Ripped Sail: Help

[Mike]

I have a small tear (about 1" in my main at the level of the spreaders. I know it needs to be repaired before I sail the boat again. Can I repair it myself, and, if so, how?

 

[dave]

Where is the tear??

Having built several sails the answer depends on where the rip is in the sail.If it is just ripped in the single layer dacron then I recommend you buy some dacron cloth from www.sailrite.com and then sew on a patch. How did the sail rip? Is the fabric shot from UV damage? If so then you can expect continued problems. You should be able to sew a patch on with a home sewing machine but if you have to overlap a reefing patch or the tape along the luff or leech a home machine probably won't go thru it and you'll need an industrial version. You can also get sail repair adhesive tapes that will probably work for a temporary fix. Don't sail with it until you fix it, otherwise you might blow out the whole sail.Dave

 

[LaDonna Bubak - CatalinaOwners]

Sail tape

When I had my original (read: old & ragged) sails, I used sail tape with success. It patched them just fine. I think it would work fine on a 1" tear but the question of where the tear is needs to be answered. If it's on a seam, just get a sewing kit from your local chandlery & fix it. If it's in the fabric, tape it. All of this is of course dependent on how new/old the sail is. If it's brand new, take it to a sailmaker so it's done right & will last forever.LaDonna

 

[Mike]

The tear is

under the spreaders and caused by the bird-X on the spreaders. The fabric is two-ply and ripped only on one side.

 

[Rob Rich]

Sail Number Material...

I know it sounds weird, but I got a great tip from a sailmaker about two years back. Not only is it very cheap, it also will last longer than the sail itself.I suffered a dismasting on my Prindle Catamaran that resulted in some minor damage to my main and jib. The jib was fixed for about 100 bucks, but the main still had a small tear in it when I returned to pick up the pair for the weekend. The sailmaker, who is a good guy (and nationally known for his racing sails)felt bad about forgetting to repair the main. He let me in on a secret. For smaller tears, he prefers to use the material that sail numbers are made of. It is really tuff, super sticky, and makes the torn area slightly stronger than it was originally. You can only use it on smaller areas of the sail due to its rigidity, but it should work fine in your circumstance (1 inch tear).Simply contact your local sailmaker and ask him/her for a couple of square feet of the material and you should be set. Make sure you put a patch on each side of the sail.Best of Luck - Rob