The UV cover on my roller furling Genoa is badly torn, otherwise the 5 year old sail looks to be in good shape. How long can I expect the sail to last if I reinstall in the spring without the cover? The one quote I have received so far is approx $475.00 to replace the UV cover, lots of good used sails out there for less than that.
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Alternative cover
Ken, An alternative to the sewed on cover is a zippered sleeve that you pull up over the rolled sail with another halyard. Several of the racers around Annapoils use them rather than have a cover on their racing sail. I would not leave the sail up without a cover. Of course the cheapest alternative is to just take the sail off if your not going to be using the boat for a few days. Paul
Ken, An alternative to the sewed on cover is a zippered sleeve that you pull up over the rolled sail with another halyard. Several of the racers around Annapoils use them rather than have a cover on their racing sail. I would not leave the sail up without a cover. Of course the cheapest alternative is to just take the sail off if your not going to be using the boat for a few days. Paul
UV Tape
Ken, Don't leave the sail up without any UV cover. It'll fail pretty quickly. I originally had a pull up sock but it was a pain. It takes two people to put it up, one to pull the line and one to help feed and pull the zipper. In heavy wind, you must pull tight the wrap ties to prevent the sock from flapping which chafe the sail badly. About $400 is a fair price for a new one. Why not just remove the old UV tape and resew it yourself? I got some Sunbella from WM, use the old tape as templates to cut new materials. Home sewing machine (I used a Sears Kenmore) with low speed is very helpful. Use spray glue to secure and smooth the new tape on the sail first and sew over the edge slowly. It took just an afternoon.
Ken, Don't leave the sail up without any UV cover. It'll fail pretty quickly. I originally had a pull up sock but it was a pain. It takes two people to put it up, one to pull the line and one to help feed and pull the zipper. In heavy wind, you must pull tight the wrap ties to prevent the sock from flapping which chafe the sail badly. About $400 is a fair price for a new one. Why not just remove the old UV tape and resew it yourself? I got some Sunbella from WM, use the old tape as templates to cut new materials. Home sewing machine (I used a Sears Kenmore) with low speed is very helpful. Use spray glue to secure and smooth the new tape on the sail first and sew over the edge slowly. It took just an afternoon.
Sunbrella alternative
In '03 I had Sunbrella put on the leech and foot of a new furling genoa that was done for my boat. After three years of relatively hard use, it was still in real good condition, but it adversely affected the shape/trim of the sail in light air. Since I race the boat at least 20 times a year, and we often have light air conditions, I was looking for something that shaped out better than an "auditorium curtain," which was what my sail looked like then. This past winter I sent it back to the sailmaker (after removing the Sunbrella myself) and had them add UV resistent dacron (less than half the weight) in that area. BIG improvement - the sail now shapes well in light air, furls just as well if not better, and from what I hear this fix will last 3 to 5 years, minimum, which is fine with me, considering the performance improvement. By then I'll be buying a new genoa anyway. Cost was about $300 - you pay to learn, but next time I'll know what to order up front.
In '03 I had Sunbrella put on the leech and foot of a new furling genoa that was done for my boat. After three years of relatively hard use, it was still in real good condition, but it adversely affected the shape/trim of the sail in light air. Since I race the boat at least 20 times a year, and we often have light air conditions, I was looking for something that shaped out better than an "auditorium curtain," which was what my sail looked like then. This past winter I sent it back to the sailmaker (after removing the Sunbrella myself) and had them add UV resistent dacron (less than half the weight) in that area. BIG improvement - the sail now shapes well in light air, furls just as well if not better, and from what I hear this fix will last 3 to 5 years, minimum, which is fine with me, considering the performance improvement. By then I'll be buying a new genoa anyway. Cost was about $300 - you pay to learn, but next time I'll know what to order up front.
SailRite sells an adheasive backed UV dacron.
I used on my genny. I did have to install it twice. The first time I just layed the sail on the floor and stuck it on the sail with the help of my brother. The thing I did not do was ake into consideration the curve in the leech of the Genny. What I did wrong. The pieces I used, I had cut to 8' long. It would not follow the curve of the leech. How I corrected it: took off the old and stretched the sail using a 4x4 piece of plywood and push pins. Then I applied 3' long sections of the UV dacron not trying to contour it to the leech. I laid it on and wrapped it around the back side of the sail +/- 1". The link should take you right to the adheasive backed uv dacron insignia material ( what sailrite recommended as a uv material. The plus is it is 1/4 the weight of sunbrella. r.w.landau
I used on my genny. I did have to install it twice. The first time I just layed the sail on the floor and stuck it on the sail with the help of my brother. The thing I did not do was ake into consideration the curve in the leech of the Genny. What I did wrong. The pieces I used, I had cut to 8' long. It would not follow the curve of the leech. How I corrected it: took off the old and stretched the sail using a 4x4 piece of plywood and push pins. Then I applied 3' long sections of the UV dacron not trying to contour it to the leech. I laid it on and wrapped it around the back side of the sail +/- 1". The link should take you right to the adheasive backed uv dacron insignia material ( what sailrite recommended as a uv material. The plus is it is 1/4 the weight of sunbrella. r.w.landau
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