Sail Mods

[Weasel]

This might seem like a stupid question but my curiosity is getting the best of me. We have a roller furling jib/genoa that had the white coated UV protected strip. I have the sail in for work and am going to have them add the Beneteau Green Sunbrella sacrifical strip. Will this affect performance or make the furling / unfurling action any different?

Thanks in advance for your sage answers/advice.

Weasel

 

[higgs]

It should not make any difference provided the white UV cover is removed first. I wonder why bother to make the change?

 

[Tim R.]

I do not like Sunbrella sacraficial covers as they tend to stretch and wear at a different rate than the sail material. I know they are supposed to wear faster but the stretching can make for a very baggy furled sail eventually. I have mine covered with Dacron which keeps everything white and stays tight as long as the sail is still crisp.

 

[Maine Sail]

I do not like Sunbrella sacraficial covers as they tend to stretch and wear at a different rate than the sail material. I know they are supposed to wear faster but the stretching can make for a very baggy furled sail eventually. I have mine covered with Dacron which keeps everything white and stays tight as long as the sail is still crisp.

Ditto! I stopped ordering sails with Sunbrella UV for this very reason. Dacron, in my experience, helps keep a better leach shape and offers a less bulky furled sail.

 

[cbsailor]

Another Ditto

Another ditto. Sunbrella's weight caused excessive stretch my jib's leech and was very bulky. When I had my jib cleaned/repaired, I had my sunband replaced with one of those new lighter uv/pvc coated fabrics...can't remember the name of it. Seems to be working fine 5 years later.

 

[Rick D]

Sacrificial Strip

I switched to a Dacron sacrificial strip when I had new sails made on the advice of the sail maker who said the sail would fly much better without the Sunbrella. It did, much better. However, the Dacron only lasted a few years. After I replaced it, I purchased a jib sock from this site. It hoists with the spinnaker halyard. It is a bit of a pain to put on and off, but I don't use it unless the sail will be furled for some time. It was worth every penny. I did modify it so that there is a lacing of shock cord so that the cover does not flog in winds.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Everyday I learn something new. This morning two things. All these years and I thought every jib had sunbrella UV protection. Or like my one-design none at all. Dacron makes a lot of sense when you think about "leech" shape.

That's the other thing. I was going to take Maine to task for writing "leach". Then I thought, hey the guy doesn't make mistakes. Sure enough the term is in the literature with both spellings. Even so I prefer to think of "leach" as a verb.

 

[Ron20324]

Everyday I learn something new. This morning two things.

We have a poster at work that says: "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about".

 

[RichH]

As other posters have stated the dimensional changes of Sunbrella polyester is different than most polyester sail fabrics.
The other consideration is WEIGHT ALOFT as Sunbrella is at about 10oz. per sq. yd.

The most reasonable UV covering is thin Adhesive Backed "insignia cloth" ... a lightweight (4 oz./sq. yd.) dacron taffeta that is 'stuck to the sail' then sewn down. Typical service life is 5-8 years - so this is termed a 'sacrificial' covering.

 

[Calif. Ted]

I've flown the same genny with both and I'm convinced the sunbrella covers negatively affect performance. My ideal set up is the one described by Rick, a dacron sunband with a jib sock. Here in the land of year round sun you can count on 3-4 years of life for dacron and maybe 6-7 for Sunbrella.