local vs mail order
Hi, I'm in the same position as Joe (I am also on Long Island, NY, but I sail on the Long Island sound). When I removed my sails before having the boat hauled, I noticed that my mainsail was worn out. The sail material is very thin and soft. You can easily tear it. Time for new sails. I decided to get a new main and a new radial cut laminate headsail set up for roller furling. I started calling around and emailing for price quotes. The mail order places are cheaper than local lofts. However, the local lofts will come out to your boat and measure it. They will come back when the sail is ready and help you put the sail on and will correct any problems. Finally, I don't know if the sail material is the same or not. Anyway, I ended up buying sails from the local UK loft (City Island). The sails are about $800 cheaper than the cheapest mail order sails (AirForce) but when think that sails should last 10 years, that isn't very much. Also, when you go to sell the boat, I think having big name sails from a local loft will help more than mail order sails. BTW, The local Doyal rep was excellent to deal with. I didn't use his sails because he could not offer a laminate headsail for me. Good luck, Barry
Hi, I'm in the same position as Joe (I am also on Long Island, NY, but I sail on the Long Island sound). When I removed my sails before having the boat hauled, I noticed that my mainsail was worn out. The sail material is very thin and soft. You can easily tear it. Time for new sails. I decided to get a new main and a new radial cut laminate headsail set up for roller furling. I started calling around and emailing for price quotes. The mail order places are cheaper than local lofts. However, the local lofts will come out to your boat and measure it. They will come back when the sail is ready and help you put the sail on and will correct any problems. Finally, I don't know if the sail material is the same or not. Anyway, I ended up buying sails from the local UK loft (City Island). The sails are about $800 cheaper than the cheapest mail order sails (AirForce) but when think that sails should last 10 years, that isn't very much. Also, when you go to sell the boat, I think having big name sails from a local loft will help more than mail order sails. BTW, The local Doyal rep was excellent to deal with. I didn't use his sails because he could not offer a laminate headsail for me. Good luck, Barry