The budget for this upgrade is approx. $2500 . Due to the age of the sails, travel costs, and cost of getting them modified for the roller furling system, I am factoring in a new sail as well as the cost of the furler into the equation. I have an overall budget of approx. $4000-45000 for the furler, headsail and a new mainsail. The sails are currently serviceable, but as best I can tell, these sails were on the boat approx. 15 years ago when the person we purchased the boat from bought it. So the actual age and usage history is unknown. I know the sail loft who made two of them (Jib and Genoa-McKibbins Sails) are out of business. The lapper (Schauttauer ) is in like new condition. However, the sail bag it is in is dated 1985. (1985 vs 2017 sail design and materials?) I do know the main is pretty dirty, and will be removed this winter for a good cleaning. I really need to bring all the sails home and spread them out for a through inspection/cleaning. Another question, is do I attempt to clean them myself, or take them to a sail loft for cleaning, and repair of any wear items that are identified at that time. We plan on keeping the boat for a number of years so the one of the questions is do we invest in new sails or service the old and replace sometime in the future. I guess it becomes a cost benefit question. At what point does the cost of repairing the old sails no longer make financial sense? At this point, I'm figuring around 50% of the cost of new sails. This includes getting the sails to a sail loft (none locally-Portland, OR, or Seattle, WA are the closest--approx. 4hr drive away) and the actual sail loft service costs.
Mitch