New Main Sail Options

[MikeyJ]

Okay, time for a new mainsail. Seem like loose footed is the thing now. My old one has full battens. Is it worth the extra? What kind of fabric should I go with? How about the weight? What else do I need to know??

Lake sailing, an occasional race, a few times a year. Hunter 23.5

 

[JRT]

Try Mack Sails, they have good reviews, make them in the USA and said 4 weeks to build a full set and stackpack for my 310.

I've used Precision and am happy with them but they are oversea and take much longer then 4 weeks.

 

[Dave Groshong]

We'd love to build you a new sail! We're going on 23 years working with Doyle offering a 10% discount, year round. Loose foot is very popular, full battens are nice, not too heavy on a smaller boat, 2 full and 1 partial batten is also quite popular with a loose footed sail:

Sail Loft

Sail Loft

shop.hunterowners.com

 

[rgranger]

I purchased here and love my new sails

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I recommend working with Dave Groshong at this forum store. Being involved with the 23.5 from drawing board till the last one left behind my truck and it’s replacement the 240 again behind my truck a week later. Call Dave

 

[shemandr]

I posted from my iphone but the post never appeared here. I think the OP was about what options were available. In regard to the battens I said all full length could make it harder to hoist the sail and that such sail always appear to be well trimmed even when they are not. Other options would be a set of reef points, sail # and insignia (Seems like a waste of money but I liked wearing my R29 insignia with pride). Spreader patches would another option and I believe that Hunter has swept back spreaders. Same for stancions. Also a leech chord is a given but on the loose foot a foot chord would be nice. Other options I didn't mention would be either the deck sweeper or cut away for visibility, a window. And, of course, to have a dialogue with the sailmaker regarding your local sailing conditions and use of the boat.

 

[Will Gilmore]

with shemandr. Although, in a smaller boat, hoisting the full battens has never been an issue for me (Hobie 18) and they perform very very well.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[VanIslandGuy]

Full battens and lazy jacks make life much easier sailing short handed. If I ease all the tension off the lazy jacks when raising sails, I don't find it is any harder than raising a partially battened sail. Dropping sails though is much easier with full battens and lazy jacks as nothing falls on deck anymore. I find I've always had better luck trimming full batten mainsails, but maybe a hardcore racer would find different. I'm a cruiser. I've had two boats, and been fortunate to sail each boat with a full battened main and a partial battened main. My experience has been better with full battens than without.

We have our first loose footed main and like it. It is far easier to ease the outhaul in light airs to get a full shape than having to deal with all the slugs in the boom creating friction.