A brief update on status so far with doing Sail Care vs new sails.
I was late finally sending my sails to Sail Care Jan 4th, they received them Jan 7 and got back with me Jan 11th after looking at them and what I wanted fixed on the main. We had some corrections to what I was asking for since I was not communicating well and they adjusted the estimate and sent to me Jan 12.
The estimate is::
Main Cleaning: 246 ft2, $198. 65
Jib Cleaning: 316 ft2, $255.17
Main work:
3 sets of new telltales: $20
Sew on Numbers and Insignia: $72
Replace Velcro labor: $72
Velcro Material: $16.5
Raise clew 6" to add clearance to bimini: $192
Material for sail mods: $44.00
Jib Work
3 sets of new telltales: $20
Repair and Sew Sunband: $120
New webbing at head, tack, and clew labor: $48
Material for new webbing: $11
2 new cleats: $16
Shipping back to me: $57.64
Total: $1142.51
In addition I spent $70 on boxing them up and mailing them to them.
They are shipping back today and called me yesterday and had no more additional issues or problem. They started the work on Jan 13, so a reasonable 2 week turn around to get everything done.
Going in I knew from reading and research that they do hit you to sew on numbers and insignia no matter the condition of these being attached, they have had enough problems with them coming off during the cleaning process that this is a proactive approach. Some customers get really upset on this, but it is well documented on Sail Care site and many people's feedback.
Cost wise this is a bit higher then I planned, but the Main work and repair to Jib I knew going in, so I was not getting away with a straight cleaning price. Before doing this I had several Black Friday Sail quotes. If I wanted to stick with what I have, crosscut basic sail cloth, I could have done that for about $4,800, but knowing I still would be waiting on sails to arrive in April if I was lucky. I decided that I would rather wait a bit and if this can get me 3-5 years out of these sails based on how we use the boat then this was good enough for now.
I'll take pictures of them when they arrive and post my thoughts.