New sails coming - best of both worlds?

[Jackdaw]

Most people know that while we race BlueJ hard, we also cruise a lot. And even when cruising, we want top performance from our sails. That's why in the past we've always sailed with our tri-radial laminates up, and take the extra wear and tear while cruising and fun sailing as the cost of doing business. Laminates are great, but you have to take care of them. So I'm always looking.

Several years ago I was told about a new cloth from D-P called GPL LiteSkin. While it has a matrix of high-tech strings (in this case technora and carbon), it is not a true laminate. Instead the matrix is somehow laminated and then imbedded in a random array of filament fibers (the so-called LiteSkin). It ends up being a fairly monolithic structure. I have a sample of the material and it's interesting. You can feel the matrix inside, but true to its monolithic nature, you can't pull it apart. And it is for sure more 'cloth-like' then laminates, which feel like plastic. And it does not absorb moisture and dries quick. So that's nicer. The cloth is totally opaque, and is black/gray/silver depending on the light that hits it.

Sounds good, but my at-the-time sails were rather new, and I'd figure I've give the cloth some time to prove itself. Well 4 years later and all the reviews are glowing. The material holds shape, is very wear resistant, and even better does not crease like laminates do. And my jib (4 yo) and main (3 yo) are still in good shape, they are starting to show signs. So it's time. I talked to my sailmaker (we've made up) and ordered a set for next year. At a great price! Here is the main in profile.

Ended up with tri-radials of almost the exact same size and shape as our last set. We really like them. One interesting point about the cloth, it is so strong in all three directions (warp, fill, bias) that you can make descent sails by broad seaming. But tri-raidal gives better control over the desired shape.

BlueJ is on the hard, but knowing Martin the sails will be here before December. Then all I'll be able to do is touch them!

 

[Justin_NSA]

Cool beans! From the picture it looks like they flake and furl like mainstream materials too.

 

[Jackdaw]

Cool beans! From the picture it looks like they flake and furl like mainstream materials too.

Yea. While laminates are nice, there is no getting past the part that the outer mylar skins are plastic. While it bends and rolls, it REALLY does not like to fold. LiteSkin has no problem folding, and while its probably not great for the twarlon long-term, you can make a hard crease in LiteSkin, and when you let it go back to shape there is no noticeable crease on the material. Try that with a laminate!

 

[Hunter216]

Interesting material. I’m curious how the various fibres are “fused” together. You mention they are random which to my thinking is some type of heat and/or chemical bond. Likely closely held trade secret! The random orientation would sort of explain the “flexibility” of the material. Do you think the random fibres are a makeup of different materials?

Cool looking as well!!

 

[Will Gilmore]

you can make a hard crease in LiteSkin, and when you let it go back to shape there is no noticeable crease on the material.

Does that mean you can cut for good shape and put it on a roller furler?
What about Laminar flow with the random fiber texture?

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[FastOlson]

Do you use a local or "national brand" sailmaker??

 

[Jackdaw]

Interesting material. I’m curious how the various fibres are “fused” together. You mention they are random which to my thinking is some type of heat and/or chemical bond. Likely closely held trade secret! The random orientation would sort of explain the “flexibility” of the material. Do you think the random fibres are a makeup of different materials?

Cool looking as well!!

Yes good question. DP spent some time creating this, making sure it would hold up. I'm sure they are not talking about the construction too much! But they do say the the fibers are non-woven, so I'm assuming that means extruded, which implies some high-tech material.

Here's a vid I found that shows it in action.

 

[Jackdaw]

Does that mean you can cut for good shape and put it on a roller furler?
What about Laminar flow with the random fiber texture?

-Will (Dragonfly)

It's random at the microscopic level. The surface is smoother than dacron. Rolling is the best way to store ANY sail... our jib is on a roller.

 

[Jackdaw]

Do you use a local or "national brand" sailmaker??

I went back to 'my guy'. We made up. The timing of that was fortuitous, he was offered a great deal on GPL by his rep, and passed the savings on to me. The cost was not a lot more than my last carbon laminates.

I know the big guys names are starting to push it hard as well, with maybe the exception of North who designs the material for most of their non-dacron sails.

 

[Jackdaw]

Another data-point... the super-maxi CQS uses LiteSkin for their regatta sails. Bonus points for being able to dye the fibers in color, the logo can be designed into the sail!

more detail here.

Giving up the weave

Seahorse Magazine

www.seahorsemagazine.com

 

[Sandy Stone]

Looks like cool stuff, and new sails are always good (slight understatement). I was curious about the graphic for your new main, though. It appears to show the point of max draft at 29% aft, which I thought was more typical for a headsail. For a main, isn't the point of max draft usually 45 - 50% aft?

 

[Jackdaw]

Looks like cool stuff, and new sails are always good (slight understatement). I was curious about the graphic for your new main, though. It appears to show the point of max draft at 29% aft, which I thought was more typical for a headsail. For a main, isn't the point of max draft usually 45 - 50% aft?

Good eye! We were playing with panel shapes. That happened to be the screenshot I had. It will be back on the final version.

 

[Hunter216]

Here's a vid I found that shows it in action.

Good video, clearly shows the evolution of the fabrics, very cloth like as you said.

Does it shed water as well as the laminates you are used to?

 

[smokey73]

Can't wait to hear your on water experience with your new sails! That is as soon as the weather breaks Oh, you're in the land of cold, snow, ice etc for awhile longer. Guess we'll be waiting for awhile for a report! Rats

 

[Jackdaw]

Good video, clearly shows the evolution of the fabrics, very cloth like as you said.

Does it shed water as well as the laminates you are used to?

Indeed.

I've tried to wet-out the sample I have, it does not absorb water. Just a 'flick' and all the water flies, and it seems pretty dry. But not as well as laminates for sure. The mylar itself is impervious to water.

Let a laminate get too long in the tooth, and water will get in through wounds and cracks and infiltrate the scrim (matrix). Then you got issues.

 

[Hunter216]

Indeed.

I've tried to wet-out the sample I have, it does not absorb water. Just a 'flick' and all the water flies, and it seems pretty dry. But not as well as laminates for sure. The mylar itself is impervious to water.

Let a laminate get too long in the tooth, and water will get in through wounds and cracks and infiltrate the scrim (matrix). Then you got issues.

Hmmm I thought it might find it’s way into the windsurf world but the water shed being a little less and the opaque nature would likely make it a nonstarter.

Having windsurfed so much I miss the see thru quality that monofilm offers when I’m on a traditional sailboat.

Dave Ezzy sort of introduced the incorporation of internal threads into windsurfing sails. The link below is from his website and offers some of his design viewpoints.

Ezzy Basic Sail Design Theory | Ezzy Sails

On any given sunny or wickedly stormy day, when we step our feet onto our sailboards and with our booms in our grasp, sheet in, and the wind fills our sails, we start to move. Leaning out over the water, our eyes look ahead. We search for bumps to jump or smooth spots to

www.ezzy.com

I’m thinking your going to have a long winter waiting to try these out!

 

[Jackdaw]

Hmmm I thought it might find it’s way into the windsurf world but the water shed being a little less and the opaque nature would likely make it a nonstarter.

Having windsurfed so much I miss the see thru quality that monofilm offers when I’m on a traditional sailboat.

Dave Ezzy sort of introduced the incorporation of internal threads into windsurfing sails. The link below is from his website and offers some of his design viewpoints.

Ezzy Basic Sail Design Theory | Ezzy Sails

On any given sunny or wickedly stormy day, when we step our feet onto our sailboards and with our booms in our grasp, sheet in, and the wind fills our sails, we start to move. Leaning out over the water, our eyes look ahead. We search for bumps to jump or smooth spots to

www.ezzy.com

I’m thinking your going to have a long winter waiting to try these out!

Windsurfing sails can be mostly mylar because the the Righting Moment (RM) of a windsurfer is so low. There is is only your weight to provide it. Boats have heavy lead keels. And of course their small size makes them easy to roll and transport.

 

[Hunter216]

Absolutely the criteria driving the material selection is vastly different in those two worlds. The very first time I used a monofilm sail I wanted to hug the inventor. Years of manhandling the soggy, baggy precursors, trying to see out of the little vinyl window were gone!

 

[DrJudyB]

Gpl with lite skins does indeed have polyester film. Lite skin is a “skin” which is a substitute for woven taffeta. Gpl LS has 2 layers of polyester film. It’s not correct to say that GPL Liteskin has no film.

DP has been working for 4 years on developing the technology to make a film-less laminate. And just a couple of months ago, in Sept, DP announced its first film less laminate, called iLex.

New player? - Dimension-Polyant

i-LEX™

www.dimension-polyant.com

New player?

Seahorse Magazine

www.seahorsemagazine.com

Judy B
Sailmaker

 

[DrJudyB]

by Yachtracinglife - 1st October 2019
-

New player? – Yacht Racing Life

yachtracing.life

New Player?

Not exactly… but Dimension-Polyant still have good reason to be pleased with their first foray into a production film-less laminate sailcloth.

There are few that would dispute the advent and development of film-less sailcloth has been a revolution in sailmaking. Now, however, Dimension- Polyant has developed its own version of film-less thin-ply multi-axial laminate sailcloth called i-LEX that may help broaden the benefits of this technology to more boats in the 35ft-45ft raceboat marketplace.

Not only have the issues of film laminate crazing and associated problems been eliminated, but the overall weight has been reduced while strength and durability increased to impressive degrees of performance. Sails built with these materials are tough, light and hold their shapes, a perfect combination of qualities for the premium racing programme.



As with many new technologies, this superior material comes at a premium price, one often out of reach for all but the most expensive programmes in the high-performance premium marketplace. You see these sails in the photos and videos that come from pro-level sailing in boats upwards of 40ft, but rarely in your local club.

‘We have been working on this development very intensely for the last four years. Internally we called it our Black Snow Project,’ says Uwe Stein, managing director of Dimension-Polyant. ‘This was an expensive process, but we recognised that it was a necessary step to develop filmless laminates as the next level of evolution in sailcloth.

‘This will be achieved not just through a lower production cost compared with the existing thin-ply materials used today, but because of the broad network of sailmakers around the world who already know and trust their relationship with Dimension-Polyant to produce sails equipped with this technology,’ he adds.

Characteristics of i-LEX include homogeneous fibre packing, lower levels of crimp, improved stretch characteristics, lower void content and improved mechanical properties such as:

Outstanding Weight-to-Strength Ratio: Compared with existing rolled good laminates i-LEX provides excellent stretch resistance for very low weight and close to 200 per cent improvement over traditional film laminates
Off Angle Improvement: The stretch resistance in directions off the warp are significant. At an angle of 30° the figures are three times better than traditional rolled goods laminates.
Tear Resistance: It is almost impossible to tear i-LEX. This provides a high safety factor to finish any race
Delamination: As it is a matrix technology it is not possible to separate the single layers.
Durability: All on-the-water tests have shown an excellent shape holding ability. The extended performance lifetime has to be taken into account as a major factor when i-LEX is compared with other laminates. The durability qualifies i-LEX for any Grand Prix level as well as for offshore applications

Main picture: the latest sailcloth from Dimension Polyant is based upon a film-less, thin-ply, multi-axial composite material that promises to bring most of the benefits of grand prix-grade sailcloths to a much wider user base of mainstream sailors. It’s almost impossible to tear, has an outstanding weight-to-strength ratio and impressive off-angle stretch resistance. It cannot delaminate in the traditional sense, has proven to be extremely durable and is relatively affordable relative to other comparable sailcloths.
The outer skin of i-LEX is Dimension-Polyant’s proven Lite Skin material, which is not only tough, but is compatible with standard panel assembly techniques using Ultra or Q-bonding with no stitching required.

Also in this initial phase, i-LEX is being produced with aramid and UHMWPE (eg, Dyneema) fibres to meet the design loads and price points of the broader marketplace, with a priority placed on radial cut applications…cross-cut materials are anticipated in the future once demand is established.

While this hi-ply technology offers a myriad of fibre layout options, i-LEX is available for now in three styles:

i-LEX 4, with 3800 DPI equivalent warp denier
i-LEX 6.5, with 6600 DPI equivalent warp denier
i-LEX 10.5, with 10.400 DPI equivalent warp denier
These should help sailmakers meet the load demands for upwind sails on most boats of 35-45ft in length, with a realistic target price that meets both sailmakers’ and sailors’ expectations.

One convincing testimonial on the virtues of i-LEX comes from UK-based sailmaker Peter Sanders:

‘We used the Dimension-Polyant i-LEX laminate on a new no 1 genoa for the Swan 41 Philippides and we are delighted with the result. I admit that I was a bit concerned when the cloth arrived because it was so light, but this concern proved to be unfounded because the genoa holds its shape beautifully in all conditions, the crew find the sail so much easier to handle than its heavy predecessor and there is far less weight aloft’.

Erci Varin from Voilerie Granvilaise concludes, ‘we used i-LEX for the J1 and the mainsail of a Sun Fast 3600. The programme of the boat is directed mainly towards racing but also for use by the family. The lightness of the product is quite disconcerting and is reminiscent of Cuben Fiber, but with a much higher dynamic stability. Apart from winning the first race with the new sails, the owner is blown away by the lightness of them’.