Question about my genoa...

[weinie]

At the beginning of this season, I purchased a 150% genoa for my catalina 27 with roller furling. The webbed loop that is the tack was pretty close to the attachment point on the roller furler. Now that the sail has stretched with a bit of use, I have it as far down as it can go and i still have a some horizontal wrinkles along the luff that need to be eliminated. The halyard, is of course all the way up.

The webbed tack and head probably extend about two inches above and below the sail itself. If there were cringles in the sail rather than loops like my old sail, I might have had 5 or 6 inches less!

What are my options here? The sail was purchased online along with a mainsail and cover and other than the aforementioned issued, everything else about them is terrific. I probably should have mentioned something when I purchased it, but I was able to have it properly tensioned for most of the season and I didnt want to lose any sailing time! I really only need to lose about an inch here!

 

[Barnacle Bill]

When ordering a sail, it is always the best policy to measure your max luff distance on your forestay to make sure you get a sail with the proper fit. This doesn't sound like the info was provided to the sailmaker. Most sailmakers have forms asking for specific measurements so that they get it right the first time. Now that your luff (leading edge) is too long, it has to be brought back to a sailmaker for shortening. If you can get the loft who built the sail to do that at no cost, great. Otherwise you can take it to any convenient loft who does repairs to get the job done.

 

[kloudie1]

You can have a sailmaker put in a reinforced downhaul cringle 8-10" above the tack. release the halyard and tension the downhaul with 3-4 passes of high modulus line, bringing down the head 3-4 inches.. Re-tension the halyard.. not real purty but a fair solution.. Other option (more efficient) is to have a sailmaker lower the head by 4-5 inches .. and of course, it could be sent back to the original maker for shortening..(may not be the cheapest due to shipping)..

 

[Cayennita]

Have a sail loft remove the loop and punch in a cringle. Do the same on the head if there is also a loop. Between the two you should have enough to get a tighter halyard. You can get more if you lengthen the headstay and rake the mast aft by taking up on the backstay. Will change the feel of the helm and also lower the aft end of the boom.

 

[RichH]

All the above post are correct.
The easiest and 'most modern' / cheapest way to affect the correction is to take the sail to a loft and have them install a 'barred' D-Ring at the tack and the head. Such installation will remove an 'inch or two' from the panels and the new D-rings will be attached using webbing ... this will relocate the attachment points INTO the sail at the 'corners'. Such D-ring/webbing attachments are usually then covered with leather as an option.

Cringles are OK but later will present a 'problem' when they need to be replaced ... D-ring / webbing attachments are 'stronger' and are lesss prone to create 'girts' (creases that emanate from the corners) as the sail ages/stretches.

D-ring example: http://www.sailrite.com/D-Ring-With-Bar-3-2

 

[Cayennita]

RichH, you're correct. That's what I have and actually gives you the shortest length, Just couldn't think of the term. Mine are round and reinforcement straps extending radially. Had the sail modified in 2002 and has worked verywell considering that I've put about 15,000 miles on genoa. Bought the sail brandnew but had been made for a different boat with a lower roller furling than mine. Solve the problem.

 

[RichH]

Yup, D-rings dont need a special die set to install as do cringles, just a stout sewing machine. Cringles, especially large cringles eventually 'pull-out' and create a 'mess' to adequately repair; plus, the installation of cringles can involve a lot of expensive 'hand-work', if they are properly hand-sewn before the cringle 'brass insert' is pressed in.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I had a similar problem with a 120 genoa when I bought a new furler -- the luff was about 4 inches too long. My sailmaker simply cut a half moon at the tack, and installed a "D" ring with sewn webbing in the crotch of the half moon. Bingo. Luff reduced 4 inches and fits perfectly now.

 

[weinie]

Thanks for the input everyone. It seems like a relatively simple fix for a decent sailmaker. I wanted to make sure by checking with all you guys before I brought it in since I don't have too much faith in my local guy. (Long story short... national company with local loft...last year, missed a nice size tear in my old main, and a new sewing repair was never finished off properly and pulled right out almost as soon as the sail came out of the bag!).