Using 5.93oz Dacron for a mainsail on in a 28.5 footer
- Thread starter javaprog
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6oz is not bad, but not great, especially for a main sail on a 28.5. There may be some advantage in light air, but chafing is another concern and the B&R rig you can end up with the main on the spreaders in a heart beat down wind. What you save on cloth you might end up spending on chafe protection. The sail will likely have a shorter life too.
Personally I'd probalby go for the chafe protection anyway witha B&R rig. If you are going to keep the boat for a while and sail only in fair weather it might be okay. But if the sail is short on cloth weight you might want to ask what other corners are being cut? One reef instead of two? Two rows of stitching instead of three?
A sail is something for which you definitely get what you pay for. My boat came with a pretty pricey new North main and there is quite a difference between it and the stock Ulmer sail that also came with it. It is far more adjustable and even though it is heavier it probably would outperform a lighter sail without them. It is a pain to flake though!
Personally I'd probalby go for the chafe protection anyway witha B&R rig. If you are going to keep the boat for a while and sail only in fair weather it might be okay. But if the sail is short on cloth weight you might want to ask what other corners are being cut? One reef instead of two? Two rows of stitching instead of three?
A sail is something for which you definitely get what you pay for. My boat came with a pretty pricey new North main and there is quite a difference between it and the stock Ulmer sail that also came with it. It is far more adjustable and even though it is heavier it probably would outperform a lighter sail without them. It is a pain to flake though!
I ordered a 6.63 oz Dacron main from North on my H28.5 soon after I bought the boat and it seems to perform well in most wind conditions on the Chesapeake. Since I hardly ever sail DDW with the main flat up against the B&R spreaders, I have not noticed any chafe at all in that area. While I think a lighter 5.9 oz sail would probably perform adequately, the only reason I could think to choose that weight would be if there were a significant price differential -- and even so I'd probably still go with the 6.63 oz material.
Most of us do not buy new mainsails very often. When you do, buy the best you can afford.
Most of us do not buy new mainsails very often. When you do, buy the best you can afford.
5.93 oz. is certainly suitable for lighter wind venues.
The lighter weight cloth will more easily 'shape itself' in the lighter winds, more so than a heavier cloth.
It's at the 'corners' that a sail receives the most fiber stress .... so have your sailmaker provide adequate reinforcement patches (as if he were building the sail with 6.63).
For abraison resistance - most abrasion will occur at where the clew reefing line(s) cross over the rolled sail... if that is a concern then have the sailmaker add a chafe patch at the leech/reefing clew reinforcement patch & where the reefing lines 'go over' - applicable if you reef often and for long periods of time.
OTHER HINTS:
Have the sailmaker add 'additional length' of luff boltrope, 'stored' at the headboard of the sail. Later on when the luff rope shrinks because of sail usage, the 'stored' luff rope can be 'eased' back - so that its easy to restore the correct boltrope length (instead of buying a completely new sail or doing major surgery to an old mainsail to restore the proper boltrope length). When you get you new sail be SURE that either your get the precise *AS BUILT* luff dimension or measure the luff by yourself so that when the boltrope inevitably shrinks in a few years that you can easily have a sailmaker easily slip the 'stored' boltrope back to its ORIGINAL dimension. Follow this advice and you will have TWO to THREE times the service life of your new mainsail.
Boltropes 'shrink' everytime you add stress to the luff. Having the precise dimensions of the luff PLUS already 'stored' boltrope at the headboard will help a mainsail keep its shape for many years. On my racing boat, I readjust the boltrope length about every 100-150 hours of 'hard' sailing, on my 'cruiser' about every 300-400 hrs --- makes a world of difference in mainsail shape to keep that boltrope at its 'designed' length.
I've thought long and hard about choosing lighter cloth and I think I'm going to roll the dice and go for it for a number of reasons.
1 - We spend far more time sitting around trying to get the boat to go in light air than we do worring about too much wind.
2 - We're getting crushed in our club races. 3 out of 5 of our races are in light air. If this will give me a slight edge I think I'll take it. People experiment with the weight of the headsail; why not the main.
3 - I'm not really looking to get 15 years out of this sail. If I still have this boat in 7 or eight years and this sail is worn out I can live with that.
4 - I can add chaffe protection when and if chafe becomes a problem.
5 - It is a significat cost savings. $200 or about 13%
RichH - I can't say that I understood half of what you said about the bolt rope, but this sail is going to be loose footed. The sail maker said I would have more control over shape that way.
1 - We spend far more time sitting around trying to get the boat to go in light air than we do worring about too much wind.
2 - We're getting crushed in our club races. 3 out of 5 of our races are in light air. If this will give me a slight edge I think I'll take it. People experiment with the weight of the headsail; why not the main.
3 - I'm not really looking to get 15 years out of this sail. If I still have this boat in 7 or eight years and this sail is worn out I can live with that.
4 - I can add chaffe protection when and if chafe becomes a problem.
5 - It is a significat cost savings. $200 or about 13%
RichH - I can't say that I understood half of what you said about the bolt rope, but this sail is going to be loose footed. The sail maker said I would have more control over shape that way.
Simple speak: have the sailmaker add EXTRA length of boltrope, so that the boltrope can easy and cheaply be 'adjusted' later on. If you dont do this, you will BUY a NEW sail sooner that you need to. Take what I stated and show it to your sailmaker.
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