line from the pulpit and attached to the roller drum would be a great idea...

 

[jibes138]

what is wrong with the sail?

Maybe it can be repaired?? Sails can also be cut down to a smaller size and still be functional, I've had two sails cut down like that over the years.

 

[DougM]

I am located in Manistee and have a new North Genny that I purchased for my Beneteau 323 and never used. It might be something you would be interested in.

I'll have to locate the specs, but it should be a fairly good fit.

(Fortunately, when that blow hit, my boat was already in the barn.)

 

[Joe A]

I reinforce with a sail tie

I usually walk up on deck and tie a sail tie around the rolled up genny if I'm going to leave the boat for a while. Last Sunday I forgot to do that when I left the lake and now I'm slightly worried. It's gonna blow pretty good around here today. The boat is rafted up to another boat at the dock. It's all two hours drive from here. I can usually look in with an internet camera but that's down right now, possibly caused by loss of cable connection due to high winds? Oh well I'm sure it'll be alright.

 

[jerryf609]

Thanks for the responses and especially the suggestions of better securing. I'll incorporate all those ideas in the future.

I will show the sail to other sailmakers/repair people to see if it can be repaired. It is a shame because this sail was in perfect shape and almost brand new. I've certainly learned a valuable/costly lesson.

DougM, yes please, let me know the specs of your Genny.

I've been told that the fabric has been stretch even where it did not tear and won't perform well. The bottom two panels have obvious damage, the clew is beat up, almost the complete leach is torn and stretched and there are significant stretched areas higher up on the sail eminating from the leach. Almost the entire uv cover is ruined. If it was just the uv cover, I think it would be repairable.

Love to hear opinions on repair.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Sail condition

Jerry, sorry to hear about your brother.

U asked: Love to hear opinions on repair.

Most of the replies already covered just about all the options of what you could do. Seeing the pictures simply reinforced (NPI ) what you described so well. There should be a sail maker near where you live. Bring it in or drop it off on the way to work (they usually start later than workin' folk, they be sailors, right?:dance and ask them to take a look. A trained professional will give you a lot better answer by looking, touching and seeing than any of us (even if we be sail makers ourselves) could possibly do from pictures on the internet.

If it was my sail, I'd wanna know about potential integrity and eventual size that could be "left over" if it is reparable at all.

I had a 110 cut down to an 85 when the sacrificial UV cover decayed, but the body of the sail was in OK shape.

But you're not the first this has happened to.

Good luck.

 

[DougM]

Jerry;
Re sail Specs:

The sail is North NorDac (dacron). 6mm luff rope white UV protection strip.
Luff measurement is 40' 6", Leech measures 38' 8", Foot measures 17', Luff perpendicular is 16' 6''. *all measurements plus or minus.

 

[Ian4781]

Jerry I have had great service/product from FX Sails and would get a quote from them if I were on the market for a new sail.There is an instant quote feature on their web site.

 

[sailingdog]

You'd probably be wise to have a rigger look at the forestay and its attachment points as well.

 

[Maine Sail]

Sorry to hear about

Sorry to hear about the damage. That sucks..

Phil and crew here at SBO can get excellent prices on sails. You would be selling yourself short to not at least have them quote you.

Another option, and perhaps the best price to quality ratio, anywhere will be from National Sail Supply in Florida.

Dirk sells Catalina specific sails new. I've purchased 9 sails from him and I'm fairly picky..

Here's a link right to the Catalina 30 Tall Rig sails on the NSS web site.

Catalina 30 TR Sails (LINK)

 

[jerryf609]

Thanks all, again. I'll take the sail back to Muskegon and ask around for local sailmakers. I did have a rigger look at the forestay and roller furler after I got the sail down. He viewed the top link (name?) at the mast head with binocs and looked over what he could see of the stay with the foil on. He said it looked good...that Catalina put extra heavy duty forestays on the boats. He noticed some minor probs with the furler and will repair.

I will consider your Genny, DougM. As I look at the options, especially repair. I don't know what the insurance adjuster is going to say about all this but I put a claim in.

DougM, what do you want for your sail. It is pretty close to what I had on. You can PM me if you wish. Actualy, I'll pm you with my cell phone number.

Thanks again, all. Heading out to the boat now from near Flint Michigan to winterize etc.

 

[JimGeddes]

Thanks for the responses and especially the suggestions of better securing. I'll incorporate all those ideas in the future.

I will show the sail to other sailmakers/repair people to see if it can be repaired. It is a shame because this sail was in perfect shape and almost brand new. I've certainly learned a valuable/costly lesson.

DougM, yes please, let me know the specs of your Genny.

I've been told that the fabric has been stretch even where it did not tear and won't perform well. The bottom two panels have obvious damage, the clew is beat up, almost the complete leach is torn and stretched and there are significant stretched areas higher up on the sail eminating from the leach. Almost the entire uv cover is ruined. If it was just the uv cover, I think it would be repairable.

Love to hear opinions on repair.

If some one gave me a sail like this for my boat i would kiss them ...I would have no problem fixing it and saving it for a rainy or better yet gusty day... =) sorry i can't help with the question... good luck with the sail..... Yea its a lesson, it's all just a learning experience.. I had some silly things happen this summer too.. I'm sure your brother would understand. I'm also glad to see that you have his boat and it did not go to some one who wouldn't appreciate it like you... fair wind and following seas my man take care

 

[BobM]

Welcome to the club!

I had the same thing happen my first year. I didn't know about securing the furler and had just been winding a few wraps up on the sail and cleating off the furler line. The drum hadn't really moved very freely due to a problem the PO rectified one day without me being aboard. Turns out that dramatically affected the furler and it unfurled by itself the next windy day trashing the jib. It wasn't quite as badly damaged as yours. One panel had to be restitched.

It was saved by another member of my club, but ended up costing me $300 to repair when new from FX would have been only about twice that (it was only a jib on a 25 footer). I ended up having it fixed, because I was worried about losing a month of my short northern sailing season. It ended up raining that whole month anyway and in hindsight I wish I had bought new. So my suggestion would be that if the repair cost exceeds half of new, go with new.

As others have said, think about what you want to have on the boat for sails. It that happened to my genoa and it couldn't be fixed, but could be cut down I'd have a new 135 made and then cut the old sail down to a jib or perhaps less and set it up as a self tending jib for windy fall days. How heavy is the sail cloth? If it is too light it won't be worth doing and it looks pretty light from the photos (should be 6.0+ oz for a smaller sail and 5 oz is on the light side).

I now tie a sail tie around the furled sail each and every time I am done sailing.

 

[Salty]

Jerry, I feel your pain. The same thing happened to me 3 weeks ago. My wife and I got to the boat for a week end trip to discover that the jib clew had somehow unfurled and was flapping in the wind. Like you I did wrap the mainsheet a few turns around the furled sail and secured the furler line with a clutch at the cockpit. The only thing I forgot to do (which I usually do) was to wrap a bungee cord around it. I sustained damage similar to yours but only a smaller area of the uv cover and some small tears. The sail did stretch a bit.
I took it to a North Sail loft in my area to have it evaluated. They were able to repair it within a week and I am back sailing. They did advise me to get a new sail and make this one a backup sail, which I’ll do in the future. It cost me about 6 big ones but I was able to get back sailing after a week. I am not am expert, butbyour sail look repairable. I also considered cutting my sail down but it would of cost more in labor to remove and replace the uv leech cover. I'll suggest you find a sail loft in your area to give you estimates on all the various options: repair, cut down, replace.

Good luck

 

[Hugh4753]

Kinda surprised nobody has mentioned Sail Care in Pennsylvania (I think) for the repair. You'd probably have to ship them the sail but they'd evaluate it and tell you whether it was worth fixing. I think the guys name is Paul but they do a great job. They have process that revitalizes the sails to like new condition.

 

[Dean5735]

Where are all the other boaters!!!???? No one was near the marina checking on boats????? Man that is hard to believe. In Petoskey we alll, and the harbor master watch for problems like that. I guess you gotta get to know some of them? Personally I have been aboard many boats (lots of out of towners) here to protect from those kinds of things. Most people can tell someone has been aboard when they see strange lines and different rigs when they come aboard after a storm. No one has ever had a problem with me doing it. I always go talk to them and let them know I did it for them while they were gone.
It is hard to believe with the blow that was, no one else went to check boats? Espically when you were at the dock!! A mooring would be different I guess.

Dean

 

[jerryf609]

As far as the other boaters are concerned, I guess by the time anyone noticed, it was uncontrollable. The wind was gusting to 65-70 and sustained around 45-50. The yard guys tried. The best they could do is stop it from unwrapping further. By the time I got there (I'm 2.5 hours away), the damage was done. I managed some more wrapping with the help of a dock mate. It was dangerous to be on the bow trying to wrestle the thing. The power of the wind is amazing.

However, the next day and old-timer told me to get the mainsail halyard and wrap it around in a serpentine fashion. I did that with both ends of the main halyard and that quietted it. That along with some duct tape.

This was on a Monday and I heard later that it (my sail unwrapping) started on Sunday but the lady that works a desk at the marina that said that quickly shut up when the marina manager came by. They didn't call me until Monday.

At any rate, I think my next step all depends on my insurance. Now that the boat is winterized and on the hard, I'm going to do more research on my coverage. As typical with most folks, I'm going to get much more familiar with my policy after a loss.

I talked to a sailmaker in Muskegon and the long and short of it, is the sail is toast. For $1000 I can get it back but it is very compromised and the money is better spent on new sails. I can't really afford to have this repaired for $1000 just for a spare, no matter how wise that might be.

I'll post back what I decide and whether the damaged sail is "available" or not.