Old sail repair

[Tim Taylor]

my rolling furler over-run and being stupid i allowed my 13 year old headsail to luff violently for too long as it would appear while i was "thinking". the result is that i have two 36" long vertical tears in the trailing edge of the headsail right at the edge of the UV strip. i did eventually realize if i went on a run i could blanket the jib and secure it w/ a spare line (like ppl w/o rollers do) but lesson learned or not i still have a torn sail. my question is has anyone had luck w/ having old sails "patched" to finish out a season? i'm going to order a new sail but w/ the 40 day lead-time that ends my season. to make things worse there are no professional sailmakers in my area (northeast of NoWhere) so i'm going to try a custom upholsterer as the next best thing. the Dacron is getting brittle i'm sure but i only need 2 more months! any insight would be great and thanks in advance. Tim Taylor"Carried Away"

 

[Jack]

Used?

Get the dimenesions and see about a used sail even if it is a hank on. There are probably several boats out there with similar dimensions. You might have to go with a hank on for awhile but that would't be that big a hassel.

 

[Bill]

Sail repair tape

My genny developed a tear in just the same place a few weeks ago. It's been functioning since then with a patch of dacron sail tape, that I bought for a few dollars at Boatersworld. Nylon rip stop tape may also hold it together. Even duct tape will work in a pinch, according to a great little book I have: Canvaswork and Sail Repair, by Don Casey; ISBN 0-07-133391-3. Good luck.

 

[Tim Taylor]

thanks for your input. as it is now i've been wanting a 150% Genny for a long while so i'm going to go ahead and order that so it's here for next season's launch. as for the repairs to my present sail... the duct tape did work better than i had thought it was going to but it's by no means a proper fix. the gentleman who is going to try and repair the damage for me has rip-stop material and is planning to overlay the damaged area and then stitch row-on-row to distribute the load. here in PA i only have another 6 weeks to sail so it will hopefully last at least that long. i was warned that this fix will make the sail heavy but i just sail for fun so that shouldn't matter all that much. thanks again for your input and wish me luck that the sail doesn't come back looking like a lounger cushion!Tim Taylor"Carried Away"

 

[BART FORD]

sail repair from an unusual source

I have a 240 and a Sunfish. Several years ago, I took the Sunfish sail to a guy that repairs parachutes. Didn't cost a lot. I figured if he could repair a chute that people jump out of perfectly good airplanes, he could do a sail. Worth a try.