New main sail too tall. Now what?

[SycloneDriver]

Approximately early August I contacted North Sail about a new main and jib. After a little back and forth my salesman said they, NS, had plenty of measurements for my Beneteau 31 and that I didn't need to measure my boat. The sails arrived about 6 weeks later, all good so far. The jib fits and looks good, sails good too. I install the main about 2 weeks later and I could not get the luff tight. So a month later when the weather permitted i removed the sail. Today I finally got to lay the new sail on top of the old one. This new sail is definitely too tall.

I've sent North Sail 2 emails. Hopefully they offer some assistance, but it's been my experience that after the sale most business customer support is terrible! I've been battling with my phone provider now for almost 2 weeks, they are totally incompetent. The place i bought my prop from didn't impress me either, I just decided to live it under pitched.

Today has been a stressful day.

 

[JoeWhite]

That happened to me aswell, eventhough I had measured the original sail luff. The sailmaker said that I had measured it wrong. I layed the 2 sails on top each other and sent them the photo. I sent my sail to them to measure themselves. I guess I was lucky that they sent me a proper size main sail.
Typically they do not custom make the sail, but ship you a pre-made one.

 

[BigEasy]

Approximately early August I contacted North Sail about a new main and jib. I install the main about 2 weeks later and I could not get the luff tight. So a month later when the weather permitted i removed the sail. Today I finally got to lay the new sail on top of the old one. This new sail is definitely too tall.
I've sent North Sail 2 emails.

For the amount of $$$ that you spent on a new jib & main, North's lack of response is totally unacceptable. If the local loft will not make this good, I would reach out to North's main corporate office. Hope it all works out.

 

[thinwater]

Does it fit from head to tack without bunching up? Not tensioned, or even with all of the wrinkles out, just without pushing it into the space. Is there a Cunningham hole?

It is possible that it is a full size sail, intended to have more area when the Cunningham is eased, and then tensioned with the Cunningham for up-wind. Not sayin' that is what you want, but see what they say.

I would also measure your boat. It might not be stock dimensions. Not that unusual. Every sailor needs a 100-foot spool tape.

I got a new sail 2 weeks ago. It measured 6 inches longer than the old one. But the new one was a lower stretch material, lacked accumulated micro-wrinkles, and when pulled even reasonably snug (50 pounds?), they were the same size. (I laid them out before I bent it on the first time). The foot measured the same.

BTW, the sail is designed to fill the space from masthead to boom, and then be tensioned with the Cunningham. If it measured right with tension, I would be giving up area off the wind.

 

[SycloneDriver]

Update.
North Sail respond to my email. I literally made this post after sending the first 2 emails. I'm trying to be fair here. I'm just really pissed over something else, my phone provider.

 

[duality]

try to call xfininty, youll fell better! just cut the cord when they added the new device to my home and not my lake house, fixed lake house but left my home without service. should have gotten ride of them years ago!!!!

 

[SycloneDriver]

Does it fit from head to tack without bunching up? Not tensioned, or even with all of the wrinkles out, just without pushing it into the space. Is there a Cunningham hole?

It is possible that it is a full size sail, intended to have more area when the Cunningham is eased, and then tensioned with the Cunningham for up-wind. Not sayin' that is what you want, but see what they say.

I would also measure your boat. It might not be stock dimensions. Not that unusual. Every sailor needs a 100-foot spool tape.

I got a new sail 2 weeks ago. It measured 6 inches longer than the old one. But the new one was a lower stretch material, lacked accumulated micro-wrinkles, and when pulled even reasonably snug (50 pounds?), they were the same size. (I laid them out before I bent it on the first time). The foot measured the same.

BTW, the sail is designed to fill the space from masthead to boom, and then be tensioned with the Cunningham. If it measured right with tension, I would be giving up area off the wind.

It's a roller furling main so it really needs to fit correctly. I'm not set up for a cunningham.

There could be something odd going on. The original owner, the 2nd ower and myself have all had difficulties furling the main. I bumped into the salesman that sold the boat to the original owner this year at the Miami boat show. He told me they had to replace the drum and bearing unit due to aluminum cuttings getting into it when the mast was assembled. So this appears to be a long time issue.

 

[SycloneDriver]

try to call xfininty, youll fell better! just cut the cord when they added the new device to my home and not my lake house, fixed lake house but left my home without service. should have gotten ride of them years ago!!!!

I wish I could.do that. My case is a little more complex. I have my elderly parents on my account and my provider is also my ---, out of fear of getting fired i can't say any more.

My phone was reported in error as lost, it was never lost. My service has been suspended 7 times in 9 days. Last Tuesday my father fell and hit his head. A trip to the ER, 2 EKGs, an MRI and 7 staples, and i had to contact my family through Facebook via wifi.

On another note Starlink has been great! It's basically all I can get at home if you want reasonably fast speeds.

 

[jssailem]

My dealings with North Sail involved the local sail loft manager. He visited my boat and we measured. Upon delivery of the main and genoa the extra guard cloth for the mast radar was positioned 6” high. I took the sail back to the loft and the error was corrected. No hassle.

I would encourage direct communication with the nearest North Sail loft. Emails are convenient but they can get lost. It sounds like, from your post, that a problem occurred. It is an issue that they can fix and should fix.

 

[thinwater]

It's a roller furling main so it really needs to fit correctly. I'm not set up for a cunningham.

There could be something odd going on. The original owner, the 2nd ower and myself have all had difficulties furling the main. I bumped into the salesman that sold the boat to the original owner this year at the Miami boat show. He told me they had to replace the drum and bearing unit due to aluminum cuttings getting into it when the mast was assembled. So this appears to be a long time issue.

Yup, got it.

The first two owners had trouble and you still wanted a roller furling main? Hmm.

---

As for cell phones, they are a modern miracle. Considering they are really only about 30 years old in any practical sense, we should all realize that we CAN very easily live without them. Really. Land lines, planning, and some patience. I'm not sayin' it was better, but like in-mast furling, we create many of our own dependencies.If cell phones vanished tomorrow it wouldn't really change my life. I'd have to use a map and I would leae word when I was returning. Not a big deal.

 

[NYSail]

Happened to me with a new jib I bought for my last boat. I went, picked it up, paid the balance and went happily on my way. Well I got f?!$@ed. He came and did all measurements and made the sail 9 inches to long. He cut the sail……. And eventually it fit but it was a bastardized sail. I paid for a perfect fit. Lesson….. pay your deposit and have the sailmaker come down and put the sails on before you pay the balance.
Good luck and hope they do the right thing. But from my understanding you just dont cut a sail to make it fit…..a lot goes into the overall design.

greg
s/v Souleil

 

[SycloneDriver]

I did a little digging online today looking for the main sail measurements for my boat. All the dimensions that I found were for a traditional sail not a roller furling sail. Then it occurred to me that might be way my sail is too tall. The top swivel/bearing assembly needs about 6 of space. I'll run that by my contract at NS and see what he thinks. I plan to hoist a tape measure this weekend, maybe. I already know the sail is too tall.

I have, so far, been impressed with the response from NS. I hope it continues on this trajectory.

 

[SycloneDriver]

Yup, got it.

The first two owners had trouble and you still wanted a roller furling main? Hmm.

---

As for cell phones, they are a modern miracle. Considering they are really only about 30 years old in any practical sense, we should all realize that we CAN very easily live without them. Really. Land lines, planning, and some patience. I'm not sayin' it was better, but like in-mast furling, we create many of our own dependencies.If cell phones vanished tomorrow it wouldn't really change my life. I'd have to use a map and I would leae word when I was returning. Not a big deal.

I owned the boat for years before I knew the original owner had a issues with the roller furling main.

The 2nd owner didn't know anything about the boat. He didn't know how to shut the motor down, seriously. He didn't know that the ice box had a refrigeration unit in it. He never used the AC, it was broken. He never used the stove, looked almost new. He never used the holding tank. I never saw the boat out of its slip or even anyone on it. I had a B285 at the same marina for many years and I was keeping an eye on this boat. I bought it soon after it went up for sale.

I would have preferred a boat with a traditional mail sail but there are not many sailboats to choose from in northeast Oklahoma!

 

[SycloneDriver]

On positive note, my phone provider says my issue should be resolved by the 20th. Seriously? If it takes until the 20th I'll have to live with this for almost a month.

 

[Tally Ho]

I had a problem with my North Sail main, which interfered with the backstay and topping lift way up high. Their first response was to get a rigid vang so I could ditch the topping lift….i asked them if they were paying for it

I finally got them to replace the head board to a smaller one (the one they used was too big) and they had to reshape the luff at the top. It seems ok now. But I figured they came out and measured, they knew I had a topping lift, etc. so I was not going to let them off the hook.

Greg

 

[thinwater]

If North used the non-furling length ...

• Was the boat available with a traditional sail?
• If yes, did the order state that it was for a furling sail? It surely must have, from the lack of battens and hollow leach. Thus, they knew. The sail is obviously designed for furling.

Good luck. It sounds like a good case.

 

[colemj]

One can't just put an old sail on top of a new one and get any information out of that. For measurements, sails need to be pinned down and stretched. Old sails almost certainly have shrunken bolt ropes that will make them shorter than when they were new. They also will definitely have a different (stretched out) shape.

This doesn't mean that your sail isn't too long - it just means that what drove your assumption isn't correct.

The biggest takeaway here is ALWAYS have your boat measured for new sails. Always. Unless it is a club class where every sail and rig is exactly the same by force of rules, even identical brand/model of boats may have slightly different rigs or different rig tunings or different gear like furlers - North may have measurements for a different furler model than yours. Never assume anything when getting new sails.

Mark

 

[colemj]

As for the troubles with furling, that old sail has a lot of positive roach and what looks like removed reinforcement points for batten pockets (pictures are blurry at that level of zoom). Are you sure the old sail was originally built for a furler and not the standard sail with the battens and pockets removed and stuck on the furler? If the latter, then I definitely would expect furling issues.

Mark

 

[Davidasailor26]

As for the troubles with furling, that old sail has a lot of positive roach and what looks like removed reinforcement points for batten pockets (pictures are blurry at that level of zoom). Are you sure the old sail was originally built for a furler and not the standard sail with the battens and pockets removed and stuck on the furler? If the latter, then I definitely would expect furling issues.

Mark

It does have more roach, but the pockets look vertical. Syclone has a Beneteau 31 and I’d bet that sail is the same Neil Pryde “power batten furling” style Beneteau put on my 37.

 

[SycloneDriver]

It does have more roach, but the pockets look vertical. Syclone has a Beneteau 31 and I’d bet that sail is the same Neil Pryde “power batten furling” style Beneteau put on my 37.

Yes. The sail was originally equipped with vertical battens, I expected the new sail to have them as well but I didn't ask and I'm not complaining about that.